Category Archives: Audio

Vinyl Road Rage Video-More From The Road

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Yet another installment in the Vinyl Road Rage video series, shot in Austin Texas. This one’s a closer look at the Crosley Revolution portable turntable and how it performs when broadcasting to an FM channel as opposed to going USB in to a computer…naturally the USB signal will be much better, but when you need the FM capability, it’s pretty nice to have.

The Crosley, after road testing and playing with it onscreen, seems to be very handy for a low-tech streetcorner DJ concept, or perhaps a set at your local drive-in movie theater…very handy indeed! Get two, a big boom box and let your DJ skills fly.



Vinyl Record Players For Your Automobile

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by Joe Wallace
While looking for vinyl oddities today, I stumbled across a collection of photos of record players designed to be installed in a car or truck. Designed for the lover of 7-inch singles, it would be truly awesome to see these come back in a major way. Of course that would necessitate a big industry for the the seven inch single coming back, too…but is that really a bad thing?

Check out the delicious retro loveliness of these players! Some of the images are courtesy of Dark Roasted Blend, while others are from eBay, BoingBoing and other sources. The video, which is first, shows the in-car vinyl player in action…sweet.




 

Crosley Revolution Portable USB Turntable

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As yet another Vinyl Road Rage trip is being planned, (details on that coming soon!) it seemed like a good time to invest in a portable turntable.

One of the biggest gripes about doing the Turntabling cross-country record store blogging trip and vinyl buying spree has been the inability (until now) to play the vinyl while on the road.

That’s a thing of the past now, thanks to the Crosely Revolution portable USB turntable, which was purchased from Brookstone via Amazon.com and delivered just a day later.

It is, at the time of this writing, still in the box and a video demo is planned. But for now, the specs look awfully exciting. The unit is wireless–it transmits via FM to any radio within range. It’s USB powered but can also play with six AA batteries.

That means you can road trip with it, playing records all the way–as long as you have a friend to flip the record when Side A is finished. No distracted drivers, please. In the hotel, this is a no-brainer, and while the specs haven’t been explored on this notion, imagine what could happen if you had two of these units and a big effing boom box. Block-rocking beats DJ style, anyone? Those spontaneous neighborhood parties just got a lot more interesting.

We’ll have a full review of this unit in the days to come.

ION Vertical Vinyl Wall-Mounted Turntable

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Now here’s a trippy notion–a turntable you mount on the wall. The ION Vertical Vinyl Wall-Mounted Turntable is battery powered and yes, it plays the records sideways.

The ION Vertical Vinyl turntable has onboard speakers and can function as a tabletop unit as well as a wall mounted one.

The ad copy for this says it’s “ideal for limited spaces” so without having had a chance to put one through its paces we’re guessing it is good for dorms, efficiency apartments, anywhere with a small amount of wall space to bounce the sounds off.

This is probably not the right purchase for a finicky audiophile (well, duh) but for those looking for a battery powered, eye-grabbing conversation piece, this could be just the thing.

You have to admit, the concept of spinning some vinyl for your friends by putting it on the wall is pretty damn tempting. Just don’t try spinning after beer number three or you could have a fatal (to the record) vinyl mishap. The unit comes with a 45 adapter and also plays full-length LPs. A nice retro-modern design oddity….tempted? I am.

–Joe Wallace