VM 216AV classroom record player
 

Here's one of the nicer VM classroom record players from '71 that I recently picked up. This one has a microphone input, as well as seperate bass and treble controls. I don't know how the sound quality of this player will be until I restore it; but, the build quality is better than most other classroom record players. As you can see, this one uses a single play mechanism that's actually a stripped down record changer without the automatic parts. The tonearm is also nicer than what's on the average school record player and has an adjustable screw for tracking weight. The cartridge is an Astatic 89T soundflo; but, I don't know if it's original or not. I think some of the VM school record players used a light tracking Euphonics or Tetrad cartridge.

This thing will need the usual cleaning and relubrication; but, one thing I noticed is that the power switch is broken and I think that's a common VM problem for models made during this time period. The good news is that Gary Stork has these switches on an exchange basis for $15.

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps0062df4d.jpg

My brother had a version of that manual table when I was a kid. Would love to have one like it too.

I have one just like it!
Mine also uses the 89T cartridge. The solid state amplifier sounds fairly good. It's probably an honest five watts or so.
IIRC, it has a 5X7 or 6X9 single speaker.
It's a lot better unit than the last unit you bought and wrote about! :thmbsp:

Are you talking about the Audiotronics with the DC motor?

I'll agree that most VM school record players are better than most of the other brands. I had one VM solid state school record player that was a cheapie. It used a standard General Industries drive mechanism and a standard tonearm like what the rest of them had. I think the speaker was 4". It worked; but, wasn't up to par in terms of tonal quality and volume.

That's the one, I was referring to.
VM probably made a few models, per model year, from low-end to TOTL.
Some smaller town school boards or private schools, didn't have the deep pockets, that the larger city school systems had.
If the school had only one, like the VM, it was kept in the principal's office and carried to the class room, where it was to be used.
At the end of the day, it was returned, before it sprouted legs. :D

I remember when my elementary school was that way about the TV's, during the '80's. IIRC, they had one or two CTC39 RCA tube TV's connected to Sony U-matic machines, on a roll around cart. If a teacher needed the "ETV" (as it was called), he/she had to reserve it in advance. There were two TV's in the library, a newer Zenith and another CTC39; but, those didn't go anywhere.

By the early '90's, all schools got a 19" wall-mounted Magnavox in each classroom, courtesy of the people who produced/aired "channel one."

Back then, the V-M and the high end Newcomb transcription players were the highest end of the market in school phonos. The V-M players hands down are my favorites save for high end separate speaker transcription players.

Ive seen at least one VM school type player that had a fine adjustment for speed/pitch. probably intended for music departments.

Nice VM!

Ah "Channel One" I remember it well. A Ku band fixed position satellite dish was mounted on top of the school. The "Big magic box" normally mounted in the back room of the library or media center, it contained the sat receiver along with decoder, an S-VHS VCR for recording the main program that was hidden away with a key to access it to change the tape (probably 1x a year) then there was a "General Access" VHS deck for the staff to "air" prerecorded tapes to the entire school. There was also an A/V jack on the front of the box for external input.

The output of the box was combined with the CATV feed for the school (if they had one) and then distributed to every tv installed in the place. Standard run of the moll 19' mono Magnavox TV's. They would power on automatically with the system, and where supposed to turn off automatically as well, that did not always happen and the 15.7 Khz from the flyback would drive me nuts.

Nice classic table!

I like this player and the changer it's based on (I've seen the changers in Zenith consoles). Now we did it all the time, but were these machines not supposed to be used with stereo records (or was the arm outfitted with a stereo cartridge, with the output summed to mono?)

They either use a stereo compatible mono cartridge or a stereo cartridge wired for mono.

And thusly are fine with Stereo records. The VM school phonos tracked at 2-3 grams and had compliant cartridges which were gentle on records, usually made by Euphonics.

I've got one like that..That puppy sounds great to my ears! I got mine at a thrift store here in town. As it turned out, it was used at our city's library. All I did was replace the needle. It hasn't ruined ant of my records at all!