back to basics

Yesterday I was at a birthday party. Some of the music was provided by this system:

image source: Philips Radio (1970) brochure from mfbfreaks.nl.

Talking today on the phone, yesterday’s birthday girl told me how much she is enjoying the music on this new (to her), little record player.

Without for a minute pretending that any of this has got to do with ‘hi-fi,’ I can think of three reasons why this record player gets the music across:

1. it has got an open-back speaker, no closed-in sound;
2. it must have very simple electronics inside (hey, it also runs on batteries);
3. it was designed as a closed system; maybe the limitations of the cartridge were tuned to those of the turntable; maybe the  limitations of the speaker were tuned to those of the cartridge; maybe those simple electronics put in a crucial correction that glues it all together.

Enough thinking, let’s enjoy the music. I told my friend to concentrate on buying records. And as long as they are cheap, lots of them.

update
Yes, very simple electronics:

Two gain stages from needle to cone.