1950's Record players.

[St Petre 85]

Reading an article about Dansette record players made in the 1950's. It said that they played records that ran at 33 rpm, 45 rpm, 75 rpm and 16 rpm, ( folks on here of a certain age will know that rpm meant revolutions per minute), I have never heard of 16 rpm before, anybody else ?

[Rollypolly 51]

I don't remember whether my Dansette had 16 rpm but I do remember my nan had a record player the size of a fridge. It had 78 &16 rpm. She had some really old records that played at 78 rpm but nothing for 16rpm. My sister and I used to like playing the records at 16 rpm and laugh at how it made the voices really deep and low. We also liked playing them at 78 rpm because it made them sound like pinky and perky. When we were really bored we used to put the old 33 records into boiling water and mold then into vases or ashtrays. You can't do that with a cd.

[smithy266 21]

16rpm was more for voice, not music.

[melthebell 862]

Yes, in my early punk days I used an old radiogram thing the size of a fridge freezer, had 16rpm on, never seen any 16rpm records though

[carosio 186]

Yes, "talking" records as some used to say,  children's records, schools, books, language courses etc. I've never actually seen one. Low fidelity.

[Dozer 13]

In the US, if I recall correctly "Talking Books" for the blind were done on 16 rpm. Could fit more on a side that way.

[Top Cats Hat 10]

On 24/04/2019 at 01:16, St Petre said:

( folks on here of a certain age will know that rpm meant revolutions per minute)

I know we live in a dumbed down society but I suspect most people of any age would know what rpm stands for! 😁

[Longcol 597]

6 hours ago, Top Cats Hat said:

I know we live in a dumbed down society but I suspect most people of any age would know what rpm stands for! 😁

Why?

 

Both my lads (in their 20's) listen to loads of music but have never used vinyl so have never come across rpm.

 

Even back in the '70's a single may have  occasionally been referred to as a "45" but an LP was never referred to as a 33 (or 33 1/3 to be more accurate). By the late 60's / early 70's even many of the labels of LP's (or albums) had stopped putting the record speed on the label although might have referred to stereo or mono.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by Longcol

[Top Cats Hat 10]

1 hour ago, Longcol said:

Why?

 

Both my lads (in their 20's) listen to loads of music but have never used vinyl so have never come across rpm.

I take it neither of them have driven cars or used a spin cycle on a washing machine? 😵

[Longcol 597]

16 hours ago, Top Cats Hat said:

I take it neither of them have driven cars or used a spin cycle on a washing machine? 😵

Neither the rev counter on my car nor the spin cycle controls on my washing machine have a label "rpm" on them.

[Ontarian1981 10]

On 24/04/2019 at 03:24, Rollypolly said:

I don't remember whether my Dansette had 16 rpm but I do remember my nan had a record player the size of a fridge. It had 78 &16 rpm. She had some really old records that played at 78 rpm but nothing for 16rpm. My sister and I used to like playing the records at 16 rpm and laugh at how it made the voices really deep and low. We also liked playing them at 78 rpm because it made them sound like pinky and perky. When we were really bored we used to put the old 33 records into boiling water and mold then into vases or ashtrays. You can't do that with a cd.

I recall Paul Carrack in a documentary about him, saying that he learned to play the Hammond by listening to Jimmy Smith LPs at 16 rpm .He did this to pick up his chords better as they were slowed right down to make it easier to follow the progressions.

 I had a portable Argosy for playing my own stuff in my bedroom but there was a monster size radiogram downstairs, complete with China and cocktail cabinets.