quick turntable question

[Dale H. Cook]

At 12:56 PM 10/16/2009, Sid Schweiger wrote:

>Most likely a QRK.  The wooden tonearm was made by a company out of 
>western Massachusetts whose name escapes me for the moment.

I've seen QRK and Gates TTs with Gray Research arms installed on 
them, and have also seen both with Rek-O-Kut arms on them. The type 
of arm gives no clue as to the make of broadcast turntable, as the 
arm and the TT were generally ordered separately.

Gray Research & Development Co., Inc., was a subsidiary of The Gray 
Manufacturing Company. I have a Hartford CT address for the parent 
company and a Manchester (Hartford County) CT address for the Gray 
Research division. Both are in western CT, not western MA.

Grado, Grace, and others also made wooden tonearms, but the only 
wooden arm I've seen in radio stations was Gray (or Micro Trak - see 
below). Gray also made metal arms popular with stations. The Gray's 
I'm used to were straight laminated wood arms. For a picture see:

http://www.cognitivevent.com/av_lenco.html

Scroll down to see a good shot of the arm, with the "g" printed on 
it. I think the LP-length (12") version was the Gray 303. IIRC it was 
also rebranded and sold as a Micro Trak 303,with the Micro Trak logo 
printed on it instead of the "g."

Dale H. Cook, Chief Engineer, Centennial Broadcasting, 
Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA - WZZU / WZZI / WLNI / WVMP
http://plymouthcolony.net/starcity/starcity.html