[Jon Scaptura]

I've sent my Beam of Light changer from my 42-1010 to the local repair shop to have the motor, idler wheels and bearings serviced. In the mean time, I'd like to substitute a changer with a ceramic cartridge. Can the audio output of the substitute changer be plugged into the jack on the 42-1010's phono transformer without any other circuitry changes?

[49Stude63]

Jon in some case Philco used magnetic cartridges and in other cases ceramic cartridges. Most of the ones that had the magnetic cartridges had a step up transformer to boost the signal output. You can find these on the 46-1209. 47-1230 etc. On my BOL changers they also have a step up transformer. I think most ceramic cartridges did not require the step up transformer so you should be able to bypass the step up transformer and connect directly to the radio chassis. Someone that could really answer this question would be a guy up in Canada named Syl. Here is a link from Chucks site, http://www.philcorepairbench.com/links.htm it is called Old Radioz .

[Ron Ramirez]

Syl Vanier has apparently shut down his website. However, West-Tech Services recently announced that they are now offering Beam of Light repair.

Jon - who do you send your Beam of Light changers to for repair? Just curious. I was not aware of anyone else who was willing to tackle those beasts.

But to answer the question...the Beam of Light models include a one-tube phono preamp. If your substitute changer has a ceramic cartridge, this could cause the audio to be too loud/distorted. However, the output of a magnetic cartridge will work just fine. I know this from firsthand experience - a client once asked me to replace the Beam of Light changer in her 1942 Philco 42-1008 to a more modern changer, so I used a 3-speed BSR changer with a magnetic cartridge, and retained the input transformer. It worked very well.

49Stude - good to see you back on here.

[49Stude63]

Syl could rattle off the mv output of magnetic vs ceramic so on that area I was not sure. On my second 41-611P model, it has a Garrad turntable to replace the BOL http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/albu...5367xIGYeT and they tapped into the step up transformer (has a shure cartridge, magnetic type) but on my RCA V301 they replaced the old phono (ceramic cartridge) and put a Collaro phono unit with the GE magnetic catridge and had to put a 1 tube pre-amp unit unit then plugged the output of the pre-amp into the chassis phono input. I am also curious on the BOL repair since some of my models have BOLs and I know some of them have some pot metal that makes it tough to repair. I had just planned on converting them to modern Collaro units and keeping the BOL's and putting them in storage.

[Jon Scaptura]

My changer is at For Your Listening Pleasure in Binghamton, NY. I'm having them do the mechanical resotration of the changer. As for the electronics, I get good sound reproduction from the original setup, although the photocell output is a little weak. Sometime at a later date, I'll replace the photocell.