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In fact I wouldn't waste five cents restoring any old transcription turntable, except as an artifact or if you have the space and a lot of discs you just want to audition. Modern players such as the Technics SP 15 have far more flexibility, pitch variation and less rumble and noise. Ah.....Gates. We had a couple of their cartridge players in one station I worked at in the 70s. Useless things. dl John Ross wrote: > It's hard to think of a good reason to spend any kind of money > restoring a Gates turntable. As a category, the performance of those > old rim-drive transcription turntables was much worse than later > direct-drive and belt-drive machines, and among the transcription > tables, the Gates turntables were notorious for rumble problems -- > much worse than comparable turntables from Rek-o-cut, McCurdy, RCA or > Fairchild . They might have been okay for heavily-processed lo-fi AM > radio circa 1958, but most FM stations that cared about sound > quality got rid of them as soon as a practical alternative became available. > > Even if you need a turntable that would play 16-inch transcriptions, > there are much better alternatives. > > A lot of that old technology was indeed wonderful -- RCA ribbon > microphones, McIntosh tube amplifiers and so forth -- but Gates > turntables ain't in that category. > > Gates Radio made a full line of radio studio equipment, from > turntables and consoles through to transmitters. It's my impression > that much of their market share was achieved through creative > financing of package deals -- buy everything from us and we will give > you a good price and affordable terms -- but they were never the > choice when quality was more important than price. Based in Quincy, > Illinois, they were widely known as "The Quincy Tin Works." > > Disclaimer: I'm talking about their reputation in the 1960s and 70s. > Gates is still in business, but their designs and quality levels are > almost certainly better than they used to be. > > John Ross > > At 8/9/2005 02:59 PM, Dr. Cheryl Thurber wrote: > >I am trying to find information about the Gates > >transcription turntable. This is a radio station > >turntable with a large platter. A few years ago when I > >first got this I did an internet search and then had > >communicated with someone in I believe NC who restores > >these, and knew immediately which model I have and > >information about it, and even had a manual. I was > >wondering if anyone on this list might know the > >person, or might know about the turntable. I am > >probably going to sell this in the near future, since > >I have not had the time to restore it, and it is very > >large and heavy (I mounted it in cart so it moves > >about and there is no pressure on the underside. I > >live in the Baltimore area in case anyone is > >interested when I do get around to selling it.) As I > >looked for information recently I could not find much > >about it. Gates seems to have been a key person in the > >development of the transcription turntable. This > >particular one had been in use in radio stations in > >the south central PA, the last use was at a gospel > >station according to the man I got it from. > > > >We seem to focus so much lately on current technology > >that we often forget about the importance of the > >earlier equipment. > >Any information would be appreciated.