Stefano Pasini


A mysterious record changer
 
EMT's mysterious record changer


A very interesting post on 'Lencoheaven' by the Dutch poster 'zwarte-romantik' brought to my attention this interesting machine.
It has obviously seen better times, but what puzzles me is: what is (was) this? I never seen anything like that in EMT production, pictures, documents; none of the few real experts seem to have ever seen this one. The chassis is quite similar to a 930's, and it would be of no use 'creating' (i.e. counterfeiting) any machine of this type if an original didn't exist in the first place. It could have been the prototype of a record changer built to offer 'normal' people something less expensive than a 930.
It is worthy remembering, at this point, that a 930 was absurdly expensive for a private customer: the August 1960 issue of 'Audio', in USA, listed the 930 (monophonic, stereo version 'available'), at a whopping $ 1,150,00 whilst a complete Rek-O-Kut cost 139,95 in its more complete version; the Garrard 310 'motor' cost $ 89,00 and the Thorens TD-124 $ 99,75. So, one could probably hope for a cheaper EMT: but was it ever seen around?
 

 

Any information would be obviously welcome. It is a previously unseen contemporary of the massive EMT 927 and 930, so this toy-like record changer is a mystery to me