HI-FI DECONST

RUCTED

iveup? This

oneof those

ng,must-

innovations

chnology that

esand then

bright like

ooting star

races across

rmament

dlybefore

pearing

erwithout

It was

d a stacking

dle.An

niousthing,

verytime

nkabout

ingspindles

dder.

acking

dleslet

serspile

orso

ould get

e stack

nicmusic

filesandSpotifythismeanta hostcould get

through at least the main course of a dinner

party without having to rise and change the

record. They were so popular they became

a common fitment on turntables, portable

record players and especially that ultimate

expression of entertainment extravagance,

the radiogram. If your record player didn’t

have a stacking spindle, well socially you

rated somewhere south of Maynard G. Krebs.

A stacking spindle had a little vertical tab

sticking out, and a notch, and it was geared

to the fully automatic tonearm. The tab guid-

ed the lowest record in the stack, the one

closesttotheplatter,intothenotchwhich

heldit upthere,andthatrecordsupported

alltheothersaboveit wheretheyhungpre-

cariouslyuntilyoufiredupthesystem.Then

thetonearmwouldlift,andasit didthetab

wouldmovetopushthelowestrecordoutof

thenotchsoit droppeddowntotheplatter.

Thetonearmwouldmoveacrosstoit,lower

andplay.Pleasenotethattherewasnothing

subtleaboutthedropdownthespindle,it

wasgravityatitsmostunapologetic,morea

plummetthana drop.Theentireturntable

assemblywouldjiggleasvinylmetmat.

Meanwhiletherecordsstillupthereon

thespindle’stopwouldallmovedowna

spaceasthebottomoneslidintothenotch,

cueingit toplaynext.

By having the tab and the notch, the

stacking spindle let one record fall onto

the platter at a time, preventing the vinyl

equivalent of an avalanche. As the tonearm

reached the end of the first record, lifted and

returned home, the tab would again push the

next record out of the notch so it would drop

down and the remaining records would again

all move down a spot.

When all the records had played you

simply lifted them all off, turned the stack

over and slid them back onto the spindle to

play the second side of each. Search ‘stacking

spindle’ on YouTube for a demonstration, but

note that these appear far more elegant than

the process ever actually was, and they don’t

properly capture the sounds, blood curdling

to anyone who cares about records.

For the most part stacking spindles were

reliable, although there was the odd misfire

where a record got stuck up there and the stylus

lowered onto the spinning rubber mat covering

the platter. It was amazing what styli could

tolerate back then, not to mention speakers.

If the record’s centre hole was a bit

enlarged it could hang at an alarming angle

while waiting to play, and by the time you

reached the final record in the stack there

were so many records on the platter that the

tonearm played a long way off horizontal.

But stacking spindles were so popular

that recordings on multiple discs were often

tailored to them. Like the recording of Sir

Laurence Olivier reading Paul Gallico’s The

Snow Goose which I once bought at a garage

sale on three 78 rpm discs. The first disc was

part one on the A-side, part six on the B,

the second part two and part five, the third

part three and part four. Exactly how you’d

want them for playing on a stacking spindle.

(Bloke Warning: Even on 78s The Snow Goose

will get you sloppily emotional.)

Therewereequivalentinventions for stacking

andflippingcassetteslateron in the 1970s.

Akai’sinvert-o-maticwould eject the cassette

intoa sleeve,moveit backto a frame that

spunit through 180 degrees and re-insert it

intotheplayingmechanism [www.tinyurl.

com/AHF-auto-reverse-2]. Other bright ideas

forflippingcassettescamefrom Philips, Aiwa

andNakamichiamongothers [www.tinyurl.

com/AHF-auto-reverse]. There was an after-mar-

ketHeathRobinsontypedevice for top load-

erswithautoejectthatwould drive multiple

cassettesthrougha looptoflip them, letting

gravitythendropthemback into the player.

Allthesewonderfullyinventive ideas died

whensomebrightsparkinvented auto-

reverse. Rod Easdown

T

his is a test. How closely
did you examine the cover
of the very first edition of
Australian Hi-Fi magazine,
reproduced on page 45 of
the January 2019 edition,
the one marking 50 years of
continuous publication?
That original cover photograph from
1969 showed an Elac Miracord 50H turntable.
Did you notice how tall the spindle was?
Question: Why is the spindle of a 1969
Elac Miracord 50H so tall?

Australian Hi-Fi 82

out

someofthe

most remarkable

devices ever

invented to help

play music, and

reveals why most

of them met a

bitter end...

G

waso

shini

have

oftec

come

goes,

a sho

that r

thefi

grand

disap

forev

trace.

called

spind

ingen

bute

I thin

stacki

I shud

Sta

spind

theirus

half a dozeno

recordsabovetheplattersotheyc

continuousmusicforaslongasth

lasted. In the days prior to electron

Rod Easdown

reminds usabout