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Columbo Episode Turntable

harman/kardon

harman/kardon

From the Fatherland
Subscriber
Hi Everybody!

I shot this photo from my tv screen, sorry for the bad quality.

It shows a very fine turntable with a very lot of buttons. It is the co star of the Columbo Episode "The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case" from 1977.

The tt is visible very often in the episode, because it is part of the murderers killer plan.

Does anybody know something about the turntable?
 

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Thanks, hey, so the remote on the photo left on the receiver belongs to the tt, thats cool.

Compared it with the remote I saw in your link!
 
This is one of my favorite episodes. The turntable does show up again at the home of the muderer. Columbo calls it a "Victrola".
 
Duane said:
This is one of my favorite episodes. The turntable does show up again at the home of the muderer. Columbo calls it a "Victrola".
Click to expand...

Duane here a snapshot from my bedroom.

Right photo signed: "Wanda my best to you Peter Falk"

Left photo signed: "To Bobby my best Peter Falk"

Both with COA. I love Columbo, I admire Peter Falk...:yes:

OT off...
 

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I would like to recommand this episode to all vintage Hifi fans, I dont have to recommand it to Columbo fans, of course.:D

I dont know if this turntable is something really special, but it looks in my opinion absolutely fantastic.

It appaers in its original 70s surroundings, lefthand a receiver, perhaps a smaller Kenwood, cant recognize it precisely, and the scene returns several times to the tt. So I expressed in my first post that the tt is a "co star" in the show. :yes:

Got it on dvd, of course. And the more I watch the episode, the more this ADC turntable becomes a "must have"...

Christoph
 
That ADC turntable allowed you to select "tracks" in whatever order you wanted to play them, as it had an optical sensor that read the spaces between the tracks...could set the stylus down right where you programmed it to. About the same functionality as a modern CD player..
 
There were several episodes that had glimpses of audio equipment. I know one had the same Teac A-4300 that I have. Another one had what looked to be a Fisher receiver.

ADC Accutrak turntable was one of the first if not the first to have the ability to program tracks. Once in awhile they show up for sale.
The remote control function was that "egg" looking device which I believe was the receiver which was cabled to the rear of the table. The hand held remote could then be used when the receiver was plugged in. I am just stating what I've seen and heard,having never used one.

You could try to search on AK posts regarding this table.
 
HarmanKardon said:
Got it on dvd, of course. And the more I watch the episode, the more this ADC turntable becomes a "must have"...

Christoph
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That TT was available in Bartertown last week (maybe the week before). Don't remember the name of the member who had it for sale but a quick search should turn it up.
 
What channel is broadcasting the Columbo reruns?
I love to watch some again........James

BTW--The accutrack was a very troubled tuntable which gave owners and servicemen headaches.
 
JHS2RT said:
BTW--The accutrack was a very troubled tuntable which gave owners and servicemen headaches.
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So far no trouble with mine. Just a new belt for the tone arm. Still looking for the "egg" and remote.
 
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Duane said:
There were several episodes that had glimpses of audio equipment. I know one had the same Teac A-4300 that I have. Another one had what looked to be a Fisher receiver.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I remember those episodes. In the one with the Fisher receiver it was a Fisher 400. When it started picking up static it tipped off Colombo that the room was bugged and it gets a pretty good cameo appearance. The Teac was in the main character's office (in another episode) playing some classical piece in the very beginning of the episode. I've mentioned the ADC turntable a couple of times before, too. I was (and still am) always on the lookout for that kind of stuff in tv and movies :nerd:
 
Thanks for all posts. You americans seem to be pretty familiar with this turntable. I never saw it for example in a european Ebay auction or in a german Hifi Forum or anywhere else. Again audiokarma confirms to be a fine source for informations about non european Hifi gear. nbarber: owning such a beauty will remain apparently a dream for me.

The first I thought when the murderer expained to Lt. Columbo how the tt works (the Lieutenant was fascinated by the row of buttons) was: cd player functions! Phonotones: you and most of you folks had the same in mind.

Christoph
 
G'day all. Great thread! As a young boy, I was a big fan of Columbo when it was on Australian TV back in the 70's and yes I vaguely remember that episode and that turntable.

I remember thinking how cool that turntable was in being able to be 'programmed' like that! Great memories. Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
From what I've read about those ADC turntables and culled from others comments on that machine's performance it's not really a great turntable. It's basically a lower end belt drive table with a typical "S" arm, no suspension and the fancy track seeking mechanism rarely works properly (again, this is according to others who have owned one). Neat to see one, though!
 
HarmanKardon said:
Thanks for all posts. You americans seem to be pretty familiar with this turntable. I never saw it for example in a european Ebay auction or in a german Hifi Forum or anywhere else.
Click to expand...

I bought my current one from UK Ebay a couple of years back and one sold on that very same site last week, complete with its remote orb and handset, for £38!

audiojones said:
From what I've read about those ADC turntables and culled from others comments on that machine's performance it's not really a great turntable. It's basically a lower end belt drive table with a typical "S" arm, no suspension and the fancy track seeking mechanism rarely works properly (again, this is according to others who have owned one). Neat to see one, though!
Click to expand...

Hmmmm, you haven't read very well then. The Accutrac 4000 is a direct drive deck using the (in)famous Matsushita motor and the top plate is completely suspended from the cabinet. the later Accutrac +6 which added 6 LP autochange facility through a motorised spindle was belt drive but still had a suspended subchassis.

As to the track selection mechanism, I'm on my third deck - this one and number two worked perfectly, but number one would do nothing, no matter what I did to it, so I'm personally going on a 33% failure rate! :D
 
JHS2RT said:
What channel is broadcasting the Columbo reruns?
I love to watch some again........James

BTW--The accutrack was a very troubled tuntable which gave owners and servicemen headaches.
Click to expand...

I was just going to say that. We called it Accucrap. The stupid auto indexing didn't work well and there were other problems. If I recall, the microprocessor would blow up, probably from static discharge. At a certain point the parts became unobtainium.
 
Beobloke so I havent checked Ebay UK carefully enough. Shame! 38 pounds, what is that - some 50 euros? That cheap?

Thanks for your encouragement!!!
 
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