Cec turntables

caboon · Mar 13, 2012

Just got my hands on this for pretty cheap and planning on partaking in my first fixup/restore on this puppy.

It looks like a CEC BA600 with a slightly different plinth than all the pics ive found on the net.

Theres not alot of info about these, but wondering if anyone knows anything.There are specs on vinyl engine but thats about it.

Im sure its better than the NAD turntable i have at the moment.Been un happy with it since i got it.

Ive read that CEC used to make alot of tables for other brands, marantz, technics, pioneer etc.Wondering if this may also be one of these brands.

Thanks for any info

CAm

Montycat · Mar 17, 2012

I also just "found" a CEC table, the WHITE CEC BD1000. Yours looks a bit higher end, but has some similarities.

In their terminology I think BD stands for belt drive and BA belt drive automatic. DISCO is another series, which I guess stands for disco. :scratch2:

They made a lot of very capable but few outstanding turntables for almost everyone. I don't know anything more about yours though.

Bob_in_OKC · Mar 17, 2012

caboon said:
Just got my hands on this for pretty cheap and planning on partaking in my first fixup/restore on this puppy.

It looks like a CEC BA600 with a slightly different plinth than all the pics ive found on the net.

Theres not alot of info about these, but wondering if anyone knows anything.There are specs on vinyl engine but thats about it.

Im sure its better than the NAD turntable i have at the moment.Been un happy with it since i got it.

Ive read that CEC used to make alot of tables for other brands, marantz, technics, pioneer etc.Wondering if this may also be one of these brands.

Thanks for any info

CAm

I've never done any research on how far CEC's reach extended, but major players in the turntable world, like Technics and Pioneer, wouldn't have used CEC turntables. Lesser players like Marantz did.

jimbofish · Mar 17, 2012

FWIW, I have a Project/One DR-220 TT that's the same as a CEC BD-3200. It's similar to some of the Marantz TTs.

charles 1973 · Mar 17, 2012

White/CEC made some Fine Tables for Radio Shack back in the the day including my LAB 300. It was a belt drive semi-Auto that sounded and looked great with a Shure M95ed cartridge. It had an identical Speed selector, looks like the same Platter and rubber mat and may have shared the drive too. The Anti-Skate device was identical to your's. It had the Same Shape Tonearm but with a different Bearing assembly, and controls were different too.

boreas · Mar 17, 2012

Bob_in_OKC said:
I've never done any research on how far CEC's reach extended, but major players in the turntable world, like Technics and Pioneer, wouldn't have used CEC turntables. Lesser players like Marantz did.

True, Technics and Pioneer never had C.E.C. make any tables for them and true Marantz did but I wouldn't call Marantz a "lesser player". So did Sanyo, Fisher, Scott, Pacific Stereo, Radio Shack, Harksound, Taya and a slew of others. They also made turntables under their own name, C.E.C. in the case of the OP's table but also C.D.C. (The "E" in C.E.C. stand for Electric. The Japanese for electric, as in General Electric, is Denki, hence the "D".)

C.E.C. built what the customer wanted. If that was a plastic fantastic $79.99 special then that's what they built. If it was something significantly better, like a Marantz 6300 or a Sanyo Plus Series Q50, then that's that they built. In every case their tables were at least the equal of the directly competing models from the competition and often better.

John

Bob_in_OKC · Mar 17, 2012

boreas said:
True, Technics and Pioneer never had C.E.C. make any tables for them and true Marantz did but I wouldn't call Marantz a "lesser player". So did Sanyo, Fisher, Scott, Pacific Stereo, Radio Shack, Harksound, Taya and a slew of others. They also made turntables under their own name, C.E.C. in the case of the OP's table but also C.D.C. (The "E" in C.E.C. stand for Electric. The Japanese for electric, as in General Electric, is Denki, hence the "D".)

C.E.C. built what the customer wanted. If that was a plastic fantastic $79.99 special then that's what they built. If it was something significantly better, like a Marantz 6300 or a Sanyo Plus Series Q50, then that's that they built. In every case their tables were at least the equal of the directly competing models from the competition and often better.

John

Marantz might have been a big dog in electronics, but in turntables they were lesser by a long shot.

boreas · Mar 17, 2012

charles 1973 said:
White/CEC made some Fine Tables for Radio Shack back in the the day including my LAB 300.

I've never been clear on the connection between White and C.E.C. or whether we're talking about the same White that now owns Westinghouse's appliance division. Were they a manufacturing partner of Chuo Denki's here in the US or were they just a distributor of Japanese made product here? At the time the White I'm thinking of made sewing machines so making turntables wouldn't have been a stretch.

John

boreas · Mar 17, 2012

Bob_in_OKC said:
Marantz might have been a big dog in electronics, but in turntables they were lesser by a long shot.

Not surprisingly, I don't agree. The much loved 6100 was indeed a near entry level turntable (~$125.00 as I recall) built to compete with offerings like the PL12D and SL-23 - which it did quite handily. On the other hand, the 6300, 6350 and some others were pretty damn nice turntables that held their own quite well against the competition of the time.

John

Bob_in_OKC · Mar 17, 2012

boreas said:
Not surprisingly, I don't agree. The much loved 6100 was indeed a near entry level turntable (~$125.00 as I recall) built to compete with offerings like the PL12D and SL-23 - which it did quite handily. On the other hand, the 6300, 6350 and some others were pretty damn nice turntables that held their own quite well against the competition of the time.

John

I realize you disagree. It's just your style. Seriously. I don't know whether it's aimed at me, or you just do that. Marantz had relatively few models and they involved considerable outsourcing of major components. That makes them lesser than Technics, regardless of one's opinion on the performance. You seriously disagree with that? Typical. I could say my car is painted white and you'd disagree.

By the way, the 6300 is not that great. It's on a nicely veneered plinth. It doesn't go too far beyond that.

boreas · Mar 17, 2012

Bob_in_OKC said:
I realize you disagree. It's just your style. Seriously. I don't know whether it's aimed at me, or you just do that.

Hmmm... I guess the way to put your mind at rest is for me to drop this here and now. So I do.

jancumps · Mar 17, 2012

Yes, let's get back to the tables.

CEC 2000, photo taken when it was in my house serving me hours and hours of good music:

Love it!

Bob_in_OKC · Mar 17, 2012

That CEC 2000 has a bit of the Dual / United Audio look going.

charles 1973 · Mar 17, 2012

That CEC 2000 looks like the Realistic LAB 300 I bought in the mid 70's. My Pioneer Rondo 2000 (think PL112d) looks increadibly close to some CEC Turntables and wouldn't surprise me to find out they are both built in the same plant.

IMO many there are some decent Turntables made by many brands. Just because their not the most popular, or don't have the high end name doesen't mean they didn't make some good players. As good $ for $ as the more popular ones. I'm not familier with all the TT's out there, but I'll bet Brands like Marantz, Sony, Akia, Sansui, Niko and Realistic to name a few had some pretty good offering's in their day too, even if their TT's weren't big seller's or thought of as good buy's.

Montycat · Mar 17, 2012

I'm not sure that CEC never made turntables for Pioneer, and frankly it would not suprise me if they made some for Technics. Way back I know a friend and I took my Taya and compared it to his TT which I think was a Pioneer and it was identical in every way except for the badge.

Here is the White CEC BD1000 I cleaned up last night. Take it at Face Value...

White CEC 6 by Buhduh, on Flickr

boreas · Mar 17, 2012

Montycat said:
I'm not sure that CEC never made turntables for Pioneer, and frankly it would not suprise me if they made some for Technics. Way back I know a friend and I took my Taya and compared it to his TT which I think was a Pioneer and it was identical in every way except for the badge.

Sony might be another one. They certainly used outsourced tables in some of their entertainment centers. I've seen Garrard and/or Dual changers in some of those. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that C.E.C. made some tables for Matsushita early on but I think by the time that the Technics brand was established all of the tables were made in-house. Pioneer? I dunno. Maybe very early on, like early '60s, but I sort of doubt it.

John

Bob_in_OKC · Mar 17, 2012

Come to think of it, it probably wouldn't surprise me to find that Pioneer had some CEC in them, but it would surprise me if Technics did. I'd be even less surprised if it turned out some of these turntables that look like a CEC were made by one of the big shots in manufacturing. This old ad posted in another thread implies this Taya was made by Toshiba, unless maybe Toshiba was still just re-badging a CEC and calling it Taya.

Montycat · Mar 17, 2012

Yep Sony was definitely one. Here is my Sony HMP-70. If that's not a CEC I'll eat Phil Collins' face.

Sony HMP-70 by Buhduh, on Flickr

mackat · Mar 17, 2012

I want that!!!

Ben aka MacKat

saunadog · Mar 17, 2012

I own 4 CEC made tables (a Marantz, Realistic, and 2 Sanyos). They're all well made. It's definitely neat to see pictures of some TTs that they sold under their own brand name.

Cec turntables

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