Crosley Traveler Stack-O-Matic and rebuild

I blame this thread (and this one) for giving me the impetus to buy this:
stackomatic_1.jpg

Spotted it for sale in a booth at a local antiques mall a month or so back, priced at $49, and kinda chuckled at it. Then saw this thread, and started giving it more thought. Seeing the other thread intrigued me further, and when I saw that it'd been discounted by 30%, I finally threw up my hands and bought it after some testing. It seems to be intact, and even came with two L-shaped rubber shims still installed under the shipping screws. The volume control is scratchy, but the unit seems to work OK otherwise.

To the OP, what's the rating of the original wall-wart power supply which comes with the CR89? Mine came with a "KPTEC" brand wall-wart rated for 9VDC@1.1A, but the plate with the power connector says "DC 12V", which makes me wonder. Also, I get some hum in the audio, which I'm guessing is due to the switch-mode nature of this wall-wart, so I'm gonna look for a linear wall-wart to use instead, and want to make sure I get one which can supply enough current.
-Adam
 
I blame this thread (and this one) for giving me the impetus to buy this:
View attachment 1165752

Spotted it for sale in a booth at a local antiques mall a month or so back, priced at $49, and kinda chuckled at it. Then saw this thread, and started giving it more thought. Seeing the other thread intrigued me further, and when I saw that it'd been discounted by 30%, I finally threw up my hands and bought it after some testing. It seems to be intact, and even came with two L-shaped rubber shims still installed under the shipping screws. The volume control is scratchy, but the unit seems to work OK otherwise.

To the OP, what's the rating of the original wall-wart power supply which comes with the CR89? Mine came with a "KPTEC" brand wall-wart rated for 9VDC@1.1A, but the plate with the power connector says "DC 12V", which makes me wonder. Also, I get some hum in the audio, which I'm guessing is due to the switch-mode nature of this wall-wart, so I'm gonna look for a linear wall-wart to use instead, and want to make sure I get one which can supply enough current.
-Adam

500ma is the original wall-wart rating with mine. Also had a 1A wall-wart.

My rebuild had a changer swap. Now houses a C141R1 with the tonearm from the C134.
MyZxGzR.png

XhzycVb.png


The AUE cartridge can be replaced with a Varco TN4B or the new Banpa BP2ATC cartridge. Mine has the BP2ATC cartridge, which replaced the AUE cartridge (uses the same cartridge holder clip as the Varco TN4B and the Chuo-Denshi CZ-800 AKA Pfanstiehl P-188)
 
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500ma is the original wall-wart rating with mine. Also had a 1A wall-wart.

My rebuild had a changer swap. Now houses a C141R1 with the tonearm from the C134.
MyZxGzR.png

XhzycVb.png


The AUE cartridge can be replaced with a Varco TN4B or the new Banpa BP2ATC cartridge. Mine has the BP2ATC cartridge, which replaced the AUE cartridge (uses the same cartridge holder clip as the Varco TN4B and the Chuo-Denshi CZ-800 AKA Pfanstiehl P-188)
Good to know, thanks. Why did you mention both 500mA and 1A? I'm mainly concerned about feeding too much voltage into the thing when using a 12V wall-wart (an unloaded unregulated one generally puts out 14-15VDC) if I'm gong to keep it stock, which I haven't yet decided on. I have a BSR/McDonald changer around here similar to the mech seen in your BSR-O-Matic (says "Professional Series" on the plinth) which I may transplant into the base if I get rambunctious. For now, I'll probably at least get one of the BANPA cartridges to install in it, since I don't entirely trust those goofy red Crosley cartridges and their plastic cantilevers.......... :rolleyes:
-Adam
 
Good to know, thanks. Why did you mention both 500mA and 1A? I'm mainly concerned about feeding too much voltage into the thing when using a 12V wall-wart (an unloaded unregulated one generally puts out 14-15VDC) if I'm gong to keep it stock, which I haven't yet decided on. I have a BSR/McDonald changer around here similar to the mech seen in your BSR-O-Matic (says "Professional Series" on the plinth) which I may transplant into the base if I get rambunctious. For now, I'll probably at least get one of the BANPA cartridges to install in it, since I don't entirely trust those goofy red Crosley cartridges and their plastic cantilevers.......... :rolleyes:
-Adam

The original one is 500ma, the bare minimum to be able to use it at max volume, but 1A is recommended.
 
Speaking of the Stack-o-Matic as the last record changer, does anyone think there will ever be another? I'd love to be able to get a modernised version of the classic RCA 45 stackers, but that's probably not going to happen (unless I find one that's been customized).
 
As much as I dislike Crosleys, if I came across one cheap, I'd pick up a Stack O Matic for the exact same reason - to modify it. I heard a few years ago that a BSR was pretty much a direct drop-in. Not that I need any more projects, but I might have to start watching Ebay for one that isn't working and cheap. I wouldn't mind having a portable capable of stacking records. I do have a GE Swingmate that needs some work, but it is mono with one tiny speaker and a super heavy tracking cartridge, so I haven't really been motivated to work on it.
 
Speaking of the Stack-o-Matic as the last record changer, does anyone think there will ever be another?
Unless the BSR/Stack-O-Matic tooling is still sitting in a factory somewhere and could be easily put back into production, probably not. The mechanical complexity would make designing a new one from scratch very expensive, and the audiophiles who are normally more than willing to pay a premium for any newly designed turntable have always hated record changers and would refuse to buy one.

Plus, BSRs never die, so at this point do they really need to make any new ones? :p
 
As much as I dislike Crosleys, if I came across one cheap, I'd pick up a Stack O Matic for the exact same reason - to modify it. I heard a few years ago that a BSR was pretty much a direct drop-in. Not that I need any more projects, but I might have to start watching Ebay for one that isn't working and cheap. I wouldn't mind having a portable capable of stacking records. I do have a GE Swingmate that needs some work, but it is mono with one tiny speaker and a super heavy tracking cartridge, so I haven't really been motivated to work on it.

You have to cut a small portion of the mounting board near the bottom left, for the idler mechanism to fit in properly, but other than that, the mounting holes on the stack-o-matic are in the same exact spots as a BSR
 
It looks like the Stack-O-Matic may have been a true BSR design after all, a C503 to be exact. May have been BSR's last record changer design if the info from this page is correct, which the company that acquired BSR's turntable business continued using for several years.

There's no way it's a clone, even has a proper series number which matches up BSR's series numbering system.
 
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It's probably their tooling, at the least. According to Wikipedia, BSR stopped making record changers in the mid '80s, around the same time that Technics also stopped producing the SL-B500 and SL-D500, their (apparent) last changer models. BSR shut down or sold off all of their divisions except Astec (power supplies), and later became part of Emerson.
-Adam
 
P-Mount record changers? I never knew such a thing existed!
Yep, possibly the only ones ever produced which were set up only for P-mount. Fitting, since they were basically the company which pioneered that style of cartridges. Also perhaps fittingly, Technics also produced what may be the only quartz-locked direct-drive record changer ever made, in the SL-5350.

You can find BSR record changers in the strangest places, such as retrofitted into a 1947 RCA Victor model 65U radio:

s-l1600.jpg
Yep, it's fairly common to find stuff like that installed into older radio/phonographs from the '30s and '40s which were originally fitted with single-speed record changers. A consequence of the "speed wars" of the late 1940s, which saw 33RPM LPs (and EPs) and 45RPM singles introduced into the marketplace. The logical extreme of this practice was how the fancy single-speed assembly-line turn-over record changer used in high-end Capehart consoles were sometimes replaced with similarly-featured Lincoln record changers which could handle all three speeds.
-Adam
 
Thanks! I recently swapped the cartridge for a Pickering V-15. The C141R1 that's currently on it is a perfect match. I'm also gonna rewire the preamp and make a mono/stereo switch, as well as a PH/AUX switch and a MAG/CER switch (since I have a schematic to allow ceramic cartridges to work on MM preamps).
 
Hi. I'm a noob that just nabbed a cr89 and am interested in resources that will help me gain experience futzing with it. For starters it plays slow. Even after a cleaning and new belt. On this model is the tone knob supposed to adjust turntable speed?
 
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