Zenith Record Player

No, you cannot play any record on any record player. There are a variety of sizes of vinyl records and a range of speeds at which records are intended to be played. It’s important to make sure you use the proper player for the records you have in order to ensure the best sound and to keep your records in good condition.

The main parts of a record player are the plinth, the revolving platter, the tone arm, the stylus and the cartridge. The plinth is the base of the record player, while the revolving platter is the round platform in the middle where you put the record. When you're ready to play a record, you lift the tone arm and place the needle or stylus against the vinyl. Then, the cartridge inside of the tone arm produces electrical signals as the stylus moves over the record's grooves. These impulses amplify to play music. On 1stDibs, shop a variety of record players.

Yes, people had record players in the 1930s. In fact, record players began to become more common during the decade and continued to grow in popularity throughout the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Thomas Edison made the first phonograph record player in 1877. Shop a variety of record players on 1stDibs.

Old-time record players were called gramophones or phonographs. Thomas Edison debuted his phonograph in 1877. The device was the result of Edison’s developing improvements to the telegraph and the telephone. He worked out a way to record sound on cylinders that were coated in tin foil (he decided that his invention would “undoubtedly be liberally devoted to music”). On 1stDibs, find vintage record players.

In the 1950s, most people just called record players record players. The technical name for record players from this period is a phonograph. Until the 1940s, many people referred to record players as gramophones. On 1stDibs, find a variety of record players.