Ancient Turntable Plug

Good evening. I’ve acquired a lovely Goldring Lenco GL 75 with a two-pin power plug:

I want to fit a standard plug; is it as straightforward as chopping that one off and attaching a modern one? I’ve had the turntable open and I think I can see where the live (red) wiring is, so do I just trace it back and determine polarity in the new plug from that? I’d rather not fry this…

Many thanks in advance

Ooh, lovely. No pics of the actual turntable? Bad form sir. Bad form.

But yeah, just cut the plug off and shove the bare wire into the holes in the socket in the wall*

What cartridge is on it?

*do not do this

That looks a bit like a US plug. Are you sure it’s ok to use on 240V – should say somewhere on the back.

Probably. I wouldn’t worry too much about live and neutral, more about 230vAC/50Hz. Is it a UK market turntable? If so then go ahead. In the late 70s and 80s lots of mid range hifi and better “music centres” had multiway mini-plugs or daisy chaining power to save on taking up your one or two sockets in the living room.

Edit: to explain why I wouldn’t worry which is live vs neutral, look at the two way plug, it looks designed to be plugged in either way round, so the equipment isn’t likely to complain whichever way the new plug gets wired. Still nice to wire the live up to whatever is switched in the turntable though.

Sorry, how rude of me! Here it is:

Cartridge is Audio Technica.

The turntable was plugged into a Trio amp for most of its life. It was my grandfather’s, so definitely UK. I’ve had old hifi stuff with these plugs before, but old amps used to have power supplies built in – you just plug your turntable/tuner/whatever directly into the back of the amp.

So would the consensus be that I fit a modern plug with no concern for observing polarity?

But yeah, just cut the plug off and shove the bare wire into the holes in the socket in the wall*

An NCB electrician once told me it was safer to double the wires over and jam them in the socket with matchsticks to hold them in place.

An NCB electrician once told me it was safer to double the wires over and jam them in the socket with matchsticks to hold them in place

Standard practice in the 20th century, never did any harm(sort of).

When I was a kid my dad showed me how to get two appliances or more in one socket by squashing in the wires with an actual plug. Ahh the 80’s…

I’d check the details on the motor first, or the transformer if there’s one in there. Just to make sure it’s designed for 220-240V.

Will it fit into a shaver adaptor? Save cutting it off

Is it a UK market turntable? If so then go ahead. In the late 70s and 80s lots of mid range hifi and better “music centres” had multiway mini-plugs or daisy chaining power to save on taking up your one or two sockets in the living room.

But the first item in that daisy chain might be stepping the voltage down to 110v and it does look very like a US style plug

Yeah use an adapter it’s a US plug UK used 3 round pins.

The turntable was purchased from J G Windows in Newcastle upon Tyne, according to the sticker on the top. It’s not a US unit.

Here’s the transformer:

Here’s the only other part with visible ratings:

As I said, and I used to have an old National Panasonic amp with this feature, some amps in the 70s had the female part of this plug, so you could plug separates in. From a quick look at vintage amps on eBay, it’s pssible that these amp sockets are max 150v. I need to do some more research, but at this point I reckon I’m happy with a simple plug swap. Thanks again for everyone’s assistance.

Little adapter here.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/America-Ireland-adapter-converter-adaptor/dp/B00J16KPRC

Little adapter here.

Those adaptors are fine with modern equipment as manufacturers are generally marketing internationally – so their internal transformers will accept / switch between voltages. But older stuff might not readily accept double the intended voltage.

Can’t quite see from the photo but it looks like the transformer can be wired for 120v or 220v (close enough to 230v used in uk today). Check the “switch over circuit diagram” to see which.

Can’t quite see from the photo but it looks like the transformer can be wired for 120v or 220v

Indeed! Thank you. The wire obscures it in the pic, but it says 110v. Current wiring matches the 220v diagram. Gentlemen, I’m off to wire it up…

Just in case, can I have dibs on your bikes?