Description
Dual 1218 Turntable. Classic Vintage. Fully revitalized.
The Dual company was established on February 1st 1907 in Black Forest (Germany) by two brothers, Christian and Joseph Steidinger, as a fine mechanics factory specialising in manufacturing of clockwork and gramophone parts. In 1927, Gebrüder Steidinger changed its name to Dual in reference to the dual-mode power supplies which allowed gramophones to be powered from the mains or with a wind-up mechanism. Soon after, the company began producing turntables of its own. After the Second World War, it became the biggest manufacturer of turntables in Europe. However, Dual, managed by the Germans, did not withstand the Japanese competition and after the bankruptcy in 1982 it was sold to Thomson. In 1988 it was bought by Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG, a German company. Between 1970 and 1990 it also produced other audio and video equipment such as: cassette players, VCRs, CD players etc.
In 1993-34, Dual was split into:
– Dual Phono Gmbh acquired by a company called Alfred Fehrenbacher, which has continued to manufacture turntables in the Black Forest on the same traditional product line. They can be recognised by the CS code.
– Dual DGC Gmbh selling mostly rebranded consumer electronics made in the Far East (including the turntables with the DT code).
For the American market (after the insolvency of Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG in 2001) the right to use Dual brand was bought by a Chinese company called TCL Holdings, which passed it on to a Korean company called Namsung Electronics in 2002. Currently Dual Electronics Corporation manufactures audio, video and GPS equipment to be installed in cars, boats and at home.
Turntables from the Dual 12XX series were manufactured in the early 70s and “put” by the prducer into various cases, also in cooperation with other well-known German brands (including Saba, Nordmende, Wega), which did not want to produce their own mechanisms.
The presented model 1218 was produced entirely by Dual in a wooden, very simple, even minimalist case. A well-balanced tone arm combines low mass and high stiffness, and the knob marked with numbers enables precise and easy adjustment of the pressure depending on the chosen insert model. Currently, the turntable is equipped with a good quality magnetic insert Shure M91 MG-D with a Hi Track needle, which provides a warm, soft and selective sound.
Technical characteristics:
– professionally calibrated with a Shur M91 M-GD cartridge and a Hi Track stylus
– idler drive
– the cover has been re-polished and rewaxed, which made it look like new again
– anti – skating
– record diameter 17 / 25 / 30
– suspended system (floating system )
– the case is made of teak wood, finished with oil produced of natural Chinese oils, natural wood colour
– vibration damping coefficient
– adjustable speed of 33,45,78 rpm
– drive mechanically separated and uncoupled
– pitch control: 6%
– START – STOP system
– adjustable anti-skating system, cushioned tone arm lifting system
– solid, mechanically damped plate with thick (270mm) antistatic mat 270 mm, 3,2 kg, cast, non-magnetic, dynamically balanced.
– tone arm lift and return system
– rumble: 59dB
– dimensions: 44 cm, 36,5 cm, 20 cm (WxDxH)
– new, high quality RCA cables
– masa GDN cable
– weight ca. 10kg
– produced in 1971