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Commonwealth Electronics 12/D3 Turntable

The Commonwealth Electronics 12D was the last model made by the company and following the take-over by Philips in the mid 1960's the 12D stayed in production till the 1970's. There were two versions of the 12D the 12/D3 and 12/D4 which had three and four speeds respectively. There is a neutal position between each speed selection which allows easy cueing. This turntable uses an idler wheel between the motor and the inside edge of the platter but unlike many turntables of this type a solenoid is used to engage the idler wheel while the power is on. This means that it is not possible for a flat to develop on the idler wheel if a particular speed is selected while the power is off.

SPECIFICATION:
Turnable diameter:12in
Turnable weight:6.5 lbs
Speeds:33.33, 45.11, 77.93 RPM
Speed tolerance:0% to +0.25%
Wow and flutter:Less than 0.1% RMS total @ 33 RPM
Rumble:Better than -50db below recorded level of 7cm/sec at 1 kHz
Acceleration:1/2 rev @ 33.33 & 45 RPM, 3/4 rev @ 78 RPM


The 12D shown here is an early version of this model and while I don't know precisely when Philips purchased Commonwealth Electronics this 12D has no labels or markings to indicate any involvement by Philips.