Sony PS-X75

One of the penultimate Sony turntables to be produced, the PS-X75 was launched at the october 1979 Tokyo Audio Fair : it was to be a revised version of the PS-B80 : the latter was outerspace sci-fi in 1978, the former was everyday sci-fi in 1979.

If its principles remained untouched, the J-shaped Biotracer tonearm was entirely re-engineered, especially the magnet / coil / bobbin arrangements of the vertical velocity and vertical linear motors - both those inside the top housing and those which deal with horizontal movements and make the bottom of the Biotracer.

It worked : most of the still visible PS-X75 have far less "blank moments", if any, than any of the PS-B80.

The features remained the same (all-automated everything, deported stylus force ring) but the stylus cleaner and digital readout of the stylus force vanished. The latter display would come back in the slightly re-looked but otherwise identical PS-X700.

The mat sports on its back side a protractor (thank you Sony), the BSL motor is the same and so are the barium-ferrite imprint read by an 8-pole magnetic head and linked X'Tal speed locking system.

Otherwise... what to say ?
The PS-X75 works beautifully, sonically as well, and it works beautifully and sonically as well. As a result, it sold very well worldwide.


The PS-X75 and PS-X700 cohabited a while in the (japanese) catalogs until the ultimate step was launched : the excellent PS-X800 tangential Biotracer (1981) and the later PS-X555ES version of the latter (1983).
There was nothing after that but Digital and Compact Disc - end of an era.