Hmm... I'm not quite sure about whether this is of any interest to anyone. I'm only writing about it because it got me pretty excited.
Two weeks ago I managed to get a record player in an auction, a BBC EMT 950. Apparently it's the greatest turntable ever made! Seems a bit strange to make such a claim, but I've been trawling the internet, and most people seem to agree. They were never made available to the public, they were used only for broadcast, usually by radio stations.

This picture isn't my one, but it's exactly the same, more or less. It weighs 75 kilos, and took four of us to carry it. I wish I wasn't so obsessed with it, but it really is amazing. I don't know if it's easy enough to make out, but on the left there is a "groove indicator" which is a needle that tells you which groove of the record you are on. Under that is a digital counter, that you can use to cue up your records, using the built-in reverse gear. It stands on big metal legs, and is around hip-height, so you can lean on it, like you would a juke box. It was built in 1976, and still hasn't been bettered. Back then it cost 15,000 Deustche Marks. I don't know my exchange rates, and rate of inflation, but that works out as around twice the cost of my parents house at the time (I may well have miscalculated, but make no mistake, these were EXPENSIVE). It sounds amazing, and it's taken over my living room. I guess if the house gets broken into, they'll have a hard time stealing this behemoth. It's brought out the obsessive nerd in me that's always been pretty close to the surface, if not fully apparent to everyone.
If this is the kind of waffle you like reading, you can read more about EMT turntables here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMT_turntables