Anyone remember the lateral tracking Bang and Olufsen record player from the 80’s??


I remember going to my local HiFi Buys in the 80’s, and they were demoing a Bang and Olufsen laterally tracking record player. The stylist arm was straight, and followed the record grooves, moving left to right. He started banging hard with his fist on it, and the needle refused to jump!! I was REALLY impressed! I also wonder why there are not any lateral tracking LP players today? It made sense, the needle was always tracking straight In the groove, as it played the LP. Not curving slightly as it gets past the middle of playing the LP, as conventional record players have the stylist arm on a corner. So, the needle slightly turns inward as the record plays. No idea how he was able to bang on it while it was playing, and the needle didn’t skip. I was truly impressed! Maybe they do make players like this still, I’ve just not seen them. B&O really made/makes some really cool stuff!! And great designs. IMO.
  Another audio product for the 80’s that blew me away was the: Nakamitchi Dragon cassette player!! WOW! What a stunning design! Wish I’d bought one back in the day!! Of course, try to find an audio cassette to play in it today! My sister’s teenagers had no idea what a cassette was, when I showed them one. I think very young kids today won’t recognize a CD disk! Forget about LP’s or 45’s.   Any of you remember a stunning audio piece, from the past, that blew you away? I was also thinking of reel to reel audio players as well. Man, they sounded SO good!! SO expensive today!   Thank god for music! Can’t watch the news without my BP spiking! And so little to do, everyone scared to meet in person. Too much free-time. Music keeps me sane. Crazy times we live in!
savroof
I bought a B&O 2402 tt (not tangential) around 1980 to go with my Nakamichi 530 receiver and Magneplaner SMG's. It was a good tt, but the hinges were a common, regular fail-point and the bronze bushings in the tonearm lifter would bind up, causing the tonearm to take too long to lift. On an automatic tt, this is bad...as when the side was finished, the tonearm would drag across the disk to home position, and the lift up....making the last track a bit stressful as you prepare to dash to the tt and manually stop it before the dredded zzzzzzip at the end. Taking the lifter apart, cleaning and lubricating it became a breeze after doing it a few times. The B&O dealer charged me $150 to do it the first time...calling it "recharging the dampening system".
In early the 2000's I sold it and got the tangential TX2 turntable. It's been flawless, only requiring a new belt every once in a while. When the mmc3 cartridge wore out, it was easy to upgrade to a Soundsmith smmc2. The suspension was amazing...my two very large dogs could be wrestling a few feet from my audio cabinet and the TX2 would never skip.
The fully mechanized nature or the tonearm made it somewhat of a pain to check stylus pressure or even clean the stylus.
Still have it and still have the identical spare I picked up and never needed. They work fine but a Technics took over the #1 spot a couple years ago.
I had a SL-10 awhile back, and am still kicking myself for letting it go.  The MC cart made anything sound terrific.

Have a SL8 awaiting some TLC, but have a cherry Z100 Garrard and a Teac P-J51 when I'm just lazy...*G*

Bought a ST-4 for peanuts decades ago....still have it.  The belts need replacing, but otherwise 9/10...  Stupid funny to watch it work, but it's noisy doing so....

Tangetal tracking TTs' have their own technical issues, but imho beat those of radial arms...

(Like I said...IMHO....🤔....)
We sold a number of them back in the day.  The biggest rub, from audiophiles. was the unchangeable cartridge.  

BUT, as B&O USA corporate (in Chicago) always maintained, the company was NOT interested in SOTA stuff, just quality through design. 

That tracking style was popular, but difficult to achieve in an affordable product as many others found who tried to invent and market them.

BUT, it was pretty!

Cheers,

Richard