Choosing a Wall Box for an adapter/iPod/hi-fi system.

Doghouse

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Choosing a Wall Box for an adapter/iPod/hi-fi system.

One of the problems with Jukebox wall box/adapter/ipod hi-fi systems, is that your choices are limited to the number of titles that the wall box was originally designed to offer. Usually a maximum of 200. True, you can make one selection a whole CD. But this isn't always the best option as you can't pick and choose the tracks, it's the whole CD or nothing.
I solved part of that problem by having two wall boxes.

To increase the options the Rock-Ola 507 is ideal, as it has a removable title card magazine, these can be changed in seconds.
There must be a lot of 507 boxes out there which are considered beyond repair, but the magazines are still serviceable. They are quite robust, can be dismantled easily for cleaning and re-assembled. The only weak point is the notched belt that turns the pages, these can become brittle and are inmy opinion being plastic, unrepairable if broken.
Not only that, they're made of "unobtainium,"



having obtained a third wall box cheaply as it was beyond repair, just for the magazine, I unfortunately found the belt broken. By luck, I was able to purchase another magazine in perfect condition from an enthusiast in the States, but got him to just post me the belt. "The postage for the whole magazine would have been more than the box cost, So I've now got 160 X 3 options.

These wall boxes are like "money in the bank" as in the condition mine are in they are now worth five times what I paid for them a few years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP-HpQTrcDk
 
So the wallboxes are fully functioning but instead of transmitting to their original juke master, you translate to an iPod selection?
 
So the wall boxes are fully functioning but instead of transmitting to their original juke master, you translate to an iPod selection?

Wall boxes operate in a similar fashion to an old fashioned telephone, it sends a pulse signal which is different for every selection.

The adapter is quite cute. you need a third generation iPod, doesn't matter if it won't hold a charge, the adapter supplies the power. I picked up my iPods quite cheaply on eBay. You give an iTunes playlist a particular code as its name.
This tells the adapter, what make of wall box you are using and the model.
There are different settings you can use by adding an additional letter to the code, which is for auto play, 4 minutes, 20 minutes or continuous. But I don't use those.
The adapter will play the selections in the order of your choices, not in the order of the records in the carousel as with a normal jukebox.

A bit of nostalgia history. If you remember jukeboxes in bars.
You go in, see the jukebox, choose a record and put your money in. Some time later, you hear it playing "your record."
Actually, if any number of people had chosen that record before or after you and it had not yet been played, it would only play it once!
 
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Yes, I do some Seeburg repairs myself.
Selections are played in "linear" order for efficiency,
but I always found it confusing as a teenager.
Especially because by that time, juke designs hid the mechanism.

And the way multiple people could pick the same song
for queue was brilliant - money doubled or tripled for 1 selection!
And nobody's the wiser... they got their song played!

You keep speaking of this "adapter" but have not named it.
What is this clever little box?

I've not messed with wallboxes so far, despite them being most
of my juke nostalgia. Do they "Write-In" similar to the tormat (toroid matrix)
system of seeburg? Essentially, a switch matrix layout.
 
All the information can be found here at Datasync Engineering.

http://www.cdadapter.com/

They supply the adapters, complete with instructions.

It comes with a 9volt power adapter and the connectors you will need.
A 25v adapter will be required to power the wall box mechanism.


Ed and Ann-Marie are very helpful. They'll answer any questions you may have.
 
Not bad at all. Normally I scoff at MP3-in-a-juke.
The Rowe add-on functionality is cool. It's still the same
vinyl juke, until you enter the bigger keypad numbers. Wicked.
Might have to grab some wallboxes at the next expo.
 
Not bad at all. Normally I scoff at MP3-in-a-juke.
The Rowe add-on functionality is cool. It's still the same
vinyl juke, until you enter the bigger keypad numbers. Wicked.
Might have to grab some wallboxes at the next expo.

I've had my boxes for a few years. I bought them on eBay, when they were still only being used as "telephone directories," after I first learned about the availability of the adapters from the old Phonoland message board.
I've two vinyl boxes. A picture of one is my avatar.

Now the knowledge of these adapters is pretty widely known, prices of wall boxes have rocketed. Here in the UK you'd pay five times what I paid for mine now and they wouldn't be in anywhere near as good condition and you'd have to take a chance that they are working. That is, if you could find one.
 
Phonoland.com lives on as a Facebook group, now.
Mostly consists of Ron Rich answering every question
with a plug for one of his books. :)

I'll see wall units in bins at pinball shows but never
gave them a second look or asked about pricing.
I suppose I'll have to check against compatible models
for the ipod adapter.

What jukes do you have? Avatar is too tiny to identify.

Here are mine... 1977 "Topaz" 100 select
seeburgTopaz.jpg


1979 "Da Vinci" 100 select (aka "SMC Jr." since it has new MPU system)
Seeburg_100_79M_Da_Vinci.jpg


Old timers call them "shitboxes" but I'm fond of them - era I grew up in.
Their footprint is small and the title cards disappear into the art
when you view it from afar. The Da Vinci is considered rare.
 
Phonoland.com lives on as a Facebook group, now.
Mostly consists of Ron Rich answering every question
with a plug for one of his books. :)

I'll see wall units in bins at pinball shows but never
gave them a second look or asked about pricing.
I suppose I'll have to check against compatible models
for the ipod adapter.

What jukes do you have? Avatar is too tiny to identify.

Here are mine... 1977 "Topaz" 100 select
seeburgTopaz.jpg


1979 "Da Vinci" 100 select (aka "SMC Jr." since it has new MPU system)
Seeburg_100_79M_Da_Vinci.jpg


Old timers call them "shitboxes" but I'm fond of them - era I grew up in.
Their footprint is small and the title cards disappear into the art
when you view it from afar. The Da Vinci is considered rare.

I'd like a silver age jukebox, but I have to keep them in my summerhouse as I've got too much in my den. So there's no room. Unseen in the video of the wall boxes are my electric piano and tenor saxophone, plus another big reclining chair and footstool. My wife says that's enough!


I've a Rock-Ola 443. I remade the graphic and managed to get a "new old stock" record insert card from Victory Glass. (they all go blue). This was the state of it when I bought it.




As it is now.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bREaIWiXpKs


and this 468


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emFMXPrBrMs

They are both in pretty good condition now. I managed to get a "new old stock" graphic for the 468, very cheaply £5. As that had gone blue. Both jukeboxes had previously been in different private hands for more than half their lifetime.

I've also got this in my "office," a 504 wall box, but it is just to play mp3s on my laptop as although in good cosmetic condition, the electrics were shot. I put over-sized speakers in it and an adapter powers the lights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EFV25tY0fc
 
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I thought about using one of those adapters when I was having issues with one of my jukeboxes at my bar, but opted to have the cd mechanism fixed in my R-92. I always wondered if those kits worked pretty good. I did throw the wireless remote from the site into a CD-100 and it worked flawlessly for the rest of the time I had it.
 
I thought about using one of those adapters when I was having issues with one of my jukeboxes at my bar, but opted to have the cd mechanism fixed in my R-92. I always wondered if those kits worked pretty good. I did throw the wireless remote from the site into a CD-100 and it worked flawlessly for the rest of the time I had it.


What these are all about is the ability to replicate the "feel" of a vintage jukebox.

The suppliers linked a video once from a guy who installed the system in his bar using several wall boxes. His customers loved them. It's a nostalgia fix for people of my age.
 
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