A Record Player which some people also call a turntable or phonograph is a mechanical device that can be used to reproduce sound from vinyl records. Depending on how you look at it, the terms record player and turntable might be interchangeable, but we would get to the actual difference in a second.
Record Players comprise a turntable that spins the record at a constant speed and a stylus that slides along in the groove and picks up the sound, this would typically work with an amplifier and a loudspeaker to produce the actual sound to an acceptable level.
The amp and the speaker might be built-in or attachable depending on how flexible you want your record player to be.
Although, record players aren't that common among young audio consumers, however, I bet most audio consumers might have come across Vinyl records that look like the below image:
The Vinyl Record is placed on the record player's turntable and the recreation of sound is done by the surface rotating while a playback stylus traces the groove and thus, produces the recorded sound faintly. You would need an amplifier to boost the audio signal to an acceptable level, most modern audio record player already has a form of an amp, so, you would typically not need anything extra.
The below gif is a demonstration of a traditional record player spinning at a constant speed:
The record player invention was credited to Thomas Edison (an American inventor and businessman) with improvement from Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory. In the 20th century, the record player was the most used commercial audio record player, although it was relatively surpassed by other technology such as 8-track cartridges and cassette tapes, it was still a great alternative among classical audio consumers.
While we are at it, below is a video on how to use a record player:
Having understood a glimpse of what a record player is, let's see some terminology and their differences:
If you are looking for the top best vinyl record player that is built to be rugged, durable, and produce pristine sound, then check our Best Turntables- The Best Top Record Players For Vinyl Records Guide.
Let me know if you have any comments, thanks and I hope you enjoyed the guide.