Hi,
just swapped in a KT 3. An overlooked rarity.
Interesting feature is the switch for two mains frequencies. It operates at 50 or 60 Hz. Japan has differnt regions with different frequencies. So this one would have right speed nationwide in Japan.....and the rest of the world. 100V rating makes a transformer necessary, but not necessarily a speed controller, if it had only 60Hz.
Probably just by another capacitor size...
When the Westrex stereo cutting gear was presented in Japan, a Yamaha KT 3 was used to play the first stereo discs to the audience of the event.
I have asked a friend in Japan about this deck and he sent some information and pics:
Yamaha KT 1 -KT 3
From an article about turntable manufacturing at Tokyo Terebi Onkyo (TTO) in 1956:
This turntable was designed by Katsuma Tani, founder of TTO and TEAC.
He worked an aircraft institute during the WW2.
After the war, he moved Denon and developed instruments used in NHK with Koichi Tsubota (founder of Denon).
Yamaha KT-1(3) was an OEM product by TTO. It was one of the earliest idler drive turntables for professional and high-end applications in Japan. At that time, wow flatter and noise were much reduced compared with any other Japanese turntable.
KT-3 is a high-end turntable sold between 1956 to 1964 for professional applications.
I heard it was introduced in many schools or public auditoriums, as well as high-end amateurs.
Originally, KT-3 was developed as KT-1 by Tokyo Terebi Onkyo (TTO), which was the preceding company of TEAC.
KT-1 had two variations, KT-1 (induction motor model) and KT-1H (synchronous motor model).
The production was moved to Yamaha, and the design was modified by GK design Inc.
Here is the info of the late model.
https://audio-heritage.jp/YAMAHA/etc/kt-3.html Here are the ADs of Yamaha KT-1 turntable from Radio Gijyutsu Magazine in 1956.
I like the Yamaha logo with grand piano....
Cheers
Thomas
