A 1968 Columbia turntable catalog with DENON phono cartridges. The flagship DP-4500 at ¥78,500 opens the brochure - developed with professional broadcast stations in mind. Its aluminium die-cast platter with a 238 kg·cm² moment of inertia runs on a four-speed hysteresis-free motor: a direct transfer of broadcast engineering into home audio.
The main lineup is four models, GP-200 through GP-500. All use belt drive with a two-speed automatic mechanism, all come with a low-inertia tonearm featuring direct stylus pressure readout and a newly patented anti-skating device. The GP-500 and GP-400 add an MC/MM cartridge selector switch - uncommon for 1968.
A dedicated section covers DENON cartridges: the MC head DL-103 for broadcast stations (¥16,000), the MM head DL-107 with a dual-structure cantilever (¥13,800), and the DL-102 for mono and stereo replay. All three were made by Nippon Columbia - DENON was a brand of the same company at the time.
- 2スピードオートベルトドライブ - two-speed automatic belt drive - the platter starts and stops automatically when a record is selected
- 新方式インサイドフォーススキャンセラー (特許申請中) - new-type anti-skating device - compensates inside-groove force, keeps the stylus on track across the full record radius (patent pending)
- 針圧直読形小慣性アーム - tonearm with direct-reading stylus pressure and low inertia - the stylus follows the groove microrelief precisely
- ロータリーダンパ - rotary damper of new design - silent and smooth tonearm lowering onto the record
- 4極ヒステリシス・シンクロナスモータ - 4-pole hysteresis synchronous motor - rotation speed locked to mains frequency 50/60 Hz
- MC型/MM型カートリッジ切換スイッチ - MC/MM cartridge selector switch - switch between moving coil and moving magnet heads without rewiring (GP-500, GP-400)
- 二重構造のカンチレバー (DL-107) - dual-structure cantilever - separate damper and stylus holder mounting, minimum mass with high rigidity
- 独立2チャンネル8字形アーチャーコイル (DL-103) - independent two-channel figure-8 arch coil - high channel separation, minimal crosstalk
| Model | Type | Price |
|---|---|---|
| COLUMBIA GP-500 | ステレオ・プレヤー | ¥69,800 |
| COLUMBIA GP-400 | ステレオ・プレヤー | ¥46,800 |
| COLUMBIA GP-300 | ステレオ・プレヤー | ¥37,800 |
| COLUMBIA GP-200 | ステレオ・プレヤー | ¥24,800 |
| COLUMBIA DP-4500 | 高級ステレオ・プレヤー | ¥78,500 |
| DENON DL-103 | 放送局用 MCカートリッジ | ¥16,000 |
| DENON DL-107 | MMカートリッジ | ¥13,800 |
| DENON DL-102 | MCカートリッジ (モノラル対応) |
