Fairchild 225A (c. 1956–1957)
What's known about the Fairchild 225A comes almost entirely from the company's own advertising in 1956-57. No independent review of it has surfaced in the period press so far. It was a phono cartridge - a moving-coil design Fairchild sold under the name "Micradjust diamond cartridge" - and the ads pitched it for both record changers and transcription arms, in professional and home systems. High Fidelity (August 1956, p.75) ran Fairchild's introduction of the 225A as the company's new pickup, arguing that hi-fi performance begins at the cartridge.
Fairchild's later ad, printed in Audio (May 1957, p.51), gave a few real construction details. The stylus was a precision-ground, grain-oriented diamond bonded to the stylus arm. The arm had low moving mass and was made of a special-alloy aluminum. A "Micradjust" screw set the damping exactly at the factory after final assembly. The moving coil was 825 turns of copper-silver alloy wire, 0.00115 inch in diameter, wound on a nylon bobbin 0.077 inch in diameter.
That is about all the documented record holds. The 225A is a late-1950s Fairchild pickup, and its reputation rests on the company's own claims. No published measurements have turned up.
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.