The EL-POR Discomatic

This page includes facts and photos about the Gerinvex EL-POR Discomatic. If you arrived here via the models page you'll know that my theory on the model name is 'ELectronique PORtable', indicating that the EL-POR included an electronic amplifier and was portable.

EL-POR, the portable jukebox

The Gerinvex EL-POR replaced the Type A as the portable model of the Gerinvex Discomatic range.

The EL-POR ran for many years in different forms. I've seen and heard from owners of many of these and have identified the evolutionary stages of this model. I believe they can be classified into 4 stages which for convenience I'll refer to as V1, V2, V3 and V4.

As far as I can tell the build of the V1, V2 and V3 versions was quite stable which makes these machines easy to identify. By contrast, the V4 version experienced many minor build variations towards the end of its life. The timing of these changes does not seem to have been co-ordinated in any way. As a result, it's possible to find a whole range of V4 EL-POR machines which are different in subtle ways! I'll call these version V4+ and will cover these changes on a page dedicated just to the evolution of the V4.

More about build versions

Here are photos of the four different build versions plus photos of one of the final 'V4+' EL-PORs with all the detail changes. These are not official Gerinvex build versions, but build changes I have noted and have assigned numbers to help explain the evolution of the design.

The EL-POR V1

This was the first version of the EL-POR. The cabinet was finished in a two-tone blue and grey colour scheme. The earlier KB and Type A Discomatics had a twist start control. The V1 EL-POR was the first model with push start, located on the top control panel.

The EL-POR V2

The changes for the second version were mostly exterior appearance. The cabinet finish changed to black vinyl with grey slatted grilles for speaker and ventilation. The control arrangements remained the same as the previous V1.

The EL-POR V3

The appearance for the third version remained very similar to the second. The cabinet was identical except the push start control moved to the front panel. For the first time this Discomatic featured a stereo cartridge. The single speaker played both channels in mono though there was a stereo line output to an external amplifier.

The EL-POR V4

From the outside there is no obvious change to the appearance from third to fourth version. On the inside the metal channel system that guided the wires to the moving mechanism was changed to a simpler, folded wiring arrangement. This change sounds trivial, but would have made the machine much easier to manufacture and also service.

The EL-POR V4+

According to my serial number data, the fourth version of the EL-POR was by far the longest running version of this model. During the life of the V4 there were no major changes to the design of the Discomatic, however some small incremental changes were made which do make the later machines look slightly different.

I've named the Discomatics that included all of these updates V4+, that is a V4 plus a series of small incremental design changes.

Click here to read more about the design updates made for the final build of EL-POR.

The EL-POR with 6 controls

A detailed internet search will occasionally reveal an EL-POR with 6 controls. I'll show photos here of a standard, 3 control EL-POR with an example of such a 6 control EL-POR. Both of these Discomatics happen to be from the final V4+ generation, though 6 control examples may also be seen of earlier versions.

So did the 6 control version replace the original 3 control version as an upgrade? No, I have owned one of these and can confirm that the 6 control versions were not manufactured in this way by Gerinvex, but were instead owner or engineer customisations of a standard EL-POR. For that reason I won't cover the detail of the 6 control version on this page, but as they are still an interesting part of Discomatic history I've set up a separate page to explain why and how these conversions were done.

Click here to read more about the EL-POR with 6 controls.

EL-POR colours

From EL-POR V2 onward, the case was only available finished in black vinyl. Rather a shame as the black finish is quite conservative. A brightly coloured red, blue, green or purple EL-POR could have been rather trendy in the day.

I've run an exercise here to show the original black finish with four mock-up images for EL-POR Discomatics in bright, interesting colours.

NOTE: The coloured versions didn't exist, all EL-PORs were black vinyl!

The Discomatic stereo musibox

The EL-POR instruction sheet mentions the 'Discomatic stereo musibox'. See part a) in the photo. I've never seen one of these, but I would guess it was a mono 'powered speaker' that included a built-in Discomatic amplifier.

External powered speakers were quite common in the sixties to provide an additional channel for record players to produce stereo sound. I would guess the Discomatic stereo musibox was styled to match the Discomatic, covered in matching black vinyl, with a simlar set of 3 controls and the speaker grille matching that of the EL-POR.

In use, the Discomatic stereo musibox would be connected to the 'Channel 2' output as directed.

The left channel would then be disconnected from the internal amplifier and would play through the musibox. The right channel would continue to play through the internal speaker in the EL-POR.

Stereo sound could therefore be achieved by placing the Discomatic stereo musibox to the left of the listener and the Discomatic to the right.

Neat!