vinylengine.com APIwww.vinylengine.com ↗
Access VinylEngine's database of 10,000+ turntables, tonearms, and cartridges. Query specs, filter by drive type, manufacturer, cartridge type, and more.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/79cc5790-7e74-41bf-96d7-7c7c8824feca/search_turntables?manufacturer=Technics' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Search the turntable database with optional filters. Returns up to 20 matching turntables with specifications including drive type, motor, control, automation, speeds, platter, tonearm, dimensions, weight, year, and price.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| drive | string | Drive method filter: any, idler, belt, direct |
| model | string | Filter by model name substring (e.g. 'SL-1200'). Max 20 characters. |
| motor | string | Motor type filter: any, ac, dc, induction |
| order | string | Sort order: ASC or DESC |
| changer | string | Changer filter: any, yes, no |
| control | string | Speed control filter: any, quartz, servo, electronic, synchronous |
| sort_by | string | Sort field: model, manufacturer, drive, rumble, wow_and_flutter, platter_diameter, platter_weight, year, price_usd, price_ukp |
| automation | string | Automation filter: any, manual, semi, full |
| manufacturer | string | Filter by manufacturer name (e.g. 'Technics', 'Thorens', 'Linn'). Use 'any' or omit for all. |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"count": "integer, number of entries returned",
"entries": "array of turntable objects with manufacturer, model, drive, motor, control, year, rating, and other specs",
"pagination": "object with from, to, total fields indicating record range",
"database_stats": "object with total_manufacturers and total_turntables counts",
"records_omitted": "boolean indicating if results exceed the 20-record display limit"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"count": 20,
"entries": [
{
"year": "1966",
"drive": "Belt",
"model": "100P",
"motor": "AC",
"notes": "optional fp-001 woodem plinth",
"price": null,
"rating": 0,
"rumble": "-47dB",
"speeds": "33, 45 rpm",
"weight": "8.5 kg",
"changer": null,
"control": "Synchronous",
"platter": "300 mm, 1.5 kg",
"tonearm": "Linear Tracking",
"image_url": "https://www.vinylengine.com/images/model/technics_ff-253_100p.jpg",
"automation": null,
"dimensions": "450 x 160 x 370 mm",
"suspension": null,
"manufacturer": "Technics",
"wow_and_flutter": null
}
],
"pagination": {
"to": 20,
"from": 1,
"total": 242
},
"database_stats": {
"total_turntables": 4531,
"total_manufacturers": 390
},
"records_omitted": true
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the vinylengine.com API
The VinylEngine API exposes 5 endpoints covering three specialized databases of vinyl hardware — turntables, tonearms, and cartridges — with individual records containing dozens of specification fields. search_turntables lets you filter by drive method, motor type, speed control, and automation level, while search_cartridges and search_tonearms offer similarly granular filtering. Results include manufacturer names, model identifiers, physical dimensions, electrical specs, ratings, and historical pricing.
Turntable Database
The search_turntables endpoint queries a database of thousands of turntables and returns up to 20 records per call. Filter parameters include drive (idler, belt, direct), motor (ac, dc, induction), control (quartz, servo, electronic, synchronous), and automation (manual, semi, full). Response objects include fields such as platter_diameter, platter_weight, wow_and_flutter, rumble, year, and price. The records_omitted boolean in the response signals when the full result set exceeds the 20-record display limit. For manufacturer-scoped lookups, get_turntable_details accepts a required manufacturer parameter and an optional model substring (up to 20 characters) to narrow results further.
Tonearm and Cartridge Databases
search_tonearms returns entries with fields covering the key alignment geometry: effective_length, overhang, offset_angle, pivot_to_spindle, null_points, and effective_mass. You can sort by any of those numeric fields and filter by manufacturer. search_cartridges covers transducer type (ceramic, dynamic_coil, moving_coil, moving_magnet, and others), with response fields for output_voltage, frequency_response, tracking_force, channel_separation, compliance, stylus_tip, and cantilever material. Both endpoints include a database_stats object reporting total manufacturers and total items across each respective database.
Manufacturer Lists and Pagination
list_manufacturers accepts a database parameter (turntables, tonearms, or cartridges) and returns the complete sorted array of manufacturer name strings alongside summary counts. This is useful for building autocomplete inputs or validating manufacturer names before passing them to the search endpoints. All search endpoints that can return more records than the display limit include a pagination object with from, to, and total fields so callers can track their position in the full result set.
- Building a turntable comparison tool filtered by drive type (belt vs. direct) and speed control method
- Matching a cartridge to a tonearm by comparing effective mass against cartridge compliance values
- Aggregating historical price and year data across turntable manufacturers for vintage market research
- Populating a Hi-Fi equipment database with verified tonearm alignment geometry specs
- Validating stylus tip compatibility by filtering cartridges by type and tracking force range
- Generating manufacturer catalogs for any of the three hardware categories using
list_manufacturers
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 250 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does VinylEngine have an official developer API?+
What does `get_turntable_details` return that `search_turntables` doesn't?+
get_turntable_details requires a manufacturer parameter and scopes results to that maker, making it more reliable for retrieving every model from a single brand (e.g., all Technics or all Thorens entries). It returns the same full specification fields but also echoes back the manufacturer and model_search terms used, which is handy for logging or caching by key.Are user-submitted manuals or forum content included in responses?+
How are results paginated and what happens when a search returns more than 20 items?+
records_omitted field is set to true and the pagination object provides from, to, and total values so you can see how many records exist in total. Refining your filter parameters (for example, adding a model substring or specifying a manufacturer) is the practical way to reduce result sets below the 20-record cap.Can I retrieve cartridge ratings or user reviews through the API?+
search_cartridges endpoint returns specification fields but does not currently expose user ratings or review text for cartridges. Turntable entries do include a rating field. You can fork this API on Parse and revise it to surface ratings data for cartridges and tonearms if that data is available on the source pages.