I don't really know much about actual turntables but after digging through stuff and finding my parent's old sony player, when I turned it on, a part emitted an orange light. What does that do and what is it for?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph#Tu...e_drive_systems

It's a little neon lamp used to set the speed of the turn table, and blinks at twice the mains frequency, so 120 Hz or 100 Hz depending on the country. When the turn table is at the correct RPM the appropriate set of markings on the edge of the table will be synchronized with the neon lamp flashes and will appear to not be rotating.

Edit: no longer necessary.

terry