EMG enthusiasm.

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Frankia
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EMG enthusiasm.

Post by Frankia »

Hello everybody,
I've owned an EMG gramophone for just over a year now but don't get much chance to chat other owners about their gramophones. Mine is an absolute joy. The sound is immaculate. It's about 48 years since I first heard a gramophone, and this one is the best sounding instrument I've ever come across yet. There are several other gramophones in the house. I like all of them for various reasons, play them all regularly, and wouldn't want to be without any of them.
However the EMG brings out a clarity and roundedness and attention to beautiful little minor detail in a majority of records that the others mostly don't pick up. It's King of the Castle around here.
All I'm interested in, really, is hearing from other EMG people as to how they find their particular instruments, and if their findings are similar/different to my own?

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OrthoSean
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Re: EMG enthusiasm.

Post by OrthoSean »

I'd basically second what you just said! My EMG is my "daily driver" and I wouldn't part with it for anything. It handles everything from acoustics to electrics beautifully and never ceases to amaze me with the full, rich sound it fills my listening area with!

Sean

Frankia
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Re: EMG enthusiasm.

Post by Frankia »

Thanks for that. I've just this minute listened to mine playing an Elgar overture, and while horn gramophones are reputed not to reproduce symphony orchestras very well, I'm enchanted with the resonance and warmth and simple directness of what I've just heard from the EMG.

estott
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Re: EMG enthusiasm.

Post by estott »

Orthosean's EMG impressed the Hell out of me too.

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Orchorsol
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Re: EMG enthusiasm.

Post by Orchorsol »

They are absolutely incredible... I'm lucky enough to own an EM Ginn Expert Junior and an EMG Xb. The Xb gets most of the daily action (a) because it only arrived mid December and (b) because its horn is bigger and delivers more bass - but they're both fantastic. The sound has a living, solid, holographic quality, some aspects of which nothing else can touch - not even modern hi-fi (and I've heard some really serious hi-fi in my time). Every record played is an "event". Although I love the machines themselves, the outrageous objects they are, the history, the science, the paraphernalia, and the processes involved (getting the soundbox performance really optimised is an art, despite what anyone may say) the paramount thing for me is the music and how they serve it so wonderfully... Records played on these machines move me to tears at times.
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Frankia
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Re: EMG enthusiasm.

Post by Frankia »

You've put the whole thing in a nutshell. I'm afraid I'm utterly non-mechanically/technically gifted myself so have to depend on others to adjust the soundboxes for me. But I'm privileged to have one of Graham Rankin's XB oversize gramophones here - the ones with the fibreglass horns. What an incredible sound! Every bit as good as the two original EMG oversize gramophones that I listen to elsewhere from time to time! I'm lucky enough to have an Expert Senior here too, and it has a lovely, warm, unique sound as well - quite different to the Oversize but enriching in its own right.
However for sheer grandeur of expression, integrity of tone and attention to the detail, the Oversize has to claim the prize.
As you say, the gramophones themselves are unique and packed with character. They're almost humorous in their quirkiness and have a very definite presence in the room. Just hope I don't begin having conversations with them as the years go by!

Lenoirstreetguy
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Re: EMG enthusiasm.

Post by Lenoirstreetguy »

Orchorsol, how does the EMG compare to the Ginn, given that the EMG does have the larger horn? But I'm curious as to the sound of each.

Jim

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Orchorsol
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Re: EMG enthusiasm.

Post by Orchorsol »

The EMG Xb has deeper bass extension - no surprise that a 29 ½" diameter horn makes a big difference over a 24"!

The other differences can really only be described subjectively. I would say in descriptive terms that the Expert has a more forthright, bold, detailed sound and the EMG has a richer, more rounded sound (perhaps some would say more "musical", "fluid" or "sympathetic").

I've been fortunate enough to compare EMGs with Experts elsewhere (both bigger and smaller models than mine, in both cases!) and those same impressions I'm describing between mine have been borne out much the same between the two makes - it's also along the lines of what Frank James indicates in his book on them.

These differences in character are definite but small. I'd be hard-pushed to say which sounds better, or more accurate, or more lifelike, or more pleasing. I love them both. Perhaps more relevant is to say that just like the different soundboxes for these, some records sound better on one or the other, and not entirely predictably. Also that the room acoustics and positioning make a considerable difference (like a fine organ, the space becomes part of the instrument) so it's hard to refine comparisons to the point of being definitive, even if that were possible...
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Re: EMG enthusiasm.

Post by Valecnik »

Orchorsal,

Those on the west side of the pond are less aware of the EMG history and also with what you've been doing re. the machines, horns and so on. Additional details, if possible, especially if accompanied with pictures would be very interesting, at least in my case!

Frankia
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Re: EMG enthusiasm.

Post by Frankia »

To add to Orchosol's description of the contrast between EMG and Expert - I find that in general the Expert sound brings out how the instruments in a combination "gel" together. The EMG's strength is more about portraying the integrity and fine detail of each instrument. As with him, it's very much my experience that one can never be sure what record will come off best on either gramophone, which adds to the delight of it all.
I remember Frank James describing the contrast like this: if you're listening to a Rachmaninoff concerto on an EMG it's like being in the front row at the concert; if you're listening to the same performance on an Expert, it's like having your head inside the piano!
Another way of putting it - for me - would be that the Expert has more "reverb" in its reproduction whereas the EMG has a drier sound. I often, though not always, find that a record with a lot of reverb in the recording will sound better on the EMG and vice versa.
Another issue that Orchosol touches on is actually a most important one - the whole thing of the acoustic surroundings. I have tweaked my room here over a length of time and switched the gramophones around again and again until I eventually found what was the optimum position. The differences were remarkable.

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