New soundbox on an old gramophone

Discussions on Talking Machines of British or European Manufacture
epigramophone
Victor Monarch Special
Posts: 5204
Joined: Mon Oct 24, 2011 1:21 pm
Personal Text: An analogue relic trapped in a digital world.
Location: The Somerset Levels, UK.

Re: New soundbox on an old gramophone

Post by epigramophone »

As you are interested in Columbia machines, here are some pictures of my Model 2a, introduced by the UK branch for the 1929 season. It was the last external horn machine Columbia ever made, and with the excellent original No.9 soundbox it plays acoustic and electrical recordings equally well.

Good luck finding one! In over 50 years collecting I have never seen another.
Attachments
Columbia 2a 001.JPG
Columbia 2a 002.JPG
Columbia 2a 001.JPG

Henrik_M
Victor Jr
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Jan 17, 2014 12:36 pm

Re: New soundbox on an old gramophone

Post by Henrik_M »

Everyone thanks again for the great information.

It feels like I should be looking for a HMV gramophone rather than a columbia one, because then can I change to a newer soundbox and play electric recordings the way the are supposed to be played.

Phono48
Victor IV
Posts: 1313
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 2:38 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Re: New soundbox on an old gramophone

Post by Phono48 »

The Columbia No.9 soundbox was made to play electric recordings, so no worries there.

User avatar
Steve
Victor VI
Posts: 3123
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:40 pm
Location: London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, New York, Evesham

Re: New soundbox on an old gramophone

Post by Steve »

To be honest if you want the best acoustic reproduction I'd advise you to save your money for an Expert or EMG of Senior or 10B type respectively. If you want the best from records there's no other choice.

User avatar
Steve
Victor VI
Posts: 3123
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:40 pm
Location: London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, New York, Evesham

Re: New soundbox on an old gramophone

Post by Steve »

An early HMV whilst good for its time cannot really compete with the Ginn produced machines.

I am more of a machine collector than a vintage record collector so of course I have both!

User avatar
jamiegramo
Victor III
Posts: 619
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2010 5:52 am
Location: St. Albans, UK

Re: New soundbox on an old gramophone

Post by jamiegramo »

Changing the soundbox is only part of the problem i'm afraid. A member here has been redesigning the Exhibition soundbox so it sounds really good. The particular problem with pre-1925 machines and certainly HMV is the poor tracking alignment. This causes distortion which really is noticeable with electric recordings and rapidly causes wear. The late HMV horn model 32 shown by Joe and particularly the EMG machines mentioned by Steve don't have this problem. EMG paid a lot of attention to the geometry of their machines. One of the reasons why they were 'expert'.

User avatar
BassetHoundTrio
Victor I
Posts: 115
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2017 11:07 am
Location: Chicago, IL
Contact:

Re: New soundbox on an old gramophone

Post by BassetHoundTrio »

I have to agree - even my EMG Mark IX is really superb, which made me retire my Victor Credenza. I have a friend near Chicago that may be selling his wonderful EMG Mark Xa.
Steve wrote:To be honest if you want the best acoustic reproduction I'd advise you to save your money for an Expert or EMG of Senior or 10B type respectively. If you want the best from records there's no other choice.

Post Reply