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Re: New soundbox on an old gramophone
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 5:23 am
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.
Re: New soundbox on an old gramophone
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 5:54 am
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.
Re: New soundbox on an old gramophone
Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 6:17 am
by Phono48
The Columbia No.9 soundbox was made to play electric recordings, so no worries there.
Re: New soundbox on an old gramophone
Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 8:46 am
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.
Re: New soundbox on an old gramophone
Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 8:48 am
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!
Re: New soundbox on an old gramophone
Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:57 pm
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'.
Re: New soundbox on an old gramophone
Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2019 6:53 am
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.