Hmv xxx 12" tabletop in oak... This morning!

[CarlosV]

Hola, Inigo!
What about the glass diaphragm? does it sound better than the original mica? I mentioned in our chat that I bought a glass diaphragm, but have not gotten around to install it yet.

Regards
Carlos

[Inigo]

Hola, Carlos!
Yes, I've retained the glass diaphragm, and the sound is more clear and crisp than with mica.
The sound of some records, using this machine, especially acoustic Columbias, both US and UK, is astonishing. I now see why there are collectors which give their attention to acoustic recordings alone. They sound so good that one is tempted to see later electrical recordings as a profanation of the recording art.
These days I've been selecting acoustic recordings and listening to them on this machine. And I have to say that I've had some nice surprises... Some of them sound very natural. Of course, after some hours listening, one's brain gets used to the sound, as we all know. And in this condition, still the differences between recordings are noticeable. It's clear that, other recording conditions apart, some engineers mastered the recording art. I've been listening to horrendous recordings of voices done with a not well selected horn, so they sound 'funneled', if you tolerate this expression.., while others sound incredibly clear and 'opened'. One must start to notice the matrix numbers and suffixes, to do comparison. For instance, Spanish vocal soloist recordings by Murtagh (ah) or W Sinclair Darby (h) sound much better than those of Scheuplein (s-...-u)...
This is only subjective perception, but the differences are there indeed!
One must start to listen with paper and pencil, noting down the appreciation of sound, the recording speeds, etc. to do strict comparison, regarding the year of recording, the engineer, the type of instrumentation or the vocal sound recorded. Then go to the databases and discographies and study the matter...
About recording speeds, I use reference speeds from the record catalogues (HMV, Victor) and Brian Rust's Gramophone Records of The First World War An HMV Catalogue 1914-1918, but I've found some speed notations that seem wrong... adjusting the speed by ear to achieve a natural sound both in voices and instrumentation sometimes result in a different speed. Too subjective? Maybe... But in the end I pencil down the speed that gives the best sound to me on the record sleeve. This can be later corrected, of course!

[CarlosV]

Thanks for the reply, Inigo, now I have the incentive to install the glass diaphragm on an exhibition. I have also noticed a large span in the quality of recording, both in acoustic and electric records. I mentioned somewhere else in this forum that the Edison vocal recordings of the 10s do not impress me,the Victors sound better and most of all some of the Fonotipias recorded in Italy are exceptionally good.

[Inigo]

Hello all.

I've continued experimenting with the exhibition soundbox of this machine. After listening to some bad recordings, I was again tempted to tinker with the soundbox trying to make it sound good with ALL the acoustics. But I've found this impossible. Altering the soundbox to get a better sound on those bad recordings, ended in a total misadjustment. It ended sounding badly with all records. I felt discouraged and disappointed. After some weeks. I've decided to start again. I installed a thinner rubber gasket, and the rubber and felt washers between the balance springs and their screws. I tried the thicker gaskets and the backplate not completely pressed. Did some tests, and finally today reassembled the soundbox again with its correct rubber gaskets, the backplate completely closed, and the screws against the balance springs without washers, as they should be. And finally found the sweet spot. It sounded wonderfully with soft records, but stronger ones had a certain rattle. I did more tests loosening the backplate, and retouching the balance springs. The loosened backplate seems to give a deeper sound, but not clearly better. So I tightened the backplate completely, and tried to find again the sweet spot on the balance springs. I noticed that it's very tricky... That sweet spot which transmits a sweet sound from the needle without that ringing peak which I find very disappointing, is found when screwing the balance springs with but very little pressure. A simple turn of 30 degrees to the springs eliminates the rattle with certain loud recordings, but gives the vocal recordings that nasty peaky metallic sound. So I've decided to leave it at the sweetest spot for vocal records. Then the noisy orchestral recordings sound a bit distorted, but the vocals sound incredibly good.
It's impossible to get a good sound with strong or overmodulated recordings without losing the natural quality on the vocal recordings, so I feel more comfortable with the sweetest adjustment for vocal recordings with soft steel needles, although the stronger records sound bad. Maybe I'd think of discarding the records that sound bad...