eBay discovery: acoustic stereo

[bbphonoguy]

Yeah, I guess it's hopeless. Here's another one today:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1918-Cheney-Phonogr ... 286.c0.m14

All disc players are stereos, all discs are LPs, eBay is the final leveler of all discourse.

Jeff

The odd thing is that this stereo for sale,

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sears-Stereo-Phonog ... %26ps%3D63

is listed only as "phonograph record player". Of course it's also "vintage", a term denied to the much older Cheney for sale.

[Nat]

There is also a war-time stereo recording of Karajan doing Bruckner; anyone know where to find it, or have a link?

I do hope EMI releases the rest of the Elgar!

[Lenoirstreetguy]

Here is one of the Bell Lab's experimental recordings from December 23 1932. I think you'll be surprised, I know I was. The quality is extraordinary. And I think it's in Stereo. See what you think. I want to how how the Doremi Lab ...who issued this on cd ..managed to get their hands on the original! This is one of several experimental recordings of this selection done at varying distances from the mic. This is the one that to my ear sounds the most pleasing.
The recordings from this research that I REALLY want to hear are the sides done my John McCormack . They supposedly sound utterly amazing.
I had a little trouble uploading so I hope it works. When it says that the file doesn't match your windows media player play it anyway and it should work.



Jim

[Nat]

Really amazing!

Thanks for sharing it. I wish someone would release a whole CD of these various experiments.

Nat

[estott]

I would have NEVER guessed that as being 1932. Is it on shellac or some other format?

[Lenoirstreetguy]

I think the experimental sides were pressed on what came to be called Victrolac when Victor used it when they took their abortive fling at lp's around this time. The processing of the Bell discs was supposedly very carefully done: they used gold in the first plating bath for example. Bell was working with Stokowski at this time as well. He was always hot on the trail of better sound and the Philadelphia orchestra was recorded in real stereo in a performance Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy which I think was issued by Bell around 1980 when they did a limited edition of some the 30's stereo experiments; which is where in fact the Heifetz may originate. I've never seen the lp.
Bell had made significant advances in microphone design at this time and it certainly shows.
Speaking of processing, I understand that much of the high end was lost in the processing and pressing of a 78. Charles O'Connell , Victor's A&R man in the 30's goes on about this in his book The Other Side of the Record. He is sour about the loss of quality in the plant, but then he's sour about MOST stuff in that book... Decca in the UK when over a lot of this same experimental territory when they introduced their ffrr recordings in the 40's. They found that the processing was where a major portion of the high end vanished.
Jim