Edison Standard Speaker?

[rgordon939]

Here is a picture of a portion of the reproducer blown up. I think you can clearly see writing on both the body edge and the retaining ring. Should indicate it’s an Automatic.

Rich Gordon

[phonogfp]

Here is a picture of a portion of the reproducer blown up. I think you can clearly see writing on both the body edge and the retaining ring. Should indicate it’s an Automatic.

Rich Gordon

The size and shape of the weight rule out an Automatic. It's either a Standard Speaker or a Recorder.

George P.

[MicaMonster]

“Not a very good player”???!?!?!?!?!?! Standard Speakers are SUPERB on brown wax! I remove the cutter (as to not accidentally damage a record!), and do some “adjustments”.

Sure looks like a Standard Speaker to me. Again, a nice, rare reproducer but not a very good player. Excellent reproduction Automatics are available if you don't want to search out an original and pay the price:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/High-Quality-R ... 1438.l2649

Congratulations!

George P.

[Chuck]

Not to hijack this thread nor change the topic:

I've never used a Standard Speaker yet.

Wyatt, I am curious as to just how "touchy"
the adjustment is which selects either "play"
or "record" mode on a Standard Speaker.

I can understand why you'd remove the cutter
when playing original old brown wax so that
no accidents are possible.

My question is though, if used with care,
how well does it work for recording and playing
as originally intended?

Chuck

[Accursius]

Now that my acquision has finally arrived (by horse and carriage, I suppose, considering delivery time and condition of the parcel), I may solve this riddle insofar as the reproducer shown was indeed a Standard Speaker.

Unfortunately, it WAS a Standard Speaker, until someone tried to ship it from Austria to Germany without dismounting it from the tonearm and without properly securing the latter inside the box. Now, it is neither standard any more nor will it speak. At least, the damage appears to be repairable, and the twin styli mounting survived (as did the phonograph motor, which runs nicely).

By the way, despite its present state, I´m definitely not going to modify the Speaker - in fact, the idea of removing the recording stylus seems rather strange to me, considering its rarity. Examining the position of the styli, I don't think that there is much risk that the cutting diamond will touch the cylinder surface while being in "reproducer" mode.

[phonogfp]

Thanks for the update - - but I'm sorry the seller didn't properly pack your machine. Under the circumstances, things could have been worse.

I fully agree with you that a Standard Speaker shouldn't be modified. Congratulations on your new acquisition!

George P.

[Lucius1958]

“Not a very good player”???!?!?!?!?!?! Standard Speakers are SUPERB on brown wax! I remove the cutter (as to not accidentally damage a record!), and do some “adjustments”.

Sure looks like a Standard Speaker to me. Again, a nice, rare reproducer but not a very good player. Excellent reproduction Automatics are available if you don't want to search out an original and pay the price:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/High-Quality-R ... 1438.l2649

Congratulations!

George P.

The early Edison literature, circa 1900, stated that the Standard Speaker was superseded by the Automatic because of the SS's lack of horizontal play. That was why the adjustment screw was necessary: during playback, the stylus would occasionally get out of track, and one had to readjust the alignment to get back in track.

Bill

[walser]

Congratulations for your new Standard Speaker reproducer! I am the owner of the other one mentioned on a previous post. It is true that it is not the best reproducer in terms of sound quality but its uniqueness and scarcity makes them very desirable.

I refurbished mine and it records and reproduces quite well. Yesterday I used it on a lecture at my kids school and the children were able to record a song and hear it afterwards. They were delighted!

If you want I can refurbish yours with new gaskets and glass diaphragm and repair as much as possible those dents.

Regards,

Pedro Martínez.

[Accursius]

Thank you very much for your generous rebuilding offer! The restauration work you have done to your Edison Standard and shown in the forum is really admirable.

However, I could not resist starting my own attempt to rebuild what is left of the Speaker. The bent rim of the potruding horn socket was beyond repair, as the thin metal could not be bent back without breaking. On the other hand, the damage to the rim was not deeper than 2 mm, so I decided to remove the bent part entirely by carefully grinding the rim. The result is not yet finished, still requiring for some polishing, but its better than before and will not affect function.

The new diaphragm will have to wait, however, as thanks to the incredible support by another forum member, the Home chassis is awaiting a new suitcase...

[walser]

Awesome news! Its very nice to recover machines that were on the edge of disappearing.

If you need just the glass diaphragm and gaskets drop me a line and we will figure out something.

Regards

Pedro Martinez