Re: FOR SALE: New Columbia 20th Century (6" long) cylinder -
Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2016 3:47 pm
Sorry, I guess I was unclear, Doug.
There is no expectation for a non-collector to want to purchase one of these (or any other cylinder for that matter).
The idea is that when your 16 year old nephew comes over and is showing interest and he says "what about that machine with the weird longer mounting place for the record?" and all you have to show him is some horrid ballad, a banjo solo, Uncle Josh, a Sousa march, or just about anything else authentic to the period, he is bored, and disengages, and maybe we've lost a future collector.
As I said earlier, and you quoted in your reply, we probably all have plenty of period-authentic content if we want to subject ourselves to it. But that doesn't have to apply to this record, which is for fun and technical demonstration, and so does not need to be boring (yes, I know not everything from the era is boring!).
We can all see the appeal of matching up media to machine, only playing Victor scrolls on Orthophonic Victrolas, 5000 cylinders only on Amberolas 30s, 50s or 75s, Berliner discs only on one of our several Trademarks (don't we all have at least 3 or 4?), lightning-bolt Brunswicks only on Panatropes, 52000 diamond discs only on Edisonics, and so forth. It's the authentic experience, and generally the media and machine are designed to be compatible with each other and good performance results. Totally cool and it's lots of fun to do that if your collection has that breadth.
I have a few Berliners, and can play them on an early Victor R with a Concert reproducer. They sound terrible, but authentic, even though I'm probably damaging these now-valuable records with each additional play. They really aren't interesting to listen to, except as a novelty, and so I only play them as a demonstration when a visitor is here. I could play those discs on my Credenza too (or a modern turntable and amp), and although they would sound better, they still aren't very interesting to hear - so I don't.
And I wouldn't ever try playing my copy of Victor 25371 or another Victor scroll on the R either, because although I like the record it would sound horrible, which is no fun. I play it on my Credenza. And the difference is, that I like that record and listen to it often just for my personal enjoyment of the content as well as appreciation of the recording and playback system used, and that's fun.
That's the purpose of this demonstration record as well.
There is no expectation for a non-collector to want to purchase one of these (or any other cylinder for that matter).
The idea is that when your 16 year old nephew comes over and is showing interest and he says "what about that machine with the weird longer mounting place for the record?" and all you have to show him is some horrid ballad, a banjo solo, Uncle Josh, a Sousa march, or just about anything else authentic to the period, he is bored, and disengages, and maybe we've lost a future collector.
As I said earlier, and you quoted in your reply, we probably all have plenty of period-authentic content if we want to subject ourselves to it. But that doesn't have to apply to this record, which is for fun and technical demonstration, and so does not need to be boring (yes, I know not everything from the era is boring!).
We can all see the appeal of matching up media to machine, only playing Victor scrolls on Orthophonic Victrolas, 5000 cylinders only on Amberolas 30s, 50s or 75s, Berliner discs only on one of our several Trademarks (don't we all have at least 3 or 4?), lightning-bolt Brunswicks only on Panatropes, 52000 diamond discs only on Edisonics, and so forth. It's the authentic experience, and generally the media and machine are designed to be compatible with each other and good performance results. Totally cool and it's lots of fun to do that if your collection has that breadth.
I have a few Berliners, and can play them on an early Victor R with a Concert reproducer. They sound terrible, but authentic, even though I'm probably damaging these now-valuable records with each additional play. They really aren't interesting to listen to, except as a novelty, and so I only play them as a demonstration when a visitor is here. I could play those discs on my Credenza too (or a modern turntable and amp), and although they would sound better, they still aren't very interesting to hear - so I don't.
And I wouldn't ever try playing my copy of Victor 25371 or another Victor scroll on the R either, because although I like the record it would sound horrible, which is no fun. I play it on my Credenza. And the difference is, that I like that record and listen to it often just for my personal enjoyment of the content as well as appreciation of the recording and playback system used, and that's fun.
That's the purpose of this demonstration record as well.