Edison Buzz in vocal records?

Discussions on Talking Machines & Accessories
larryh
Victor IV
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Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 7:44 pm

Re: Edison Buzz in vocal records?

Post by larryh »

Jim,

I thought of you when I mentioned this as I knew you were into vocals quite a lot.

At first I tried to sand down those edges to get the flexibility your mentioning. That proved unsuccessful at the time. But I purchased some drill bits that are sort of a file that is angled and round and one is a grinding stone with a rounded shape also. Between the two of those I have been able to take them down various amounts. One of the three I did was quite good and showed almost no distortion on those pop pieces that were troublesome with the old one. In fact the sharpness of the sound was very impressive even to me. I wouldn't say its 100% free of any distortion, but it is so limited that I don't think many would pick up on it. But the pesky vocals are still somewhat difficult and so far a perfectly distortion free sound has eluded me. Many kinds of vocals are fine, but those that do buzz most likely shouldn't. I don't recall which model I sent Jim but the early ones had a rather thick cap piece that I felt at the time overloaded the diaphragm more than the thinner cap I used later. I have tried both versions on this new design and the results are still up in the air on that one.

Mordeth; 100 tried would have been in the first month.. I used to have a whole sack full of ideas I tired that didn't work well. The current one uses a vinyl that seems to be a good conductor of the sound, but it is possible that it will just have flaws I can't overcome to make it the best possible. As Jim said, I feel it has considerably better sound than anything new out there. But is much more difficult to make, (even though looking at it it might not seem that way). I have tired endless combinations of varying sizes of cork, caps, links, various shellacked materials, on and on. Perfection I am not sure if I will ever reach. And after a time one burns out on being obsessed with it. Definitely a winter project.

Schmaltz
Victor I
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Personal Text: "Shut Your Eyes and See" (J. Joyce)
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Re: Edison Buzz in vocal records?

Post by Schmaltz »

Larry;

I'm still using the last one you sent - it's a favorite of mine for regular listening. The frequency response suits the records quite well, and the posts I lent to your thread over on Matt Brown's Edison board (with the frequency response curves) still tell the story:

http://edisonphonos.proboards.com/index ... thread=193

Some "buzzing" I experienced briefly stopped when I swapped weights. It turned out the stylus pin was vibrating in a worn pivot hole. It's been nice since then.
Visit the virtual jukebox at The Old Schmaltz Archives.

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