A blue Orchorsol sound- box ?

[poodling around]

Here you go. From left, the Rifanco Horshoo, Diana, and Cellotone.

The diaphragms, backs, and needle bar fittings are the same on all of them. There’s no lifebelt, but the whole shape and design is the same as the orchorsol branded soundbox

Wow !!! These are truely remarkable !

They also remind me of EMG and ASTRA sound-boxes.

Thanks VERY much for showing them !

[leels1]

They sound pretty good too. Veering off topic here, but that Cellotone is odd. I’ve got a couple of others and the tone arm attachment is a 2” long rubber thing. It’s really weird, and I’ve never seen any pics of another. I found in pic online of an advert but that was all.
I’d love to know the full history as to why these soundboxes were produced along the same lines, and the name Rifanco Horshoo? Weird!

[poodling around]

They sound pretty good too. Veering off topic here, but that Cellotone is odd. I’ve got a couple of others and the tone arm attachment is a 2” long rubber thing. It’s really weird, and I’ve never seen any pics of another. I found in pic online of an advert but that was all.
I’d love to know the full history as to why these soundboxes were produced along the same lines, and the name Rifanco Horshoo? Weird!

There is a youtube video which shows the 'Rifanco Horshoo' in action ! I think that the video was created by one of our 'fellow members' on here maybe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52qhaz0OPxc

[Oedipus]

As I think I have mentioned before on this Forum (but I can't find the reference), the Orchorsol is basically a 'Master Precision' sound box, which originated with the last Nicole machines in 1906. After Nicole collapsed, the sound box was carried on by, from memory, the Precision Engineering company, and they obviously supplied it to Orchorsol in the late1920s (who probably applied the adjustable lifebelt to it), as well as other brands. Rifanco was the brand name of the Regent Fittings Company, one of the many London wholesale outfits. I don't know who was responsible for the Diana, but mine has, behind the typical c. 1930 front mask, the same alloy back as the Orchorsol, without the lifebelt but with the three redundant holes for the adjusting screws. Some later Orchorsols did away with the screws, and just had three tension springs; they called these sound boxes 'self adjusting'. All have that distinctive stylus-bar suspension, with two ball bearings and two in-line flat torsion springs.

[leels1]

As I think I have mentioned before on this Forum (but I can't find the reference), the Orchorsol is basically a 'Master Precision' sound box, which originated with the last Nicole machines in 1906. After Nicole collapsed, the sound box was carried on by, from memory, the Precision Engineering company, and they obviously supplied it to Orchorsol in the late1920s (who probably applied the adjustable lifebelt to it), as well as other brands. Rifanco was the brand name of the Regent Fittings Company, one of the many London wholesale outfits. I don't know who was responsible for the Diana, but mine has, behind the typical c. 1930 front mask, the same alloy back as the Orchorsol, without the lifebelt but with the three redundant holes for the adjusting screws. Some later Orchorsols did away with the screws, and just had three tension springs; they called these sound boxes 'self adjusting'. All have that distinctive stylus-bar suspension, with two ball bearings and two in-line flat torsion springs.

Great info. The Horshoo presumably as it resembles the shape of a horse shoe!

I’d like to see the back of this one being played on the 102, as I believe a version was made without that orchorsol lifebelt adjuster, or the suspension springs that just had the tube that attached to the tone arm.

Unless I’m not able to make it work properly, I found the versions with the adjusting screws don’t really seem to make that much of a difference to the sound produced, or maybe I’m just not doing it right.

[epigramophone]

Unless I’m not able to make it work properly, I found the versions with the adjusting screws don’t really seem to make that much of a difference to the sound produced, or maybe I’m just not doing it right.

Rather like the Quinke tube fitted to most EMG and Expert tonearms, I have yet to meet anyone who can detect a significant difference in sound quality, no matter how they are adjusted..