Do you hear distortion on some piano edison pieces?

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larryh
Victor IV
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Do you hear distortion on some piano edison pieces?

Post by larryh »

Still trying to improve my diaphragms on this end. I know that piano is said to have been one of the more vexing instruments to record clearly. The last diaphragm I had was fairly good at wide sound, but the thing made more than its fair share of noises on piano pieces in loud sharp type passages. I am working on yet a different approach. But still I find that whereas I may hear something pretty clear from one record, another of a similar type piece will defy playing as well. And usually across a wide selection of diaphragms. I know that all the original diaphragms I have had tended to break up in places now and then. Do you find that piano pieces play totally distortion free, or do some produce a feedback from the reproducer, especially with the lid up?

Larry

wjw
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Re: Do you hear distortion on some piano edison pieces?

Post by wjw »

Larry, I think "distortion-free" reproduction of the piano will always be elusive, but it's a lot better now that we don't need a stylus and groove anymore. I have been playing with my C-250 for only a short time and believe that the best way to get a handle on deficiencies in your playback is to have a "modern" turntable and pick-up to test for deficiencies in the recording. I say this because I like toying with acoustic recordings that have those awful "peaks" on my pre-1925 Victrola. I can play them on the Credenza and hear how much of the problem is in the recording versus the older machine's reproduction.

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WDC
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Re: Do you hear distortion on some piano edison pieces?

Post by WDC »

Larry, I totally agree with the predecessor post that universal clarity it simply not feasible. On the other hand, it is also very true that several imperfections, such as distortion, were already recorded and cannot be eliminated by any diaphragm. I found this to be true especially with the early electrics from '27 which not only sound somewhat muffled but have severe distortion problems. All old records are anything but perfect, thus a perfect reproduction won't be possible.

larryh
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Re: Do you hear distortion on some piano edison pieces?

Post by larryh »

Yes the problem is telling which is which, the record or the diaphragm.. another issue that I think plays here is that in almost every instance of distortion if you increase the volume level due to the diaphragm design it often simply magnifies the issue. Not always but in cases where there is built in issues the problem only gets worse with a louder level.

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WDC
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Re: Do you hear distortion on some piano edison pieces?

Post by WDC »

I like that exemplification of an acoustic magnifier. If a certain record causes such problems, I would play it electrically to hear if anything sounds stranger than normal. A spectral analysis would furthermore give you an exact hint in which frequency bandwidth the distortion occurs.

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