Edison Home vs. Amberola 1A

[marcapra]

What would have better or louder sound? A 2 min. wax cylinder played on a Home with a Home horn and C reproducer, or the same played on an Amberola 1A with an M reproducer?

[TinfoilPhono]

Definitely the Amberola. I had previously been told it had the best sound of any cylinder machine. When I got mine, and had the reproducer properly restored, I discovered that such praise was an understatement. No cylinder machine I've ever owned can rival it. Especially with the lid lowered, which eliminates any mechanical noises. I can well imagine how impressive this (expensive for its time) machine must have struck listeners back in the day.

[gramophoneshane]

I'd have to agree with Rene that the 1A is better.
I've got a Home B with a Triumph horn, and even with the bigger horn, I still prefer the Amberola.
My Amberola 1A actually came with a Diamond A reproducer, and I was so impressed with the sound quality, I got hold of a Model M so I could play 2 & 4 min wax cylinders too, and I'm glad I did.
It's pretty much the only cylinder machine I play now.
All the others just seem inferior now and not worth listening to.

[52089]

I'd say it depends on what you're comparing. A Home with a witch's hat horn will never sound as good as a 1A. A Home/Standard/Triumph/Fireside with a properly rebuilt reproducer and a cygnet horn, IMHO, sounds better than a 1A, albeit not by much.

[KCW]

What about an Opera versus a 1A? Any big difference there?

[marcapra]

That's a good question. I have an Opera and a 1A in the same room. I can test them with the same Diamond A rep., and the same BA, and report the results tonight.

[gramophoneshane]

My guess is the Opera will sound better because of the slightly longer sound chamber.
I've always thought the reason my 1A out performs my Home with the large Triumph horn was because the larger diaphragm of the Model M compensates for the shorter horn, plus there's none of that metallic rattle or resonating you get from certain notes/frequencies with a tinplate straight or cygnet horn.

While I do still stick by my previous statement that my Amberola with Model M reproducer sounds better than my Home with a Model C and Triumph horn (or my Standard with 11 panel cygnet for that matter), I will say that playing the Home or Standard with a Diamond B delivers greater volume than the Amberola, but again there's that metallic factor to the sound quality and the additional motor noise.

Not having a metal horn on the Opera I think is a big advantage so I'm sure the Opera will sound slightly better playing the same cylinder with the same reproducer than on the Amberola 1a.

[marcapra]

I just completed the test. The first cylinder I played was a Vulcan dub of Ever since the movies learned to talk by Billy Murray and his melody men. There wasn't a noticeable difference between the two machines with this record, probably due to the talky nature of the song. Then I decided to select a directly recorded BA 1593 O Dry those Tears by soprano Mary Carson. I played this on the Amberola 1A both with the lid closed and open. The sound was very good! Then I played it on the Opera. Carson's lyric soprano voice soared out and stunned me with its beauty. I made sure to be fair to place my head in roughly the same position and distance from the horn. The Opera was clearly a notch above the 1A in both volume and clarity. Not surprising when you compare the horns with each other.

[epigramophone]

A Triumph with a Diamond B and a Music Master horn would probably sound as good as an Opera.
Would anyone fortunate enough to own both machines care to make a comparison?

[coyote]

I had previously done a quick and dirty test of the sound of the Opera vs 1A with sound clips here. I never did the Triumph with MM horn vs Opera, but I, too, would assume they would sound similar. However, when the Opera is correctly adjusted, it could conceivably have less warble than an average Triumph. This wouldn't be a direct comparison, however, as you could not use the same reproducer, unless you rigged the Opera recording arm with a reproducer and tubing to the horn.