The Cheney

[Edisonfan]

Has anyone heard about this, or no anything about this machine?

[Panatropia]

Frequently encountered. The gold plated ones are really nice. They have an odd gutta-percha stepped diaphragm and a horn suspended from the neck. I've had several over the years. Their fiber governor gears seems their Achille's heel.

[larryh]

I owned one back in the 70s.. It was interesting but I never thought the performance was up to the sound levels they claimed.. .

Larry

[Panatropia]

You can buy one and find out for yourself.
With records....
http://lansing.craigslist.org/atq/5698080563.html

[estott]

Full set of images from a Cheney Catalog: http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... ey+catalog

These were upper-mid price to high priced machines and sold quite well, judging by the amount I've seen. The fine quality cases might account for that. Forrest Cheney was a musician and a friend of Marshall Field who financed the company and sold the machines in his stores- there were other dealers as well. Cheney's death put an end to the company.

The build quality on these machines is exceptionally high, the tone arms and soundboxes are brass and there are separate ones fot lateral and vertical discs. The motors can be a bit tricky to adjust but when properly set up are smooth and quiet. The casting on mine is a high quality alloy with a polished finish and the motor board is cut away so that when the turntable is removed the motor is visible. Performance is not bad- less up front sounding than a Victrola, but mine seems to project well and sounds better at a slight distance. Much of the sound loss is because there is a large air leak at the back of the tone arm. A friend of mine rigged one of the vertical soundboxes to his Credenza to play Edison discs & reported great volume, almost too much.

Cheney machines are worth getting if you have space- they are large, a typical upright will have a lot of space around the 12 inch turntable. The consoles are enormous and some feature two horns.

[Edisonfan]

Thank you for all the information, everyone. I really appreciate it!


Paul

[OrthoFan]

Hi Paul:

Here's a direct link to RJ Wakeman's comprehensive article about the Cheney --

http://www.antiquephono.org/cheney-talk ... j-wakeman/

OF

[Edisonfan]

Thank you for that OF!

[JerryVan]

Panatropia,

What year and model of Buick is that? Mine is a '24, Model 41.

[Panatropia]

Panatropia,

What year and model of Buick is that? Mine is a '24, Model 41.

'27 model 128 7 pass sedan.