What are your listening habits?

[dzavracky]

Most used machine: Either my Brunswick Cortez or Edison Standard (thanks charles )
Favorite Decade: Being a Jazz saxophonist I love big band and swing, but I love the 1920's the most(I also love classical .... I have like 800 classical records)
Cylinder or disc: I have like 10x more discs than cylinders, and the cylinders I do have for the most part are not anything amazing . So I would say discs
Horn or cabinet:: great question! It really depends on the cabinet/horn but I have really been into horns lately
Crank or Electric: \I dont have an electric phonograph lol, but I do agree with Steve. While an electric turntable/phonograph may give a fuller sound, I think acoustic phonographs cant be beat

[Lucius1958]

Most Used Machine: probably my C-250 at present.
Favorite Decade: I generally like the 1900s-20s.
Cylinder or Disc: Yes.
Horn or Cabinet: I like horns; but cabinets are good too.
Crank or Electric: Crank.

- Bill

[PeterF]

Most Used Machine: 9-40 for electric laterals, C-19 for DDs, Pathé Diffusor for sapphire discs, G&T Monarch Sr for acoustic discs, Amberola V for BAs, and Gem D for wax cylinders.

Favorite Decade: I like 1925-35 discs best, and cylinders from all over the timeline.

Cylinder or Disc: Totally mood-dependent, but usually discs. Until my daughters grew up and moved out, i was forbidden to play cylinders when anyone else was home. Now the house is empty enough that my wife can get far enough away to avoid them.

Horn or Cabinet: External horns for drama, internal horns for listening

Crank or Electric: Electric. I hate winding. Once I finish installing Motrola winders on the Pathé Actuelle and the Amberola A(I), they will together replace the Diffusor, Monarch, Amberola V, and Gem as primary players for the associated media listed above. The 9-40 motor is electric, and the C-19 has a Motrola, without which I would go mad.

[edisonplayer]

Most used machines:Edison C-250 Diamond Disc,Edison model E Triumph(for cylinders),and model 117 Brunswick for lateral acoustic discs and vertical Pathés.On Sundays I play my Credenza.
Favorite period of music:1900's to late 1930's edisonplayer

[JerryVan]

Most Used Machine: #1 Credenza, #2 Orthophonic 8-9, #3 Brunswick Cortez
Favorite Decade: Electric era 20's to pre-war
Cylinder or Disc: Mostly disc. (Cylinders sound terrible on a Credenza)
Horn or Cabinet: Horns to look at, cabinets to listen to.
Crank or Electric: Crank.

[BillH_NJ]

Most-used machines: Credenza, Sonora Philharmonic, VTLA
Preferred era of music: 1905 - 1930 opera, classical vocal, and classical instrumental. This includes early complete opera sets and Gilbert & Sullivan boxed sets.
Cylinders or discs? Mostly discs, since I don’t have much of my preferred listening material on cylinders.
Horns or cabinets? Mostly cabinets. I only have 4 horn machines—2 disc and 2 cylinder.
Hand crank or electric? Crank. I only have 2 electric machines—a Victor Grenada and a Brunswick Panatrope changer awaiting repairs.

Bill

[willschettler]

Most Used Machines: Victor 7-25 Orthophonic, Amberola 30, Columbia Grafonola Favorite
Favorite Era: any disc record from 1900 to 1920, and any record electrically recorded
Cylinder or Disc: I prefer playing a disc on my orthophonic because I just love the sound I get out of it, but all of my cylinders produce great sound as well
Horns or Cabinets: I currently do not own any external horned phonographs, but I would love to pick one up in the future
Hand Crank or Electric: Hand Crank because I love to crank up a machine and play some music. I just believe that is the way to do it

[Django]

What machine gets the most running time out of your whole collection, and for what reason?
What era of music do you like the best?
Cylinders or discs?
Horns or cabinet models?
!

I don’t really have a routine. If I am playing diamond discs, I play my Brunswick. I rarely play cylinders, but that would be either a Columbia Eagle or my Edison Standard D with cygnet horn. Electric recordings would most often be played on my Victrola VV-8-12. Early records are most often played on my VV-XVI L-Door B or my Humpback. The others get played as well, just not as often. I tend toward 20s and 30s Jazz, but I like old ballads and sentimental songs as well. Foxtrots, Gershwin, Hawiaan, blues, Jimmy Rodgers, and folk get a lot of play too. It just depends on my mood. I do prefer the sound of the cabinet machines and my VV-XVIII has been getting a lot of play time recently.

[phonojim]

I prefer 1920s and 30s jazz and hot dance bands plus some big band sides, especially Benny Goodman on Victor and rock 'n roll. Most of the time I play them on my modern variable speed turntable for convenience, but when I use a period machine, it is my Victor V for acoustics or my Victor 8-30 for early electrics. Records pressed after 1930-32 are always played electrically.

I usually play Edison DDs on my C19 although I sometimes play them on my modern turntable setup. However I do prefer the the way the way they sound on the Edison machine. It seems to me that electric reproduction can't do justice to a DD.

Cylinders of all types are usually played on my Edison Triumph D2 with oak Music Master cygnet horn. This machine is equipped with a horizontal carriage which allows me to use a truncated weight O reproducer or a diamond B, whichever is appropriate. For the few brown wax cylinders in my collection, which are rarely played, I use a suitcase Home equipped with an Automatic reproducer.

Jim

[bikesteve]

What machine gets the most running time out of your whole collection, and for what reason?
As my collection comprises of purely 102's some black some coloured the one that gets the most run time is the first one I bought as a cheap non runner three years ago, a 1946 black 102d. -Identical to a model my grandfather owned that my nan relegated to the garden shed ('awful din') and later laid to rest in a builders skip, it introduced me to gramophones & fascinated me growing up in the 1970's..
It's by far the prettiest one of my collection but only required a strip down & clean to get it going and look presentable. On the outside it's just an unassuming old box most people would miss in a room but lift the lid and it becomes the centrepiece (I live in a pretty small flat!). The shiny chrome the wooden deck, the look of fascination when you show someone for the first time this almost agricultural technology and the jaw dropping moment when the soundbox meets the record. It still reminds me of the time I first saw a 102 in action back in 1976, just wow! The first 'Boom Box' of their day, no built in obsolescence & software upgrade crap here just a quality machine that'll need a service once every fifty years or so. Doubt we'll be looking back at MP3 players in 75 years the same way..

What era of music do you like the best? I've a huge range of tastes but setting aside the 70's Punk its the classical & jazz of the 20's-40's that I find myself listening to the most. Everything to me sounds great on a 102, until I had one I never would of given any airtime to this era of music but I have to admit it's growing on me in my old age..

Steve