General Brand Advice for Neophyte Purchasers?

[Lah Ca]

Tim Gracyk's excellent website has a long list of these companies, but even that list is far from complete. See here:
https://www.gracyk.com/makers.shtml

Thanks. Cool site and not just for the list of manufacturers.

Thank you also for the general advice and information.

[Lah Ca]

I would also recommend buying a few books such as those published by George P and Tim F. Also, joining the APS in order to access great and invaluable resource material, including one publication (R J Wakeman) on the many "off" brands that were available like AV.

https://www.antiquephono.org/brand-talk ... j-wakeman/

Thanks.

[Lah Ca]

I would also recommend buying a few books such as those published by George P and Tim F. Also, joining the APS in order to access great and invaluable resource material, including one publication (R J Wakeman) on the many "off" brands that were available like AV.

https://www.antiquephono.org/brand-talk ... j-wakeman/

^^^this.

-Fran

"^^^this."

I don't understand what this means. Sorry.

^^^ - what do the do the three circumflex chevrons indicate? Approval? Disparagement?

[Lah Ca]

In the UK the big three in terms of production volume were HMV, Columbia and Decca.
HMV's reputation for quality enabled them to sell a premium product to a mass market. They probably have the highest survival rate today, and their prices in today's market reflect their continuing appeal to collectors.

There were dozens of small firms manufacturing gramophones from bought in mechanical components, mostly in the lower and medium price ranges. In the UK we call them "assembled" gramophones, which sounds less disparaging than "off brand", a term which I detest.

Even EMG and Expert, the finest acoustic gramophones ever made, were produced by small firms and used bought in motors. No such terms are used to categorise them. They are in a class of their own.

Thanks. Interesting. I have only ever seen HMV and Columbia machines here in Canada, but then I have not been looking very long or very widely.

[Lah Ca]

Buy what you like and don't worry about.

Well that is sort of what I have done and done completely blindly. It seems to be working out OK at the moment.

Phonographs are not cars, one can't compare apples to oranges.

[Django]

I will stay by my opinion that Brunswick machines, of any era, are the finest quality. Good build, lovely to look at, very pleasant to listen to, and common enough to find parts for.

I agree with the feisty one. Some Brunswick machines are plain, but others have beautifully carved cabinets. The motors are nearly silent and many have the Ultona reproducer that will play Edison diamond discs as well as lateral cut records. They are excellent machines.

Victor machines are an excellent choice as well. If you want to keep the quantity down, (best of luck with that), a good Brunswick with the Ultona reproducer and an orthophonic Victrola will take care of playing any disc up through World War II.

Welcome to a wonderful hobby. It is one of the few ways to authentically experience a bygone era.

[fran604g]

I would also recommend buying a few books such as those published by George P and Tim F. Also, joining the APS in order to access great and invaluable resource material, including one publication (R J Wakeman) on the many "off" brands that were available like AV.

https://www.antiquephono.org/brand-talk ... j-wakeman/

^^^this.

-Fran

"^^^this."

I don't understand what this means. Sorry.

^^^ - what do the do the three circumflex chevrons indicate? Approval? Disparagement?

It's merely a reference to the previous post, as in "up", or "yes, this".

Fran

[phonogfp]

Actually, R.J. Wakeman's excellent (and updated) article on off-brands is available to the public on the website:

https://www.antiquephono.org/category/introductory/

The new website will continue to offer free articles to the public, as well as an archive of over 30,000 pages of documents dating from 1890 to the present. Here's a peek at what's coming:

https://www.antiquephono.org/wp-content ... _Small.mp4

George P.

[gunnarthefeisty]

I will stay by my opinion that Brunswick machines, of any era, are the finest quality. Good build, lovely to look at, very pleasant to listen to, and common enough to find parts for.

I agree with the feisty one. Some Brunswick machines are plain, but others have beautifully carved cabinets. The motors are nearly silent and many have the Ultona reproducer that will play Edison diamond discs as well as lateral cut records. They are excellent machines.

Victor machines are an excellent choice as well. If you want to keep the quantity down, (best of luck with that), a good Brunswick with the Ultona reproducer and an orthophonic Victrola will take care of playing any disc up through World War II.

Welcome to a wonderful hobby. It is one of the few ways to authentically experience a bygone era.

If opting for Edison as a main feature, I would shoot for a nice C19 or C150- common enough and often in quite nice shape. While Brunswick machines are really quite excellent sounding with Pathé and Acoustic records (possibly the best sounding, due to the massive diaphragm), the lack of feedscrew would make me wary with Diamond Discs.

[Django]

I will stay by my opinion that Brunswick machines, of any era, are the finest quality. Good build, lovely to look at, very pleasant to listen to, and common enough to find parts for.

I agree with the feisty one. Some Brunswick machines are plain, but others have beautifully carved cabinets. The motors are nearly silent and many have the Ultona reproducer that will play Edison diamond discs as well as lateral cut records. They are excellent machines.

Victor machines are an excellent choice as well. If you want to keep the quantity down, (best of luck with that), a good Brunswick with the Ultona reproducer and an orthophonic Victrola will take care of playing any disc up through World War II.

Welcome to a wonderful hobby. It is one of the few ways to authentically experience a bygone era.

If opting for Edison as a main feature, I would shoot for a nice C19 or C150- common enough and often in quite nice shape. While Brunswick machines are really quite excellent sounding with Pathé and Acoustic records (possibly the best sounding, due to the massive diaphragm), the lack of feedscrew would make me wary with Diamond Discs.

I would not choose Edison discs as my main listening choice. Edison micromanaged the music that his company recorded, so I generally tend to listen to his competition for what is in my opinion anyway, a better selection. Regarding the lack of a feed mechanism, the Brunswick tonearm moves very freely and the Edison has a lot more mass to move, thus requiring the feed mechanism. I have never had an issue playing Diamond Discs on my Brunswick, but I am not really an authority on the subject. Maybe this has been discussed in the past. I would like to hear from those more knowledgeable than myself on the subject.