Period photo of Auxetophone

[Orchorsol]

Here's a great photograph of an "Auxeto-gramophone" in Battersea Park.

Part of this auction lot, a large postcard album: https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auct ... d3ab9cef18

[Marco Gilardetti]

Very interesting picture, thanks for sharing!

I have always wondered how well these machines worked, and how good was the sound they delivered. Has anyone ever had the chance to listen to one of the few surviving machines, perhaps?

[TinfoilPhono]

I owned an early Auxetophone for many years. I wouldn't say that the sound quality matched an Orthophonic, but it most definitely was LOUD. Almost excruciatingly so. It was also extremely noisy, but in a large outdoor area, at some distance from the machine, that would have been less obvious.

I made a video about it years ago. It gives some idea of the volume, but the camera's microphone compensated somewhat for the volume increase so it doesn't come off as loud in the video as in real life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7SV65DFNy8&