My homemade Gramophone Horn - preview

[Odeon]

Today I want to show you a preview of my homemade gramophone. Ok, only the horn is homemade...
Sorry, it is only a crude video, I have to work on my camera operator skills

It isn´t ready - it needs a shellac coating of the horn mouth. Also I´m in the need of a good microphone. The tinny thing in my digicam isn´t able to give the full sound of this phonograph. Also I need better light for my videos...

Some datas: The horn is made out of paper-mache and plaster. It´s length is c 2 meters (6,2 feet).
The folded tonearm (Gilbert, Sheffield) has unfolded a length of c. 70 cm (27 inch). Together with the inside part of the horn the acoustic length of the horn is almost 3 meters (9,8 feet)
For better treble response, the inside of the horn is coated with several layers of shellac.
¾ of the horn are built with a exponential curve. This gives better bass response.
The soundbox is a rebuilt Orthophonic from a portable with a new diaphragm.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCVuCPI911s[/youtube]

As said, it isn´t ready, I worked the last year on this beast. I know, it isn´t the best looking thing - to be honestly, it is pretty ugly

Why did I built this thing?
I wanted a good sounding phonograph. But here in Germany it is nearly impossible to find or buy something like a Victor Orthophonic.
From time to time you see a EMG or EXPERT Horn gramophone, but they are really expensive.
In the online archive of the Gramophone Magazine (British) I found a construction manual for such a horn by Percy Wilson who worked also for the EMG (or was it the EXPERT?) company. So, give it a try.

In some weeks I´m going to make a longer video (and post) to show you how I constructed the horn.

1-1.jpg (217.7 KiB) Viewed 9326 times

[martinola]

Odeon -

I am still laughing as I type this. This is wonderful! Even with a cheapo microphone, the audio sounds great! You're right that it won't win any beauty prizes, but it is still very awesome. I love stuff like this! Keep up the good work and update us when you get it done.

Regards,

Martin

[barnettrp21122]

I agree, the sound is surprisingly good! I'll bet it's heavy! Do you have more details regarding the magazine's publication date? I'd like to read more about it! Thanks for posting.
Bob

[OrthoFan]

It sounds fantastic. What you've created is very similar in principle to this:


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF22AS3Fv0Q[/youtube]

I experimented with something like that about 20 years ago, taking advantage of the fact that my Consolette was missing its grille. There's a description of it in this Phonoland post string -- http://www.phonoland.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3473 (I post as Joe_DS there.)

As noted, the horn I made began to lose its integrity within a few days after the paper mache' dried, leaving bits of crumbled plaster all over my apartment. I remember it sounded pretty good, though.

[Lenoirstreetguy]

Odeon! I think it sounds great! Here's a Cascade advertisement just for fun. I've posted this before but why not again? As you can read, a lot of the audiophiles at the time felt that the Cascade gave the best sound: better even than the EMG or Expert. The only thing is that they were a bit cumbersome to use.
Jim

[Starkton]

Great machine and good sound, Odeon. Do you still have it or is it already sold to Asia?

I find your horn "relatively" appealing compared to some EMG/Expert horns.

[Odeon]

OK - first thank you all for your kind replys. I wasn´t shure about the reactions...

The horn isn´t heavy. Most of the horn is made out of paper-mache & white glue. I only put c. ⅕ of plaster into the whole mud to make it more stiff. All in all the weight is about 10kg.

And yes, I had the Bond Cascade Gramophones in mind. The Cascade Gramophone Horns were designed by Percy Wilson. This is the same who wrote for the Gramophone Magazine.

http://www.gramophone.net/ Just search the side with "Wilson Horn" or "Wilson Panharmonic" and you´ll find a lot of articles about "Gramophile" Horn design.

The two articles which let me thought about a selfmade horn:

http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/Fe ... +PHONATICS
http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/Ma ... +PHONATICS

@ Ortho_Fan I knew you post in Phonoland. I stumbled over the thread while I searched the web about infos on paper-mache horns. The first horn I tried also crumbled - the gimmick was white glue and glass-fibre straps with the second horn.

I used more modern materials than described in the original construction plan. For example I built the horn over a hollow mold made out of styrofoam

hornmodel1.jpg (103.75 KiB) Viewed 9206 times

And of course it isn´t sold to asia - I worked over a year on this beast.
The only thing I would do, if someone would have something like that, is to give hints how it could be made...

[Nat]

That's really wonderful! I've often thought it would be terrific fun to do something like that.

Weren't the EMG and Expert horns also papier-mache? (And may I insert a plug for the book "The EMG Story"?)

Nat

[Odeon]

You´re right, the EMG & EXPERT horns are also made out of paper-mache.
While the EMG horns are paper layer over paper layer glued together, mine is one layer paper and than one oat of paper-mache mud with plaster. Then the second paper layer & mud and so on. The neck of the horn is c. 1 ¼ inches thick.

I never touched my hands on a EMG horn, so I cant say which manner makes a more stiff horn.
I let the horn dry almost half a year, before I put the first coat of shellac on it.

[Edisone]

Man, that's big. Reminds me: "Your home BECOMES the speaker; you live in the garage!" (to paraphrase)