What's on your short list?

[FloridaClay]

OK, I will admit I had to go hunting to see what a Victor R-99 was.

What draws you to it Vanya?

Clay

[gregbogantz]

The RCA R-99 doesn't look like much as it is a console electrical phonograph in a plain cabinet. From around 1937, it is one of RCA's answers to the first high fidelity products being offered by other manufacturers of the day. Philco was using the term "high fidelity" on several of its models beginning in 1937 (including the term brandished on a decal on the front panel), and they were just that with separate woofers and tweeters and high power amplifiers. And E.H. Scott had been using the term since about 1935 with its top end Allwave 23 radio set. Along with the very deluxe RCA D-22 radio/phono, the R-99 offered one of the early versions of dynamic volume expansion in a consumer product. It also had an unusually powerful amplifier with push-pull 2A3 output triodes producing a rated 15 watts of audio. The magnetic pickup was also improved with lower moving mass to offer better treble performance. The loudspeaker was unusual in that it had an aluminum voice coil for lower moving mass and paired that with a mechanical diffuser to improve the high frequencies and the better dispersion of the treble. The D-22 is even more elaborate with a record changer, two speakers and double the amplifier power with four 2A3s in push-pull-parallel, dynamic volume expander, and all-wave radio chassis. The D-22 is a very large impressive beast and difficult to find these days as it sold in small numbers for a very high price just when nobody had any money during the Great Depression. The R-99 is also hard to find as it was very expensive for being just a record player.

[Lenoirstreetguy]

Hey there Greg, the old teacher in me brings out the visual aids.....
JRT

[Steve]

Amberola 1A, HMV 202 or 203, E. M. G. Xb Oversize, RCA Victor R-99. That would a out complete my want list, which si small, but unfortunately expensive.

Now, Uncle, don't forget you can also supplant the 10B Oversize with the Expert Senior All-Range Horn model! It's even bigger and sounds better too. I'll stick to my humble Senior with 28 & ½" diameter horn. The All-Range at 36" is too big to fit through any of my doorways. I'm sure you have the space to accommodate it though.

[Uncle Vanya]

Amberola 1A, HMV 202 or 203, E. M. G. Xb Oversize, RCA Victor R-99. That would a out complete my want list, which si small, but unfortunately expensive.

Now, Uncle, don't forget you can also supplant the 10B Oversize with the Expert Senior All-Range Horn model! It's even bigger and sounds better too. I'll stick to my humble Senior with 28 & ½" diameter horn. The All-Range at 36" is too big to fit through any of my doorways. I'm sure you have the space to accommodate it though.

Yes. Double doors into the house and from the vestibule to the library and the parlors.

I have the space, just not the purse.

Heck, I once had a Western Electric 16A horn in the library.

I unfortunately moved it to the haymow of the carriage house, and so later sold a fellow in Chicago the surviving pieces.

Did not know about the Senior All-Range. Must research it.

[FloridaClay]

The RCA R-99 ... offered one of the early versions of dynamic volume expansion in a consumer product.

Curious. Assuming "dynamic volume expansion" was a promotional phrase for ad copy. What was behind it?

Clay

[Uncle Vanya]

The RCA R-99 ... offered one of the early versions of dynamic volume expansion in a consumer product.

Curious. Assuming "dynamic volume expansion" was a promotional phrase for ad copy. What was behind it?

Clay

It is an electronic circuit based upon the automatic volume control system used in many radios from 1920 onward, but instead of adjusting the gain of the amplifier to compress dynamic range it instead expands it, akin to an automatic device which turns the volume control up during loud passages. The RCA volume expander circuit is a bit finicky, but when it is working well it really adds a lot to orchestral records.

[gregbogantz]

No, the term "dynamic volume expansion" is not just an advertising buzz phrase - it's a real thing. This is the reverse (or inverse, if you will) of the dynamic volume range compression (usually just termed "compression") that is done by mastering houses and broadcasters to reduce the dynamic range of audio to make it more "commercial" or have more "kick" when heard on car radios. Compression was not used too much before the mid 1930s, so early electrical recordings retained the full "dynamic range" (the range of loudness from softest to loudest) that was present at the original recording session in the studio. The dynamic range of a full orchestra can exceed 50dB or so when performing symphonic music. Ambient noise level in a quiet room is around 70dB SPL (sound pressure level). At full honk, an orchestra can maybe muster around 120 dB SPL on average, with waveform peaks 20dB higher than that. That's really loud. You just can't capture that dynamic range on any analog recording.

The best modern LPs can yield maybe around 50dB dynamic range from the surface noise level to serious distortion of 5% or more on musical averages, with peak signal waveforms being much more distorted. So LPs can almost do the job, but shellac 78s are far noisier with maybe 35dB dynamic range. So, in order to actually capture a full symphonic performance, the volume range had to be adjusted to fit inside that smaller dynamic range that was available on 78s. In the early days, this was done either by instructing the conductor to have the instrument players reduce the range of loudness that they were playing (this was the norm in the acoustic recording days) to having the recording engineer "gain ride" the volume control to increase the recording level in quiet passages and reduce the level during loud passages. This is what is meant by the term "dynamic" - the loudness is continually adjusted up and down, that is dynamically, to squeeze the performance into the confines of the loudness range that can be accommodated by the recording medium. After the pentagrid converter tube was invented in the mid 1930s, the DC-controlled dynamic mutual conductance amplifier circuit was invented that allowed the automatic adjustment of volume levels without the need for a human operator to twist the volume control. Thus was born the dynamic range compressor circuit that was used (and abused) by the recording and broadcast industries from that time on.

Most listeners don't even notice that this reduced dynamic range is even evident when they listen to recorded music, but serious hifi listeners began to notice it in the 1930s and complain about it. So E.H. Scott, RCA, and a few other consumer equipment manufacturers decided to market the inverse circuit, the dynamic volume range expander, to those serious listeners who would pay for it. It takes several more tubes to implement this circuit in the early sets that use it, so it was sold as a premium product. But when properly adjusted, it CAN and DOES make a significant improvement in restoring the loudness dynamic range back to something closer to that of the original studio performance.

Even today, volume range compression continues to be routinely used in commercial music releases. CDs have more than ample dynamic range that they don't require compression, but many engineers and producers use it on CDs and other digital recordings and broadcasts because they think it makes the sound more "commercial". They also add distortion to make the sound more "analog" and "warm", but that's a separate rant for another day. Again, most people don't notice the compression, but for those who do, several modern dynamic expanders are available that can be used to restore the range. DBX is probably the most well-known of the modern expander makers.

Taking this back to the topic at hand, the significance of the R-99, D-22, and Scott sets is that they were among the first consumer products to offer this expander circuitry.

Thanks for that RCA ad pic, Lenoir. I don't have a picture of the R-99, but attached is a color pic of the D-22. Note the two big speakers visible behind the grille. The record changer is inside the top of the cabinet. This is a massive set.

[Uncle Vanya]

Well speak of the D*v*l and up he pops!

I have a (rather rough) RCA Victor R-99 on its way to me as we speak!
It just turned up out of the blue.

I built a copy of the RCA Dynamic expander circuit, as published in the RC-14 tube manual, along with the 6L6 power amplifier specified therein. Performs very nicely, but I always wanted the "real thing", and the D-22 is just too much of a beast! Besides which, I much prefer a single-play phonograph to a record changer.

[EFearing]

With all the machines I have already it is hard to wish for more, however.....

A Columbia Grand, baby grand piano style phono with the ornate legs (missed one at Stanton's last year because of travel conflicts)

A Victrola 10-50

Any Sonora Art Case console phonograph, especially the Chippendale model

Any Oriental paint decorated phono

Allof this keeps me constantly looking