True Tone Dance Reproducer vs Original Edisonic Reproducer

[Major_Dundee]

Greetings all,

Many of you have probably followed an earlier thread from Larry H about his True Tone diaphragms. I had asked Larry to build me one this spring because I had inadvertently destroyed the diaphragm upon disassembly. Knowing that my chances were slim to none to get a replacement, I asked Larry if he could build me one with a special request to try to replicate the upper hook so I could use the upper spring which is unique to the Dance Reproducer. After sending him the original diaphragm for hook sizing, he made a True Tone to my specifications and I easily installed it with new gaskets into my Dance Reproducer head. I also own two original Edisonic Reproducers and a Standard Reproducer. Larry asked me to do a comparative test of the True Tone Dance vs the Original Edisonic Reproducer. I decided to pick which Edisonic I considered better (the differences were negligible)and videotaped three separate songs with my Sony HD camcorder. I chose more upbeat songs (because that's what I like!) and spliced them together. The first song compares each section vs each other. On the other two, I decided to take one section of the whole continuous song. If you listen to all three songs, you can form your own opinion. Lastly, one of the songs, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" 52221-L is an electronically recorded song which I added for variability. Both Reproducers had new gaskets.

Enjoy,
Chris

California Here I Come by the Atlantic Dance Orchestra 51304-R

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8kFCPNQFmg[/youtubehd]

A Good Man Is Hard To Find by the Winegar's Penn. Boys 52221-L

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rG8iuFuB04[/youtubehd]

Sweet Georgia Brown by the Tennessee Happy Boys 51575-R

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcttAAD7xVw[/youtubehd]

[larryh]

Thanks for making these videos.

Its not too surprising that the original in good shape is going to have a somewhat cleaner sound than my humble attempts.. Still my goal was never to outdo the Edison version but to have a replacement should one be needed that could come at least somewhere near the sound the machines produced. To that end I would say its a success. I have been doing a lot of listening to the two ply version which this is one of, and I have realized something that is made clearer by your videos.. That is that mine in certain kinds of sounds has a somewhat muffled effect over the music.. Other places it does amazingly well. What I am going to check soon is wether the original True Tone design is as prone to that as this version.. I think it may be as well. Gives me something to work for.

Larry

[Le0]

I paid close attention to both, and it seems like the original has that little "something" the True Tone lacks... that said, the new diaphragm sounds great.

(I was afraid to be the first to comment as they both perform very well. )

[Major_Dundee]

Larry,

I think you are too hard on yourself. I was going to hold comment on this, but there is a definate difference to hear this "live" vs through a head set. I consider myself to have above average hearing. Tastes of all of us are different. I like my music more in the midrange/treble side of things. That being said, when you listen to the Edisonic "live" at points it can be too strident. I think what your Diaphragm does is dampen the top end slightly and add a little debth in the middle/low. Be careful of the "loudness" trap. All my reproducers have merit on different songs. This True Tone Dance has become my all around workhorse. My other Edisonic is slightly lower in volume and more closely amplifies like yours. I was shocked at the larger difference I could hear with the head set on, that I could not hear "live". You saved a great Dance Reproducer with a great stylus and I thank you for that. Keep up the good work!

Chris

[Lucius1958]

Even with my bad ears, the 'True Tone' seems to sound a bit clearer than the Edisonic…

but perhaps I'm a bit biased; hearing them in person might be different.

Bill

[larryh]

Bill,

I thought too that the True Tone managed to navigate some passages that the original had noticeable distortion over. But there is something that seems to add a sort of blurred effect on some larger type sounds. While its not causing the actual voice or music to become broken up sounding, it does seem like the diaphragm is vibrating in a way that is audible. I agree that in person the effects may be different since often a newer recording from a smaller type camera or video recorder can condense the sound in a way that makes the two sources less obviously different..

I will say that in person in my locations where I play my Edisons I can always hear an improved tonal range and volume in most cases when playing an original or other newer diaphragm against mine.

Larry

[ImperialGuardsman]

To my ears, the original tends to distort more, at least in the first video. I prefer Larry's to the original.

[edisonphonoworks]

It seems both have there merits, I thought the original had a louder midrange, but had a twang, Larry's seemed to have a nice even tone, maybe a little lack in the mid bass, I would say yours is not as forward as the original but sounded pleasant. I listened through a Marantz 2235B, a high speed cable internet connection, and Cerwin Vega speakers. When I record my videos now days I use an M audio studio condenser microphone into pro tools or audacity, and then use a webcam for the vid, and then sync up the best I can the studio audio with the video, I take both in real time.

[larryh]

Chris,

Your right, I tend to listen from experience for things that are slightly problematic. In doing so I can overlook the up side to the sounds.. I repeated the playing of the two acoustic pieces and found them very good.

I played quite a number of popular things today here using that style diaphragm in my standard head and in a large room it was very pleasing. One thing I have noticed about it is that it tends to give a wider range of depth which makes some records I had found uninteresting sound much more listenable. That alone is a plus. I would like to attempt to find where the mid range is perhaps an issue, but for the most part in person that doesn't seem to be a noticeable issue.

Your videos are quite well produced and I appreciate your doing it.

Larry