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The 8-9 is metal too

marcapra wrote:It's true that Edison DD horns are metal, but I thought most Victrola horns are made of wood. Most Victrolas I've owned including the Credenza have had wooden horns. The only Victrola with a metal horn that I own is the 8-35.

Perhaps he meant that the sound travels mainly through metal before hitting the wood horn at the end. For example, my VV-240 has metal down from the tone arm which then curves and heads towards the front. The tube extends through at least half of the case before it gets to the wood horn.

Moooperator wrote:You can play a DD on a wood horn Brunswick but then you have the reproducer of a brunswick in the equation. I don't like playing DD on my brunswick. Somewhere I recall someone rigging a victor wood horn machine to play a DD and I think they had video too. Can't remember which collector did this though... anyone else recall this?

Here's a 10-50 using a Brunswick Ultona reproducer to play Diamond Discs. Maybe it's what you're thinking of:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zQw4K80QtM

Bob

Victrolacollector wrote: My Magnola Talking Machine, has a nice wood pyramid shaped horn with a volume control which opens and closes a flap inside the horn. The sound from the Magnola sounds so clear and warm compared to the more loud and "metal" sounding of the Victrola and Edison.

Is this your Magnola phonograph?
[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YfyGD2jNOk[/youtubehd]

As estott mentioned before, the tone-arm and reproducer are likely the reason for your Magnola’s nice sound rather than the wood horn. My Player-Tone also has one of these Heineman reproducers and it sounds similar to your Magnola. I bet it's the large mica diaphragm they used, even larger than a Victrola No.2's diaphragm.
[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1pk3uQq86A[/youtubehd]

Actually the video of the Magnola is not my machine, but looks like it, then it sounds like the good sound is most likely attributed to the tone arm and reproducer.