An EMG box and motor

[Damfino59]

I've had my standard EMG VIII for almost three months now. The lack of a lid has not been a problem. What comes out of the horn overpowers the surface noise! The Meltrope III works well for me with medium tone steel needles but also does an excellent job with Greythorn Kacti. Some day I would like to get an EMG sound box to compare with the Meltrope.

[2Bdecided]

Ah yes ! I quite agree that the lid greatly enhances the listening experience and EMG obviously realised this pretty quickly at the time. Might we be privileged enough to see a photo of your great instrument ?

One day

I've had my standard EMG VIII for almost three months now. The lack of a lid has not been a problem. What comes out of the horn overpowers the surface noise! The Meltrope III works well for me with medium tone steel needles but also does an excellent job with Greythorn Kacti. Some day I would like to get an EMG sound box to compare with the Meltrope.

At least on mine, there are frequencies coming from the needle bar that are not really reproduced via the horn, so both are audible.

I have tried swapping sound boxes between machines. I naively thought I had identified differences between different types, but then found just as large a difference between different examples of the same type. Sometimes it's the tuning, sometimes it's the rubber, but even on a humble HMV 5b there are differences which I'm sure I'm not imagining. In that case I wonder if it's differences in the state of the pot metal back on different examples which, while currently invisible, are already audible.

Cheers,
David.

[Steve]

Let me clear up any "mystery" about the strange s/box on the machine on eBay and please excuse me if someone has already stated this but it appears to me that it is simply an HMV 5B with fascia removed AND a replacement brass back. If you look at the front bezel you will note is has split due to the expansion of the original pot metal back pulling the brass ring apart. Presumably the back-plate expanded beyond any salvageable type of re-use so it was "re-machined" from plain brass - hence no "His Master's Voice" embossed name to it. The current soundbox has no redeeming value whatsoever unless someone is desperate to apply a non-original back to an HMV 5A / 5B in order to restore it.

I agree with Graham: far from being the epitome of acoustic sound reproduction, that horn is a disaster!

[Orchorsol]

Let me clear up any "mystery" about the strange s/box on the machine on eBay and please excuse me if someone has already stated this but it appears to me that it is simply an HMV 5B with fascia removed AND a replacement brass back. If you look at the front bezel you will note is has split due to the expansion of the original pot metal back pulling the brass ring apart. Presumably the back-plate expanded beyond any salvageable type of re-use so it was "re-machined" from plain brass - hence no "His Master's Voice" embossed name to it. The current soundbox has no redeeming value whatsoever unless someone is desperate to apply a non-original back to an HMV 5A / 5B in order to restore it.

I agree with Graham: far from being the epitome of acoustic sound reproduction, that horn is a disaster!

Certainly is. The notion of a BBC sound engineer having commissioned it (other than as a poor quality makeshift) is ridiculous.

I think the re-worked HMV 5b was an interesting idea in the first instance (in the absence of an EMG soundbox) but is clearly for the bin now!

Agreed, I enjoy my Mk VIII hugely but it would benefit greatly from a lid to reduce needle talk, which is in a frequency range higher than anything produced by the horn and therefore somewhat obtrusive.

[2Bdecided]

Sold for £2,005.

7 bidders, 31 bids.

[emgcr]

Here are a couple of photos for posterity.