The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

"Harmony - probably the quietest acoustic records I've found so far. Not sure it's just that these are in great shape or what, but man, they are super-quiet with hardly any background hiss."


Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Harmony records were pressed by Columbia, and many feature the same quiet surfaces as late 1920s Columbias.

They did...Harmony, Velvet Tone, Diva and Clarion were all nice laminated Columbia client pressings...

Sean

Shane wrote:Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Harmony records were pressed by Columbia, and many feature the same quiet surfaces as late 1920s Columbias.

Speaking of the brown label Harmony of the late 20's, indeed they were Columbia product, and very good quality. I do believe on a par with regular late 20's Columbia records, save for the fact that many of them were recorded acoustically.

There are also those large diameter spindle Harmonys and the later pink label ones which aren't anything remarkable compared to contemporaneous records.

OrthoSean wrote:

Swing Band Heaven wrote:However for their time I don't think anything could beat a late electically recorded Edison DD. When these were produced nothing seems to have got near the richness of the sound recorded and also those nice silent surfaces weren't bad either.

S-B-H

It's funny you mention electric Edisons, I've recently come into quite a load of NOS electric DDs and I've been slowly beginning to transfer them (and I mean VERY slowly!). Some of them sound sublime, silent surfaces, nice even levels, perfect. Others though are "thumpy" due to divets in pressings and some were recorded with obvious distortion. There isn't any pattern either, some are great and others just aren't, but when you get a really nice one, you're right, electric Edison DDs sound really sweet!

Sean

Well needless to say I voted for Edison Disc records but I agree they can be temperamental. The acoustic ones normally sound clearer than acoustic 78's recorded roughly the same time. Some can sound "thumpy" on modern equipment especially and I've not figured out how to get rid of that. The later electric ones can sound fantastic.

Something that really perplexes me is I bought several NOS 515xx series in Europe that came out of the Netherlands. They look absolutely shiney but have extremely high surface noise, especially when played on modern equipment....

Is the surface noise from the grooves only or does the surface sound noisy in the blank areas outside of the grooves? Perhaps its groove damage from playing in the past with a dodgy needle or perhaps Edison dumped on Europe those pressing that failed the materials quality checks After all Europe was a long way from the States in those days and complaints would be unlikely to reach his ears I assume that DDs were only pressed in the states with no plants outside of the country?

S-B-H

Swing Band Heaven wrote:Is the surface noise from the grooves only or does the surface sound noisy in the blank areas outside of the grooves? Perhaps its groove damage from playing in the past with a dodgy needle or perhaps Edison dumped on Europe those pressing that failed the materials quality checks After all Europe was a long way from the States in those days and complaints would be unlikely to reach his ears I assume that DDs were only pressed in the states with no plants outside of the country?

S-B-H

The real noise, (above normal) is in the grooves. However they records look absolutely shiny and came in original Edison jackets, jackets in rough condition. There's no indication that any were played with a poor diamond needle or with a steel needle. The extra surface noise is noticeable when played on modern equipment, (with proper .35mil stylus & turntable adjusted to vertical format). I know the records were imported in the 20s, versus brought by a modern day collector, because each one has a sort of Duty stamp on the label. Because the noise is not very noticeable when the records are played on original equipment, I'm guessing they were possibly of poorer quality but somehow deemed acceptable enough to sell in Europe.

I really like good clean "Edison records"....... .Just kidding!!!.I like nice and clean BERLINER records.... .

Gramo78---Now there's a news flash no one expected. and I was gonna load up a box with DD's to send you, never mind now!

Energ15 wrote:Yes. I meant to put "Berliner disc record", but I was concentrating on the other options at the time. Anyway, I can't change it now or else it'll delete all the votes.

Actually, you can make that edit without losing the votes. I corrected it for you.

— MordEth

MordEth wrote:

Energ15 wrote:Yes. I meant to put "Berliner disc record", but I was concentrating on the other options at the time. Anyway, I can't change it now or else it'll delete all the votes.

Actually, you can make that edit without losing the votes. I corrected it for you.

— MordEth

Thank you so much! When I edited it, it would always delete the votes.