The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have not been in the hobby that long. And have no reason to benefit by saying that the Victor's had the best selection of artists, the best music, and the best sound quality of the era. The discs seem optimized for era machines.

Certainly the records from the main companies were probably recorded to sound good on the test phonograph/gramophone in the managing directors office at the time.

All live music being unamplified before the mid 1920s means that the experience we have of live and recorded music in the current era must rather different from that of the original owners of the machines and records. This must affect the way we listen and appreciate these things but is one of the fascinating parts of the hobby especially when an old recording entertains despite or sometimes because of the limitations of technology.

Considering what they had to work with at the time, they really managed to get the most out of what was available to record.