The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

And related to this... There were certain Odeon records in the acoustic era that were labelled SERIE SONORA which were very loud. Maybe they were amplified with pantographs or something. They are really loud, unpleasant to listen to in a gramophone. I believed that was a German invention, maybe because the one I have had German recordings. Some fonitipias I've also found to be very loud... Maybe that was made to be played on these big auditorium machines? There was also the German Parlophon Mamuth gramophone... Some of us saw it on the exposition at Malvern in 2019, the centennial year of CLPGS.

I should add that the Edison Diamond Disc phonograph was played, on stage, in hundreds of auditoriums, theaters, etc., during the teens, as part of an advertising/promotion campaign --> https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2015 ... it-edison/

These "tone tests" apparently were quite popular in their day.

OrthoFan

OrthoFan wrote: Sun Dec 19, 2021 7:33 pm I should add that the Edison Diamond Disc phonograph was played, on stage, in hundreds of auditoriums, theaters, etc., during the teens, as part of an advertising/promotion campaign --> https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2015 ... it-edison/

These "tone tests" apparently were quite popular in their day.

OrthoFan

I have read suggestions that they might have used special pressings for the Tone Tests, to minimize surface noise. Some of the early 'transfer' discs I have heard have remarkably quiet surfaces, at any rate.

- Bill