The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

It'll be like waiting for a London bus...they won't be any for a while then all of a sudden about 3 or 4 will turn up all at the same time

S-B-H

The only one I could find was on eBay UK and it just went for £150 I didnt think they would go for that much. Maybe I'm going to have to be less picky, is there any difference whatsoever in sound reproduction quality between the HMV 5A & 5B ??? Does anyone have any particular preference or experience with them?

Thanks
Tom

The only difference between the 5A and 5B is the finish on the outside. They are otherwise identical.

I think £150 is very high for this sound box - probably two people really wanted it and got carried away - wouldn't be the first time thats happened on ebay! LOL!

I would keep an eye out on ebay India and UK ebay if it were me. You should be able to pick up just what you want for a much more reasonable price. It might just take a little while to find it which I know isn't ideal when all you want to do is play the machine.

S-B-H

£150 sounds like crazy money to me, unless it was a silver oxide or gold plated example for one of the big re-entrants. I'd sell all my spare nickel & chrome plated examples if I could get $240 aussie dollars for them lol.
All my 5a & 5b sound the same to me. The only difference between the two (apart from plating) is the pattern pressed into the diaphragm.

I just wish there was somewhere I could buy one from that had sensible prices like £50 - 70. Even though that is more than I paid for the whole gramophone Is eBay still really my best bet for a 5A?

Regards
Tom

You could probably try some of the UK dealers- Howard Hope, Chris Baker & "soundgen on Ebay", but I have no idea what their prices are like. It might also be worth putting an ad in the yankee trader section here on the board.