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I've got a 2M Gem with an odd 10 panel horn that's 23" long.
A 2/4M Standard with 11 panel cygnet horn ( normally used 10 panel cygnet but Australia only got 11 panel)
And a 2/4M Home with horizontal carriage for Diamond B reproducer. This one was minus a horn but I found a 12 panel Triumph horn cheap shortly after I got the machine, so I've used it for the last 25 years.
I know many people rave about how good the big 11 panel cygnets sound, but IMO the straight 12 panel horn sounds much better, which is why I've never downgraded to the correct 11 panel horn for my Home.
All these machines are Model B's.

My opinion is to forget about the little Firesides & Standards, and at least get a Home phonograph, or if you can stretch the budget, then go for a Triumph.
A standard with either type of 10 panel horn does sound quite acceptible for regular listening, but I find the Standard motors are quite noisy compared to the larger models, and they're boarderline for making recordings, as you can sometimes get slight speed variations occuring while cutting a record.
If you did decide on getting a Standard, then I'd agree with Martin & look for a Model D, preferably with a new bearing already installed. These sometimes turn up with attractively painted horns & a horizontal carriage, making them one of the best looking and sounding Standards you'll find.
The smaller machines with their 8 panel, or even worse, 14" witches hat horns sound appauling to me, like listening to a cheap transistor radio in a toilet, so for me, after 1 or 2 songs I"ve had enough & cant wait to turn it off

With a Home or a Triumph, fitted with the correct size horn, you can actually sit down & enjoy listening to cylinders, in much the same way as you'd enjoy listening to a Credenza for half an hour or more, where I find the smaller machines & horns for extended periods more like being tortured by a Mikiphone or kiddyphone.
The Home has the advantage of quieter & stronger motor, noticably improved sound quality with the larger horn, and it's a better machine for shaving (if applicable) & recording cylinders & the cabinet is only 4" wider than a Standard so it's larger footprint shouldn't be a problem.
The same things apply to a Triumph, except with it's 3 springs, you obviously get more cylinder plays per full wind, but they are also ideal for shaving & recording. The increased weight shouldn't really matter either, unless you intend moving it around a lot.

The great thing about whichever Edison you get, is that there's normally some options available to either improve performance &/or sound quality, so a humble 2M Standard can be upgraded with 2/4 min gearing, a horizontal carriage & Diamond B reproducer, and even a Music Master horn if you want, so it ends up sounding just as good as an Opera.
Ideally, I think anyone buying their first Edison should try and get a model that already has 2/4M gearing, a horizontal carriage & diamond B reproducer. That way, for around $200 you can get an adaptor ring & Model K reproducer, & you'll be able to play any standard size cylinder you find.
If you buy a 2M machine & want to fully upgrade it, the cost of dual gears (& in the case of a Home or Triumph, a whole new mandrel etc), a horizontal carriage, Diamond B & Model H reproducers, it may cost as much as $500-600 to do so. Buying a machine already with a large horn & suitable crane is generally more cost effective too.

If an open horn machine wasn't a priority, then I don't think you can beat an Amberola 30. They are very cheap, very compact, & although the horn is small, they dont have the horrible tinny sound of earlier models with a 14" horn, making them a joy to use & listen to. BA's are far more durable than wax records, and are generally cheap & plentiful, and you also have a much better & enjoyable time period & genre of music to choose from.

Andersun wrote:I choose the following for reliability, durability, easy adjustment, commonality of parts, and they are relatively inexpensive. I left out the Fireside because the pin-stripe is more fragile if you intend to use the machine. If it is mostly for display, then the Fireside Model A (2-4 minute) could be added below. I left out the Home Model D because of the bushing. Most replaced bushings are brass with poor tolerances leading to extra noises.


Edison Standard Model B w/ 2-4 min attachment
Edison Standard Model D
Edison Home Model B w/ 2-4 minute attachment

I'm pretty much in agreement with Andersun. Regarding the reproducers if you need to stay with the small carriage, which would be cheaper, then I'd opt for having a C & H with the set. They usually sound a little bit better than a K.

If you have a bit more money to spend, then any of the above with a large carriage, an O and a diamond B is clearly the way to go.

I think you have already received EXCELLENT suggestions so I will quickly state that I too had an Edison Standard Model D about 20 years ago and that machine was amazing. I had both reproducers and there was nothing that machine couldn't do!

Yes Martin I agree with you I have the D Standars By Edison
Below is a Video on my You Tube Channel on my D Home
Enjoy
I also have my Brunswick and My D standard some where O I almost for got My Model B Standard.


D Home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64VNO5rS ... re=mh_lolz

Edison B Standard 2min wax player

http://www.youtube.com/user/radioman56? ... ZGJiQGdZwY

Thank you very much everyone. Good food for thought. I am going to print off this thread and digest it before I start seriously looking.

Clay

Clay,
Thank you for asking the question and to all for responding. I found the comments very helpful. I am in the same situation; I have a few Victors and would like to experience an Edison. Luckily, I live close enough to the Stanton auction site to visit next Spring.

Chris

An update. I just bought a Standard D. Has a newly replaced mandrel bearing, a nice replacement B&B witch's hat horn, and a model H reproducer. Will pick up a C reproducer somewhere and may pick up a cygnet horn for it some day. Not in too big a hurry on the C reproducer, as I have a bunch of blue Amberols but no 2-minute cylinders yet.

The Standard D was on just about everybody's short list in this thread. Your collective advice was extremely helpful and much appreciated.

Clay

Congrats on your D. That's a machine I still have on my to get list myself.

If you are going to play lots of 2-minute wax I'd highly recommend that instead of a C you'd be better off getting a Model B reproducer. A good one will have about 90% clarity of a C but with the bullet shaped stylus it is way more gentle to the groove than any of the later doorknob shaped styli just as the C has.

I am pretty confident, that many of the 2-minute black wax cylinders with heavily distorted grooves were actually worn by these doorknob styli, not damaged ones. The high peaks, especially found with opera, march and xylophone selections get easily chopped of by the sharp doorknob edge.

Just my bit of thoughts on that, especially because you still have the chance to make a proper decision in the first place.

FloridaClay wrote: Will pick up a C reproducer somewhere and may pick up a cygnet horn for it some day.


Clay

Does it have a Cygnet bracket, or is it already drilled for one? If not, you'd be better off using a straight MG horn and a machine mounted crane (or even a floor crane)...

Bill

Lucius1958 wrote:

FloridaClay wrote: Will pick up a C reproducer somewhere and may pick up a cygnet horn for it some day.


Clay

Does it have a Cygnet bracket, or is it already drilled for one? If not, you'd be better off using a straight MG horn and a machine mounted crane (or even a floor crane)...

Bill

I will be mulling that for awhile. I like the idea of the originality of a 10 panel front-mount straight horn, which this machine likely came with, but the cygnet (apart from being attractive) has the advantage of taking up much less space. In the meanwhile I can use the B&B witch's hat.

Clay