The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Henry wrote:

WDC wrote:Mmm. My XI with Exhibition and soft-tone needle will break glass at 7 feet. Well, almost. Maybe you meant 17? 27? 70?

Right, doh! I meant 24 feet, why can't the world stick to metric units?

Here is a workshop photo of the smaller Nimbus horn (bell mouth diameter approximately 40 inches) mated to the modified acoustic system of an EMG conduit/tonearm connected to the concentric magnet driver from a "racecourse" announcer. When the latter was hooked up to the output of a modern amp', the sound could be heard in several counties. Quality was also impressive.

And I tought it was band playing a few block away!

novkev24 wrote:

Nat wrote:This is completely useless - but what fun! The source speaker is just a cheapie from Radio Shack, but I wanted to hear what could be done. Not clearly detailed sound (the speaker) - but the amplification and bass are remarkable.

See what lazy weekends lead to...

Nat

Hi Nat,

I've been looking for something like this for some time now. Would you mind sharing what parts you used to construct this item?

-Kevin

A cheapie speaker from Radio Shack (or Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/iHome-iHM60GT-Rec ... i+speakers) and a plastic funnel from home Depot (I had to by a set of three - this was the middle one - but I needed some funnels anyway.) Super glue to hold the speaker to the funnel. Total cost: around $25.

The sound is not very good - a bit fuzzy - but that's the speakers - I like the idea of a "real" speaker, above, and will mess with that a bit later on. And the idea bout playing back digitalized 20's, 30's and 40's music through it at dinner is sheer genius: I'm going to do that, and I'll try to remember to give credit where due!

Here's a short of what my simple setup can do at this time:
[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOBcuYs5xe0[/youtubehd]

That sounds awesome!

Here is a workshop photo of the smaller Nimbus horn (bell mouth diameter approximately 40 inches) mated to the modified acoustic system of an EMG conduit/tonearm connected to the concentric magnet driver from a "racecourse" announcer. When the latter was hooked up to the output of a modern amp', the sound could be heard in several counties. Quality was also impressive.

That sound must have been really interesting. Any recordings?

I created something similar using one the these cheap orthophonic reproducer clones that are riveted together so you cannot change the diaphragm. Removed the needle bar, cut out the middle of the aluminum diaphragm, glued on a speaker from a singing Hallmark card, connected an old headphone wire and put the reproducer cover back on. The wire comes out instead of the needle bar. It's not HiFi, but plays pretty well and doesn't really cost anything.
Andreas

Frankia wrote:
That sound must have been really interesting. Any recordings?

I am afraid I did not make any recordings but could do so given time. Interesting developments are afoot which I hope to be able to report on in coming months. Thank you for asking.

One more note with regard to the sound I got from my set-up: the Credenza sounds much better playing with an orthophonic reproducer, which underlines to me how very good these were. I'm sure a better speaker would make a difference - but what they achieved eighty years ago is amazing, and at least the cheap electronics today still can't beat it!