The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Being now the proud owner of Dear Chemist's Expert Junior, and also of an EMG 9a, I am very pleased with both machines, which are the ones I play most frequently. Both share the unique characteristic inherent to their acoustic design - presence. It can only be experienced live, there is no means to reproduce it. Other contemporary machines have comparable frequency response, but the presence can only come from a large horn - and you need to sit at the right distance from it to feel it.

As to adjusting soundboxes, it is difficult for me to find the "ideal sound" - I only touch the soundboxes that sound bad - even if they look bad, if the reproduction is good I leave them alone. The problem with the readjustment is that it lacks the repetitiveness inherent to the industrial process, like mechanical alignment jigs, specified torque values and correct properties of the flexible materials used. On top of that we are dealing with material that has been in use for decades and underwent variable degrees of wear. Moreover, we all lack an objective standard to compare with: nobody knows how a brand new Ginn soundbox sounds, as there is none. Even those who heard it when new and are still around, are left with only their own aural memories as source of reference. So the adjustment becomes a balance between the individual's patience and a highly subjective idea of how a particular soundbox should sound.

old country chemist wrote:It would also be nice to hear from some other EMG, Expert, Cascade, etc.owners as to whether they feel honoured, or otherwise, owning thse amazing gramophones.

Hello everyone - first post here, having struggled to register ever since I saw these UK-centric boards pop up!

In some ways, I feel like I'm the custodian of my better machines for future generations. Obviously I own them and intend to keep them for decades to come, but in the grand scheme of things I think they're just passing through my hands. I have to set that asside and just enjoy them, because if you have them as museum pieces and don't enjoy them then you can't experience the joy yourself or pass on the enthusiasm to the next generation. Even with plenty of use, I suspect and hope that many of them will outlive me.

I don't share the view that they're the best way to listen to period records - I think decent electrical reproduction can reproduce even more information from the record grooves than the best that HMV, EMG and Expert could produce. However, it is magical to hear sounds in almost the same way that people did nearly 100 years ago. It's also quite revealing to put away all modern forms of audio reproduction and only listen to gramophones for a week or so. Your ears will adjust, and when you go back to it, most modern hi-fi will sound terrible.

I'm loving all these videos, scans, and anecdotes. I've lurked for a while on both boards, and am delighted to finally join this one (I never joined the "fastforum" one).

Cheers,
David.

So the adjustment becomes a balance between the individual's patience and a highly subjective idea of how a particular soundbox should sound

That is so true!

Steve wrote:

So the adjustment becomes a balance between the individual's patience and a highly subjective idea of how a particular soundbox should sound

That is so true!

Well, I must say that thanks to several suggestions I've read here that I did some more fiddling and testing with my 2 spring EMG soundbox. I added rubber gasket material to the back screws and was able to replace the crumbled leather washers on the needle bar springs. The leather I used was actually just a piece from an old wrecked leather bomber jacket. The stuff is very soft yet almost paper thin and it certainly made a difference with adjustments "holding" better after being made. I was thinking about trying some white gasket material there also just out of curiousity. I can say this much, it sounds far better than it ever has and now that I'm a bit more familiar with what each adjustment seems to affect, it's a lot less daunting and dare I say, even fun to tweak around with.

Sean