The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Certainly one can make a diaphragm out of any material thin enough to vibrate. Speaker cones are conical by definition which is not always the desired shape for a given reproducer because sometimes only a flat or relatively flat diaphragm can physically fit in the space inside the reproducer sound chamber. Not all diaphragms are mica, either. A number of different materials were used -- from glass to metals to paper to fiber to wood -- there is likely no material that hasn't been tried.
The Pathé' 'Actuelle' phonograph does use a large diameter paper cone as a diaphragm (Pathé' called them a 'diffusor'). They work well, but not without some distinct coloration of the sound. Polly-Portables and the Brunswick 'Parisienne' (essentially the same machine) used a folding non-framed paper cone. HMV produced gramophones that used a pleated paper disc designed by the Lumiere brothers, not a true 'cone'.

I am very surprised with the quality of audio on the videos.
Well done!!!
Not wanting to go off subjuect but how did you record the sound for the videos?. Is it a built in mic from the camera or an external mic.

Jeff has been under the weather for a couple of days and I'm sure he'll address this more thoroughly, but some of the earlier videos were recorded with just a camera mic. When we began using an oscilloscope, we began using a condenser mic on both the scope and the videos. I can tell you that the mic was consistently placed before the horn opening for all tests and recordings.

"Fascinating Rhythm", one of my favorite Edisons & very familiar to me, nearly knocked me off my chair! Wow. I hope you're still doing this, because I will pick out a good reproducer & have it MillionDollar-ized !

I don't know how I missed this subject, until now.