The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I have just got it back together and its playing very well so far .
As the springs had kinked ends ,I think, I was told to mount it so the weights bowed out .That was wrong I went mad trying to find why it wouldn't go fast enough .I reversed them and all is ok now .

It appears that after much head scratching I can adjust the speed pointer by first finding 78 ,then holding the lever in the motor and sliding the slip ring on the pointer into the 78 position .The speed adjuster seams to have to left loose slightly on the deck mounting otherwise it binds on the slip ring .

The turntable is now pretty level with the deck Theres is sadly a slight wobble in the turntable , but It doesnt appear to affect it when playing records .

So I yet have to work out a solution for the tonearm swing .

The soundbox...
This is a four spring model with the little knob fitted in the centre of the guard .
Before purchasing the machine I managed to find the reference to its sale at auction a couple of years ago when it had a gold horn .In the write up it said that the diaphragm was a replacement .
I asked the seller whether it was new but he said it was not . I knew better but didn't let that bother me .
I found a writeup to the machine sale in FOR THE RECORD winter 2014 .There is a picture of the machine with gold horn and it mentions that the soundbox had a non EMG diaphragm which performed pathetically !
When I first had the machine I wasn't sure on the performance of the box or at all for that matter , but after finding the mouse nest in the conduit it sounds much better .
The soundbox with replacement diaphragm appears to sound perfectly ok ..I have tried comparing to my 4 spring expert and a couple of Meltropes and as far a i can see any differences are small .The expert maybe best but its all relative to factors of record and needles and my ears ..
Though saying that I just played an Art Shaw record jungle drums and the Meltrope was much superior... the EMG box quite flat .



Anyway I am pleased so far .

I have been playing with sound boxes this morning .Repeat playing Raymond Scott War Dance of wooden indians ..untill I went mad!
The Emg box sounds ok but not as much bass .The meltrope 2 and one of the three models I have were the best ,
I then had a close look at the EMG box .
I noticed the back was loose .The screws and the rubber washers on them are old and dry to boot . The diaphragm gaskets are ok but may be a little stiff and the rear one has a gap in it .
So I recon there is room for improvement .

Lovely clean soundbox. I can see the gap in the rubber seal. I would rebuild the soundbox. A simple blow/suck into the soundbox test will show if there are any leaks. This soundbox, tuned and tweaked will sound a lot better than most. The diaphragm may be a replacement but it looks very usable.

Thank you Chunny .
The box is in nice condition and the diaphragm looks good too ,but I know nothing of the qualities of diaphragms . It looks visually the correct type .

I still have no idea how you tune the soundbox .I presume it to do with where you position the four little springs , but seams a bit daunting .