The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Got my first electrically recorded Diamond Disc today among a batch I bought. I had heard that they were better, but WOW. The difference is stunning. Now I see why they so often bring a nice price.

Clay

I find many of the earlier electric Edisons to be a bit harsh & "constricted"; Rhapsody In Blue is an example - while it's loud and clear, and the orchestra is fine, the louder passages sound "strangled" and tinny, to me. Those were cut with a home-brew setup concocted at the Lab (Theodore Edison helped with this, as I recall) ... When they switched to RCA mikes, amps, and cutters (not the lathes - old weight-driven lathes were used) the records improved quite a bit. I believe the change coincided with the move to new recording studios in late 1928. Diamond Discs from then on are mostly pretty terrific, in my humble opinion.

Not sure which equipment was used to record my example, No. 52362. What was so startling on a first hearing is the presence the recording has compared to nonelectric DDs. It conveys a sense of being much more alive and in the room.

Clay

Playing electric Diamond Discs with an electric pickup is quite a revelation too. Hearing Henriette Kamern's pipe organ record "Laugh Clown Laugh" through 15" woofers is breath-taking.

Agreed, Vintage. As I've commented on the TMF before, the bass in these Kamern pipe organ recordings is astonishing. I've heard response down to the 30 Hz range - pretty remarkable for such early electrics. But, of course, you have to have dam good modern hifi equipment to reproduce these frequencies.

Edison retailers and servicemen had numerous comlaints from owners of the C-2 radio/phono unit about unmusical "roaring" noises when playing some of these records. I have copies of the factory service bulletins that address this complaint. The problem was acoustic feedback from the speaker to the vertical pickup system employed when playing DDs. It was excited by the bass content of some of these records. The factory recommended decoupling the speaker from the baffle, thereby reducing bass response of the system or simply avoiding the several records known to be offenders. Pretty sad commentary on the factory technology, but the Edison works was on its last legs by this time anyway.

Edisone wrote:I find many of the earlier electric Edisons to be a bit harsh & "constricted"; Rhapsody In Blue is an example - while it's loud and clear, and the orchestra is fine, the louder passages sound "strangled" and tinny, to me. Those were cut with a home-brew setup concocted at the Lab (Theodore Edison helped with this, as I recall) ... When they switched to RCA mikes, amps, and cutters (not the lathes - old weight-driven lathes were used) the records improved quite a bit. I believe the change coincided with the move to new recording studios in late 1928. Diamond Discs from then on are mostly pretty terrific, in my humble opinion.

I too, noticed that the Edison "Rhapsody in Blue" disc sounded inferior to many of my electric dance tunes on Edison.