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There was a post, awhile back, on the UK Gramophone board in which a member discussed the possibility of attaching a home-made EMG style horn to a late production HMV outside horn model, such as the HMV 31. The idea, of course, was poo-pooed and sniffishly dismissed; but last night I came across this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P1trPQYh_s[/youtube]

To my (American) ears, it "don't" sound too bad.

The Idea was NOT "Poo - Poohed " or sniffishly dismessed at all - EMG Horns are based on Wilson Horn Fittings which (apart from the first one made to fit a Seymour Backbracket) were MADE to fit these late HMV Bases as they were excellent value at the time with good strong motors and the weight to take a Wilson Panharmonic Horn without any alteration and produce - as you can hear on Ian Maxted's machine - an excellent sound

Many people bought EMG horns at the time to fit these bases as a cheaper alternative to buying a complete EMG - the EMG soundboxes could be bought as add - on's as well thus creating the latest in technology at the cheapest price (During the Depression)

I actually advised a member of my board who had been gven an EMG horn by another member that he should find one of these HMV Machines as they are far easier to find than an EMG base - and a lot cheaper !

It's hard to see just how big the horn is in the video until the fellow steps up next to it! That thing's bigger than my dorm room in college!
There have been posts somewhere discussing making one's own exponential horn of either fiber glass or paper mache. I'd sure like to find them. Thanks for finding the video!
Bob

GMEMG wrote:The Idea was NOT "Poo - Poohed " or sniffishly dismessed at all -

My apologies, Colonel, my memory is playing tricks on me. After re-reading the string, I see it was about the infamous HMV 33. One poster suggested retrofitting it with an EMG style horn, and a poster's response was...

"As to EMG-quality sound, forget it. It does not even come close, with whatever horn you may think of - it is a poorly designed and poorly manufactured machine, well below the HMV standard applied in the domestic machines."

...but now I see he was talking about that specific machine in question.

DS

Well, just for curiosity sake, several weeks ago I fitted and tried several different (rebuilt, of course) reproducers on my EMG, including the HMV 4, 5A, 5B, Victor Exhibition, #2, Orthophonic and a couple of adapters to play Pathé and Edisons. The HMV and Victor soundboxes all pretty much failed terribly compared to the lowly two spring EMG reproducer, which just blows the doors off all the others. (I'm being sarcastic when I say "lowly" here, but I suppose the 4 spring model sounds even better, which is hard for me to believe, but then, I've never heard oen in person). I will say the Pathé adapter playing Pathés and even a couple of Edisons (just as a test, i still won't play good ones this way) sounded just great.

A little OT, but it was a fun little experiment!

Sean

for your viewing pleasure here is the same machine with a sagged emg mk9 horn and a meltrope 3 soundbox! comparing the original metal hmv horn to the emg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYw5sVxQrEs

kirtley2012 wrote:for your viewing pleasure here is the same machine with a sagged emg mk9 horn and a meltrope 3 soundbox! comparing the original metal hmv horn to the emg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYw5sVxQrEs

Thanks Alex! I really enjoyed that, good demonstration, plus it brought a huge smile! And a laugh - the record somehow suits the droopy horn perfectly - poor old thing. Amazing how these horns still sound wonderful even when they're as out of shape as that.

well that record wont sound too good now!, my Pathéphone no.12 cabinet fell on it and split it in two this week
anyways, glad you liked it!

kirtley2012 wrote:well that record wont sound too good now!, my Pathéphone no.12 cabinet fell on it and split it in two this week
anyways, glad you liked it!

Oh no! That's a tragedy! Fantastic record - I have quite a few Henry Halls but not that one, would love to find a copy.

kirtley2012 wrote:for your viewing pleasure here is the same machine with a sagged emg mk9 horn and a meltrope 3 soundbox! comparing the original metal hmv horn to the emg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYw5sVxQrEs

Alex, I must say that the original horn isn't bad at all! Those were a good gramophone obviously.