The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello All,
Thank you very much for the link to the Library of Congress web site. Searching through the Edison Phonograph Monthly, I came across this fantastic picture.

It is a big one but I think Edison had one that was around a 125 feet for recording.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oZ9p-EsQGmA/S ... Sthorn.jpg

In 1919, Edison decided to try to improve the process of acoustical recording so that a full orchestra could be accurately recorded. He thought that the way to do this was by constructing very long recording horns in order to "untangle" the mix of sounds from the recording process. The first attempts, using a 40 foot horn, didn't work out, so Edison tried again, this time building a 125 foot horn in 1923. The piano recorded well ,but not orchestras as a whole, so the project was abandoned in 1925 because it was too expensive, and not very successful. The need for a device like the horn was also superseded by the invention of electrical recording that year. The horn ended up being donated in 1942 to a World War II scrap metal drive by the Governor of New Jersey.

I wonder if they tried playback on it?

Hello Chunny,

What a wonderful photograph which begs all sorts of questions.

Firstly, what date are we talking about---possibly before WWI ? This beats the large Nimbus fibre-glass horn which, from memory, was about 18 feet long and 8 feet bell mouth diameter. The shape of this one is, of course, substantially conical and it is ironic that the dealer's surname should be Wilson---no connection one presumes ? Obviously no thoughts about the benefits of exponential design at that stage. Do we have any comments as to what it sounded like or what happened to it ?

Judging by the horses and horse drawn vehicles in the background (not even a Model T Ford to be seen) I would date the picture as certainly pre-1914 and possibly several years earlier.

Somehow this doesn't look quite right...it's got the feel of those "the fish are biting here" post cards where the just snagged trout is the size of the boat...an advertising gimic?

In Look for the Dog, Baumbach briefly mentions that Victor made Orthophonic Victrolas with 20 foot long folded horns for hotels and auditoriums.

52089 wrote:In Look for the Dog, Baumbach briefly mentions that Victor made Orthophonic Victrolas with 20 foot long folded horns for hotels and auditoriums.

Yes, but the large Auditorium Orthophonic horns were not driven by the Orthophonic reproducer, but rather by an electrodynamic compression driver, powered by an ampliifer, which was driven by the usual Electrola Pick-up.

whoopinola wrote:Somehow this doesn't look quite right...it's got the feel of those "the fish are biting here" post cards where the just snagged trout is the size of the boat...an advertising gimic?

I also suspected that some retouching had taken place.
The rim of the horn appears to have been added later, and not very well.

Not convinced it's a touched up picture.
It's from The Edison Monthly Magazine Vol1 , Feb 1904 No 12 on page 13.
Unfortunately, it's just the ad and no more details. I was just surprised the guy is using a Standard Phonograph.
I'm going to have to try my 6 foot Wilson horn on a phonograph.

I knew there were larger recording horns but the 125 foot tube is just silly. Great photo.Thanks

epigramophone wrote:

whoopinola wrote:Somehow this doesn't look quite right...it's got the feel of those "the fish are biting here" post cards where the just snagged trout is the size of the boat...an advertising gimic?

I also suspected that some retouching had taken place.
The rim of the horn appears to have been added later, and not very well.

What you are seeing in the photograph is just early retouching to bring out details that the early printing processes could not reproduce without enhancement. Nothing more.