Strange (?) soundbox on His Master's Voice 101

[Korhosen Mara]

I got my first gramophone (for which I have longed for few years) last week. It sounds very bad. First I thought it's like that because soundbox has gaskets hard as a rock. I took it apart and found something quite surprising.

First I thought this had a His Master's Voice no. 4 soundbox, but inside it says Sonora electric. And the diaphgram is a little odd too...

It looks like it's a do-it-yourself -diaphgram with part of some Swedish book in it...

[barnettrp21122]

Hello, and welcome to the forum! Nice detailed pictures!
It looks like some inventive previous owner did what he/she could with available materials to get this reproducer functioning some time ago. I'm sure you can get new materials to rebuild it properly.
Ron Sitko may be able to help you with supplies.
The best way to contact him is by phone:
Telephone (518) 371-8549

Perhaps some forum member has personal experience rebuilding the Sonora Electric pickup and can give more specific help. Good luck!
Bob

[Phono48]

I'm not surprised it sounds bad, with a cardboard diaphragm! It should be clear mica, which would then show the trademark. However, this soundbox looks to have come from an entirely different machine, and adapted to fit the 101 arm, judging from the screws in the back, which seem to be driven into the rubber gasket.Not good! Given this, I would try to find another complete No.4 soundbox. They are widely available at a reasonable price, but try to get one with a brass back, rather than the later pot-metal version, which can cause problems.

[mf77]

Your Sonora soundbox was made by Paillard of Switzerland, who made copies of the HMV No.4. They came in 2 sizes, one the same size as the No.4, and the other was larger with the diaphragm being ⅛" bigger than the no.4.
These Paillard soundboxes sound every bit as good as the HMV no.4, and the larger Paillard copy IMO is the only soundbox I've come across that actually sounds better than the No.4. Both of these soundboxes will fit straight onto any HMV/Victor tonearm without requiring any adaptor to fit properly.
You will find these soundboxes are probably the best sounding boxes ever mass produced with a mica diaphragm, and will do a brilliant job on both electrically and acoustically recorded discs.

I too would try & purchase the correct HMV No.4 soundbox for your 101, but I would also recommend restoring your Paillard/Sonora soundbox to keep as a spare. Perhaps if you bought a new diaphragm for the No.4 when you get one, you could use the old diaphragm in the Paillard box to keep costs down, as it appears to be the same size as a No.4.
The same one piece red gasket you can buy for a No.4 will also fit the Paillard box, or you can just use the regular white tubular gasket available for Exhibitions & other soundboxes.
Some people actually say the No.4 sounds better with the regular white gasket installed, so you may wish to use the original style red gasket for your No.4 and the white gasket in your Pailard (or visa-versa) and compare the sound quality of them yourself.
Another alternative may be to restore the Paillard box and then sell it to recoup some (or all) of the cost of your HMV No.4. These Sonora soundboxes were originally fitted to Sonora's Superphonic models, introduced in a early 1927 (as far as I know) but will also fit Sonora's earlier models and do a much better job at reproducing electrical recordings than the earlier soundboxes, so you may find your restored Sonora box will sell for a good price to either someone who's missing the box from a Superphonic model or to someone with an earlier model who wants to play later electric records on say a Bombe or period model.
Chances are these Sonora "Electric" soundboxes would have been available from Sonora dealers as an upgrade for earlier models anyway.

[Korhosen Mara]

Thank you! I think I will stick with this soundbox for now. Diaphgram is not cardboard, it's kind of a sandwich. There is one mica, one paper and one other plastic layers. I took paper and plastic off. After that gaskets were too thin and diaphgram was very loosely in it's place. I made new gaskets out of old broken natural rubber (those red ones) inner bicycle tube. I KNEW I'm going need that as a material some day... I also loosened the needle arm a bit, it was very tight before. As one would guess the sound wasn't very good, though a lot better than before.

[VintageTechnologies]

Since the diaphragm is not original, you have several options to play with. If you want to play acoustic-recorded records, I would choose a mica diaphragm. If you want to play electrically-recorded records, I would look for a generic corrugated aluminium diaphragm; it should play the electrics better without blasting.