So THAT's how it works!
Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 5:11 pm
Hi All,
A few days ago, I had an opportunity to visit the American Museum of Radio and Electricity in Bellingham, Washington. They specialize, as you might have already guessed, in radio and electricity, but they do spill over a little into phonographs and other things.
A guide gave me a complete demonstration of the Ultona tone arm on a nice Brunswick BR-60 Radiola combination unit. They played portions of a Diamond Disc, a regular 78 and a Pathé record for me. Now some of the things I've read and heard about Ultonas make sense to me.
They really are pretty neat! All 3 of the records sounded pretty good to me, but I thought the DD sounded the best. Unfortunately, I didn't get to hear the radio part of the unit. That's too bad, because the museum has its own low-power radio station, and they play some great old music. I suppose the fact that their station is FM has something to do with why they didn't play it on the Radiola for me. They stream it online, and I sometimes listen to it that way.
It's not easy for me to find demonstrations like this, but they're sure fun when they do come along. I also got to try my hand at playing a Theramin! I guess I'll just have to be patient and some day get a few more interesting pieces to call my own.
Take care,
Jerry K
A few days ago, I had an opportunity to visit the American Museum of Radio and Electricity in Bellingham, Washington. They specialize, as you might have already guessed, in radio and electricity, but they do spill over a little into phonographs and other things.
A guide gave me a complete demonstration of the Ultona tone arm on a nice Brunswick BR-60 Radiola combination unit. They played portions of a Diamond Disc, a regular 78 and a Pathé record for me. Now some of the things I've read and heard about Ultonas make sense to me.
They really are pretty neat! All 3 of the records sounded pretty good to me, but I thought the DD sounded the best. Unfortunately, I didn't get to hear the radio part of the unit. That's too bad, because the museum has its own low-power radio station, and they play some great old music. I suppose the fact that their station is FM has something to do with why they didn't play it on the Radiola for me. They stream it online, and I sometimes listen to it that way.It's not easy for me to find demonstrations like this, but they're sure fun when they do come along. I also got to try my hand at playing a Theramin! I guess I'll just have to be patient and some day get a few more interesting pieces to call my own.
Take care,
Jerry K
