The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

1918 or earlier - curious what a majority opinion might be?!

What is the starting point of your survey?

Jim

Merely wondering what people think the best sounding machine of the period is... I am a Victrola man - so curious about those but am open to other makes/types... I was listening to "Goodbye France" earlier in a VV IX. Would a VV ?? sound better? Quality may be in the ear of the beholder - just curious on thoughts...

I believe when you compare the detail and range of sound an Edison, preferably with the 250 horn may have been the winner. Victors and Brunswick sounded very well also but realism of tone seems to be more evident with Edison.

Larry

I think Larry might be right as long as you are not using those scratchy sounding Diamond Discs made from about 1918 - 1920! Unfortunately, those years were the years when Edison was selling over 8 million records a year, which was the most records Edison ever sold. In the 20's, with each new year Edison diamond discs got better and better sounding, just as his sales were rapidly declining. Edison records were increasingly seen as being old-fashioned even as the music on them got better and better. The high price of Diamond Discs didn't help either. 1926 was the last year that Edison sold over a million records.

I agree with Larry & Mark. The French Pathéphone of the period would certainly be comparable though.

I've compared early Diamond Discs played on an A-250 with similarly dated records, even same title played on a Vic V. The Edison wins hands down imho, even when the Vic V is upgraded to the later Victrola no. 4 reproducer.

Definantly agree. An A-250 or other high end A series Edison diamond disc machine is great. I'd say an Edison A1 may take the cake though in my opinion on acoustic sound reproduction before 1918.

Dustin

marcapra wrote:I think Larry might be right as long as you are not using those scratchy sounding Diamond Discs made from about 1918 - 1920! Unfortunately, those years were the years when Edison was selling over 8 million records a year, which was the most records Edison ever sold. In the 20's, with each new year Edison diamond discs got better and better sounding, just as his sales were rapidly declining. Edison records were increasingly seen as being old-fashioned even as the music on them got better and better. The high price of Diamond Discs didn't help either. 1926 was the last year that Edison sold over a million records.

HI Marc,

Yes many early black labels are very noisy. It is always amazing to me to play a good victor or other brand and find almost no surface sound. However it won't change the overall sound of the edison, (except that they often over recorded the masters resulting in poor volume). I have found though that black labels can be quite good at times and I can't really account for it. I have noticed that sometimes buying a lot of records from a individual you may be quite surprised to find that many of the records will have what I would consider a low surface noise for a black label after the first etched surfaces. Some of those are also nearly as good as the latter ones, but are prone to cracked surfaces which endanger the stylus. It must have something to do with the exposure to environments that vary. I have records where one would think that particular period usually has poor surface and yet it surprises with low surface noise. I do agree that the vast majority are poor in surface but some seem to escape the worst of the effect. I have some that are marked as Rejected and yet the surfaces are very fine, go figure?

Larry

Probably the best WW1 period machine for reproducing lateral cut records was the Seymour Superphone which appeared in 1916. With a large external horn, but with the soundbox and record enclosed under a lid, it was the inspiration for the EMG and Expert gramophones which became the ultimate in acoustic reproduction.

Images of the Superphone can be found at http://www.henryalbertseymour.com and http://www.revelstokenickelodeon.com.

Happy the collector who can unearth one of these!

Very good info! Some info in replies I had not expected! Where are the Victrola guys? . How hard are the Edison WWI period recordings to find? Thank you again, sirs. Great info to consider