The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

eBay Item #370205477774

The seller is from New Jersey; anyone know who this is, and whether his claim of the aluminum diaphragm being "salvaged from the factory" has any merit? Inquiring minds want to know.

The principle of the aluminum diaphragm itself is certainly solid; I have a VivaTonal diaphragm installed in one of my DD reproducers, for an experiment, and it does sound fantastic. The dimensions are right, so it would fit (if you are adept with dental floss you could make a link for it), but was it a factory Edison part? That's what has me intrigued here.

Hi Bob,

Well, what to think.. It could be a replacement for many standard late reproducers, especially since it contains no linkage to the stylus bar? But who knows. I had written Ron Dethlefson about the diaphragms when I was busy working on my own ideas. He mentioned that he had one of the late replacements that Edison had made to use after they ran out of the original shellac type. From what I recall he said it was "copper", but that may not have always been the case. In either material however he said they did not come close to the sound of the paper and cork version when in good shape. It would be interesting to know for sure what it is, but how to establish that is pretty hard.

Larry

These were discused on the old OTVMMB a couple times, but I can't remember exactly what was said about them now.
I think some thought they were an Edison product because a friend of a friend who was reliable source found them at the factory in the 1970's or something, while others thought they were an Columbia product?
I myself have doubts about them being Edison, mainly because of the material used having no added support (by the look of them) around the centre, to support the heavy weight.
Even if they are Edison, who's to say they were intended for a DD & not some lateral soundbox they were working on. I doubt Edison would have simply tied dental floss to the centre also, so you wouldn't be getting them as intended without some sort of eyelet anyway.
They would probably work alright, but then so does a Victor/HMV no.4 diaphragm, and they could quite possibly sound great, so if you've got $15 to spare why not.
There seems to be plenty of them floating around & they have been for years apparently, so you'd think if they really that good, someone would be remaking now as replacements rather than the various cardboard versions that are out there now
I'd be very hesitant to ever claim they were Edison myself.

Shane, Bob,

I hadn't considered the late Edison flat disc machines you see from time to time. Is it possible it is to one of them. Frankly I have never seen the design of the diaphragm in those, does someone have one to compare it with?

Larry

Production of all the portables was out-sourced I think, so you probably wouldn't find them in these machines I guess. Still, they may have been playing with a few ideas in the factory I suppose.
They may have been intended as an improvement for the new Edisonic reproducer but found unsuitable??
There's a lot of if's, but's & maybe's, but I guess we'll never know for sure

The way I think Ron put it was that the metal diaphragm was a cheaper made replacement for service people when the earlier version was ran out and productions cost were too high to justify making them any longer after the Diamond Disc machines had stopped production. But I know he said Copper and like you I think it would have had the linkage, but if these were parts that never got fully assembled it could explain no linkage.

George Frow's book on the Diamond Disc makes mention of Edisonic reproducers with aluminum diaphragms which appeared in the final weeks of production. He mentions this in passing with few other details.

Jim

Lenoirstreetguy wrote:George Frow's book on the Diamond Disc makes mention of Edisonic reproducers with aluminum diaphragms which appeared in the final weeks of production. He mentions this in passing with few other details.

Jim

Yes, in the very very very LAST of the Edisonics (type F reproducers) you will RARELY find these diaphragms. They had the same (well, similar) silk link that the rice paper ones had. They sounded alright on electrics, but not so much on acoustics.

That's interesting; thanks, MicaMonster and Lenoirstreetguy.

A side question; would they have pointed the cone upward, similar to the whale-bone cone in the acoustic diaphragms?

Schmaltz wrote:That's interesting; thanks, MicaMonster and Lenoirstreetguy.

A side question; would they have pointed the cone upward, similar to the whale-bone cone in the acoustic diaphragms?

LIKE THIS:





Shown with original cork gaskets. Enjoy!