The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi All, Only having a Edison Standard O reproducer with a cygnet horn and a 1-A with an M and an A. I know the 1-A with the A sounds best but how do other horns and reproducers compare? Can any one talk about straight vs cygnet, wood vs metal and also reproducers A vs B vs C and or combinations with horns. I ask this because I know some of you may have larger collections with fine equipment and may have formed informed opinions from experience.
Thank you all kindly,
Allen

Personal preference and observations:

Curved horns (morning glory and cygnet) sound better than straight. Small witch's hats and small cones are the worst.

Wooden horns act as a filter and can reduce record hiss, but can filter off some of the music. So my preference is metal flower or cygnet.

Generally, the larger the reproducer diameter the better. An O or Diamond B, for example sounds better than a C, H or K.

If your comparison is among the Diamond reproducers, I think that all three will sound pretty much the same, if coupled with a good horn.

The Diamond C is usually found with smaller horns, as in the Amberolas 30, 50, and 75: that may affect the resulting sound.

Bill

Hi again,
Could any one comment on the 10 vs 11 segment cygnet horn is there a significant difference?
Thanks to all responding to date,
Allen

A Ford 1 wrote:Hi again,
Could any one comment on the 10 vs 11 segment cygnet horn is there a significant difference?
Thanks to all responding to date,
Allen

I have both 10 & 11 segment horns, and cannot hear any difference.

I heard about someone doing an experiment with two machines.One had a wooden horn,the other had a metal horn.They played both behind a screen,and people couldn't tell the difference.edisonplayer

edisonplayer;

If that is true, one has to wonder why such a significant market developed for external wood horns. Indeed, by the time enclosed horn machines were in vogue, the majority of them had wooden horns as a standard.

I believe there is a difference in sound quality between wood and tin horns when all other elements are the same. To me, it seems that wood has less high frequency overtones, and the bonus of an appearance that is a lot more attractive than metal.

I think the size of the horn makes much more difference than what it is made out of.

AZ* wrote:Wooden horns act as a filter and can reduce record hiss, but can filter off some of the music. So my preference is metal flower or cygnet.

The differences are subjective and subtle. I'm not sure the wood itself has much discernible effect on the sound. I always attributed the differences I hear to the length and taper of the elbow and the flair of the horn bell. I have three horns to compare, a wood Musicmaster horn on a Home, a wood horn on my Opera (of course!) and a metal 10-panel cygnet horn on a Fireside. It seems to me the metal cygnet sounds more focused and projects the sound forward further but the projection is narrower. The Opera horn bell has a wider flair and the sound is more diffused.

If the screen obstructed which machine was playing but not the sound from the horn that might be a good comparison. On the other hand if the screen also obstructed the sound from the horn I would not think that was a good test as the screen would be modifying the sound and may be more so than the horns.
Allen