HMV 130

[Nat]

I've got a line on an HMV 130 in very good shape. I'm deeply, deeply tempted, but: did the 130 have a real orthophonic/re-entrant horn, no matter how truncated. (I want a bumper sticker that says "My other phonograph is a Credenza").

Also, I posted this on the repair section, but no answer yet: any leads on sourcing good grill cloth for the Credenza?

Any one who can contribute to my rationalizing the 130 will be read with gratitude...

Nat

[OrthoFan]

The HMV 130 was equipped with a long, metal (non-folded) exponential style horn, that kind of zig-zags from the base of the tonearm, around the motor to the front of the cabinet.

A properly designed exponential horn need not be folded to get the maximum output or achieve the correct transference of sound waves. Along this line, the use of all metal tone chambers gave the Gramophone Co. more flexibility, when designing their table top models, in fitting the longest possible horn into the smallest enclosure without having to fold it upon itself as Victor had to do with its all-wood horns, save for the Consolette (4-3).

The sound quality of a properly restored HMV 130 is amazing--very full sounding, with a strong mid-range and more than just a hint of bass.

There was a discussion about this model earlier, along with a posted video:

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... 94&start=0

If it's in good condition, say in the $200-300 range, personally, I'd grab it.

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As for the replacement grill cloth, I know that a lot of people have ordered from this company:

http://www.grillecloth.com/

I'm not sure which pattern comes closest to the Credenza's original cloth, so hopefully someone else will chime in.

[Nat]

Ortho -

You're a mine of information - many thanks! I'll certainly be able to pick something very close to the right cloth from that page.

Thanks also for the info on the 130. They want rather more for it, but as near as can tell it's almost band-box new. I'll see if I can badger them down a bit - but it looks like such a wonderful machine!

Thanks again,

Nat

[MordEth]

I want a bumper sticker that says "My other phonograph is a Credenza".

Nat,

Personally I think that the bumper sticker idea is a really good one—we’ve been planning on making more phonograph-related items for the TMF shop, but I haven’t had a chance to discuss it with John yet. I plan on doing that soon, and I imagine that you should be able to say you have one, soon.

— MordEth