The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I was curious...

I got my horn floor stand today and was finally able to put my 37" horn on my concert! I didn't have a good connector lying around that was a good tight fit, and when I played some Cylinders I was kind of underwhelmed by the volume. The small horn did a lot better, but is a direct fit on the reproducer. Could the loose connector have something to do with it? Is there an ideal way to set up a floor crane and horn for maximum volume?

Yes, the loose connector does have something to do with the volume. Get some rubber connector material from Ron Sitko. About 2-3 inches should be fine. That way the connection from the horn to reproducer should be air tight. With a better fitting, the volume should be louder. Before I forget, make sure there is no obstruction in the horn or nipple.
Harvey Kravitz

Phonofreak wrote:Yes, the loose connector does have something to do with the volume. Get some rubber connector material from Ron Sitko. About 2-3 inches should be fine. That way the connection from the horn to reproducer should be air tight. With a better fitting, the volume should be louder. Before I forget, make sure there is no obstruction in the horn or nipple.
Harvey Kravitz

Thanks! I think it is too long as well now that you said that. I'm sure the rubber absorbs a lot of the sound waves. I think for testing purposes I'm going to run to auto store and grab some different size hoses to try. I'm going to "shave" the concert with some gas or lighter fluid and get a nice good surface and re-record tomorrow and see if the results are better. They are clear now but the cylinder has some rough spots my shaver didn't get and I don't want to deal with the mess of shaving it again haha.

EdisonWizard wrote: I think for testing purposes I'm going to run to auto store and grab some different size hoses to try. I'm going to "shave" the concert with some gas or lighter fluid and get a nice good surface and re-record tomorrow and see if the results are better.

Auto stores are not likely to have the soft, supple hose that is optimal for a good reproducer-to-large-horn fit. The volume of a home recording that you've made presumably on a Concert cylinder versus the volume of a commercially recorded Concert cylinder will likely always be "underwhelming" no matter what sort of adjustments are made from the reproducer throat to the horn. That said, however, I'm sure that with an excellent recorder and excellent recording blank you may be able to obtain better volume than you have now. Commercially recorded Concert cylinder grooves were deeply "cut" thereby producing increased volume coupled with higher surface speed over standard cylinders. Removing sound "leaks" will surely help a little with volume but I doubt you'll ever be "over"-whelmed with the volume of a home recording unless you have an optimal setup, blanks and recorder. Good luck!

Doug

EdisonWizard wrote:

Phonofreak wrote:Yes, the loose connector does have something to do with the volume. Get some rubber connector material from Ron Sitko. About 2-3 inches should be fine. That way the connection from the horn to reproducer should be air tight. With a better fitting, the volume should be louder. Before I forget, make sure there is no obstruction in the horn or nipple.
Harvey Kravitz

Thanks! I think it is too long as well now that you said that. I'm sure the rubber absorbs a lot of the sound waves. ...

The problem isn't the rubber, it's the loose fit. Air leaks rob you of volume. (That's true of any acoustic audio system; it's one reason Brunswick Ultonas are said to be troublesome, because all those complex joints and sleeves are prone to develop leaks unless well serviced. Disclaimer: I've never had one myself and can't speak from personal experience.) As an improvised test, I suppose you could try sealing the loose-fitting hose with tape, but you'll really do much better to get some flexible hose of the right size and cut a piece just long enough to give sufficient play between reproducer/recorder and horn as the carriage tracks across the cylinder.

Thanks guys. I'm gonna try this tomorrow and I'll let you know my result!