Columbia Cylinder Ad

[Lenoirstreetguy]

Here's Columbia poking Edison with a sharp stick. This is from February 1904. I just played a Columbia two minute wax and they were pretty good although they don't seem to be as loud as the Edison records, but my sample is very small..( like, four ). Have you guys found that to be the case?
Jim

[gramophoneshane]

I have very few Columbias myself. I have found the blunt ends to be noticably quieter compared to Edison recordings, but the later flat ends with printed info seem to be fairly equal in quality & volume to Edisons.

Nice ad btw Jim.

[Edisone]

I recently bought a terrific BQT with more than 60 perfect Columbia cylinders (they'd been stored in an attic within a few blocks of my house, for decades) ... These are the best Columbia cylinders I've seen - not a speck of mold, hardly played, no damage ... but ... all of them are loud at the expense of being clear. They're okay records - enjoyable, peppy - but lyrics are muddy and the band records are overmodulated. So, the Dime of savings reflects the inferior sound quality, methinks.

[gregbogantz]

Are you sure the cylinders are at fault for the "unclear" sound? Try playing them on an Edison machine with a rebuilt model C, M, or O reproducer. The "Lyric" reproducer typically found on the Columbia BO and BQ machines is a notoriously bad sounding thing. There is a good reason why Edison used a weight to apply the tracking force in his reproducers. It adds mass to the stylus bar fulcrum which is necessary to keep the modulation from the stylus tip properly transmitted to the diaphragm. Columbia and others tried to get away with using a spring instead of a mass to apply tracking force, probably to circumvent Edison patents. This causes the stylus bar fulcrum to vibrate excessively, together with adding yet another mechanical resonance in the audio range. The result is that Lyric and similar sprung reproducers have no bass and have very prominent resonances in the audio band which makes them have a peaky and blasty response. Rebuilding these reproducers doesn't help much - the fault is in the basic design.

[Valecnik]

IMHO,...I've played wax Columbias using what I believe is a well built Lyric on a BGT, Fireside with model C & K, Triumph with O and Amb.I with M.

The M & O are hands down the best sounding, followed by the C, then the K and finally the Lyric. Even worse are those floating reproducers like on the AO.

A good H also sounds better than a K for four min records.

I also think a very clean Edison and a very clean Columbia wax 2 min will sound pretty much equally as loud and clear. It's hard to tell because you are comparing more than material used to create the cylinder and the recording process. You are also almost always comparing different versions of the same tunes recorded some time apart.