The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Tonight I finally did something I've been wanting to do for years- play a diamond disc through my HMV 202 using an Edison reproducer.
I removed the tonearm, & with the aid of a piece of flexible hose from the washing machine, I held the reproducer on the record.
The sound was quite good, & in my opinion, better than the music reproduced by shellac records of the late 20's & early 30's with an Ortho soundbox.
I probably should have tried an electric DD (maybe next time), but as you can hear, even an acoustic DD sounds pretty good through the Re-entrant horn.
I'm guessing that if Edison was somehow able to incorporate an exponential horn into his machines, he may have produced the very best sound quality of the late 20's.

It wasn't easy guiding the reproducer over the record, so there's only just over a minutes music, and a stylus jump at the beginning. I also had trouble keeping the reproducer completely level, so I could hear a little bit of "stylus roll" while I was recording it, but it doesn't seem as apparent on the video- at least through my speakers.
Listening in person, I never heard any blasting that you sometimes encounter with an Edison DD, which made me wonder if Larrys diaphragm experiments, and indeed the standard Edison system, may be let down by the small & simple horn used in DD machines.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYiBXL1ZW48[/youtube]

Shane,

Are you saying your using one of my earlier diaphragms in your machine? I think I need to get you an updated one if so. I may be reading your comments incorrectly though? I am sure its hard to control the reproducer in your test which is interesting. I always find it difficult to get a good feel for the live performance through the U Tube videos. Nothing quite like hearing something in person. I would think a larger horn would produce a bigger sound though. But edison did seem to be able to do some pretty good reproduction with the 250 horn. I am anxious to get my William and Mary console operating to see if I can hear a difference in sound quality. Some experts feel that the larger wider cabinet adds to the effectiveness but that may not be so?

Larry