The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

For the cylinder collectors and listeners. Which do you prefer 2 minute or 4 minute cylinders? I have both 2 and 4 minute cylinders and find myself more into the 4 minute cylinders because the play time is longer and there is a lot more of the material that I like on the 4 minute format. I think of the 2 minute cylinder as more of a historic format from the early beginnings of recording. I do enjoy the reproduction recordings of Enrico Caruso which was released by Norman at Berlin Phonograph Works.

Mmmm...that's a tough question. I enjoy both equally I'd say. Some 2 minute wax cylinders have early recordings that are simply incredible (especially some of the brown wax!). The unfortunate part is you have to get up and down a LOT more often to change the cylinder. The four minute cylinders have some great stuff too!!

Doug

I started with 2 minute indestructibles, so I am a bit biased

Way back at the beginning, upon receiving my very first four minute machine, I excitedly played a four minute cylinder for my wife, for the very first time.

After the song had completed, she turned to me and quietly said: “I never knew four minutes could be so long.”

I am no longer allowed to play cylinders in the house when anyone else is home. A pox on the head of Byron G. Harlan!

The 2 and 4 minute cylinder formats are two
distinctly different things.

The each have their own unique set of distinct
sonic characteristics.

Although a pristine black wax Amberol 4 minute
cylinder or a pristine Blue Amberol can sound
simply amazing when played on a high quality machine
with a reproducer that is in proper shape, my personal
observation is that there's still nothing quite like
a shiny, like-new 2 minute Gold Moulded cylinder
for sound that packs a real punch!

After playing several commercial mass-produced
2 and 4 minute cylinders, it always makes a very stark
comparison to then play some home-recorded new
brown wax.

Making home recordings is where the older 2 minute
format really performs.

PeterF wrote:Way back at the beginning, upon receiving my very first four minute machine, I excitedly played a four minute cylinder for my wife, for the very first time.

After the song had completed, she turned to me and quietly said: “I never knew four minutes could be so long.”

I am no longer allowed to play cylinders in the house when anyone else is home. A pox on the head of Byron G. Harlan!

LMAO. Are our wives related?

PeterF wrote:Way back at the beginning, upon receiving my very first four minute machine, I excitedly played a four minute cylinder for my wife, for the very first time.

After the song had completed, she turned to me and quietly said: “I never knew four minutes could be so long.”

I am no longer allowed to play cylinders in the house when anyone else is home. A pox on the head of Byron G. Harlan!

LMAO. Are our wives related?

Well, if your wife is the most lovely kind and beautiful woman in the world, with impeccable taste in men, they might be identical twins separated at birth.

I personally like the 2 minute and yes I also think they are more of a historical listening. But when people and guests want to hear a machine I always put on a snazzy Blue Amberol for them to hear . An old brown wax 2 minute to a non enthusiast would be boring, I find them fascinating .

Which do I like the best? 2 min or 4 min cylinders.

I like music in both formats, but will not listen to music I do not like. So in that aspect the format becomes irrelevant.
As to the wives reactions, I can feel their pain when 4 minutes, even 2 minutes, seem endless!

James.