The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

This morning at 'El Rastro', our permanent Sunday morning flea market in Madrid, Spain, I've been watching a wonderful Thorens gramophone off the tabletop type. I didn't dare to ask for the price, for I'm avoiding buying more machines. They would have told me 200€ or so, and I'd have been strongly compelled to buy it. It was similar to this one in catawiki
https://www.catawiki.es/l/20382447-thor ... sc-cleaner
But the one I have seen was still more beautiful it was in kind of mahogany finish in two different tones. Very beautiful! But one thing I suspect of these machines (maybe I'm wrong) is that they had wonderful soundboxes and motors, but the horns weren't truly exponential, and their sound has a kind of resonance which is unpleasant. Kind of pity for what they could have done i if they applied the exponential principles truly, to the whole sound system. This opinion is biased for two or three examples I listened to many years ago, and one portable that I own, which suffer from this defect. The horn is long enough, very similar to that of a HMV 101, but it doesn't sound the same not similar, and I think it is because the intermediate sections of the horn are too wide, and the final flare doesn't open equally.
Some photos of this one similar found in the web... The aesthetics are impressive...

Hi Inigo,
You should always ask the price of something.. just in case! Sometimes the seller says a crazy cheap price that you never expected. I learned this at the flea markets in France particularly. I use to go over monthly buying mainly carved wood items and jewellery etc in the golden days of 10 francs or 1.60 euros to the British pound and antiques were actually fashionable and easy to sell. You would ask the price of something on one stall and be given a price of 80 euros, a nicer example a little further on was 10 euros. Then you'd see another example at another market for 200 euros. No matter how tired I got and how expensive the market might appear to be you have to keep asking even when it's mostly too much. This wasn't gramophones which are probably less susceptible to this price fluctuation but I do remember seeing a wonderful mint Pathé Diffusor machine for 80 euros very early in the morning at a braderie. Later on I saw a poor example for 400 euros.

But maybe it's best not to ask if you really don't want to buy another machine! I tell myself this but it doesn't work out. A few months ago I told a friend I had bought my last gramophone. He said 'oh yes! So if I see a G&T Monarch at a car boot sale for £50 I'll know you won't be interested'.

Ha, ha.. that's the point. You read my reasoning.
Last time I asked the price, I bought; my tabletop hmv style iii for 165 Euros, bought this summer.
I love gramophones, almost all them. These later months I've noticed the gypsies at the flea market are bringing lots of gramophones and records from France, and selling them really at good prices. That's why I prefer not to ask...
I'm lately looking for small bits, an exhibition replacement, a surplus gooseneck tube, for my experiments... any interesting needle box, etc. Only small things to satisfy my gramophone bug