The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

What machine gets the most running time out of your whole collection, and for what reason?
What era of music do you like the best?
Cylinders or discs?
Horns or cabinet models?
Hand crank or electric?



For me personally:
Most-used machine: 1914 Victrola XIV, 1925-29 Amberola 30, 1928-1933 Grafonola 202 portable. I run them because: Victrola for all my acoustic records (and there are a lot of them,) Amberola because it never breaks down, and Columbia portable when it's time for critical listening on good crisp electrics, because outside of David's (dzavracky's) Brunswick Cortez I never heard a phonograph sound this good.
Preferred era of music: 1900-1914 popular & dance, waltzes, band music, typical for this era. Some polkas, some marches, some Hawaiian guitar solos (don't laugh.)Operatic: pre 1925. Classical--1905-1945, big focus on Red Seals & boxed sets. Concentration on ragtime styles, 1920s foxtrot music, 1930s, some Glenn Miller big band stuff; I'll listen to 1920s hillbilly music when I can get it (think "Wreck of the Old 97--I have the acoustic & the electric versions.)
Cylinders or discs? The disc machines get run the most because of the broad selection & difficulty of digging up records for the cylinder phono (I have no Edison cabinets) but when I am out of needles I just run the Amberola 30 as there is some fun music for it including some 1920s stuff I like very much.
Horns or cabinets? The cabinet models are much tidier-looking although I like horn phonographs as well. Probably "both."
Hand crank or electric? All my phonographs must be cranked first, though I have a 1929 Grigsby-Grunow motor & turntable laid away for when I build an electric phonograph. The Amberola 30 is my favorite motor design but the Victor three-spring doesn't need winding as often.

Feel free to add questions if there is something in your collection which needs to be expounded upon!

Let’s see... in a nutshell

Most-used machine : currently the Credenza! Best purchase from this site!

Preferred era of music: Early electric era 1925-1930

Cylinders or discs? : I like both!

Horns or cabinets? : aesthetically horn machines look cooler and don’t take up as much space as cabinet machines.

Hand crank or electric? I usually like crank machines but the electric motor on the Credenza ain’t too bad.

My most used machine these days is my Victor VM-9-50* changer.

I listen to mostly jazz- swing 1925-42, and Depression era classical. Well, actually... that's really ALL I listen to.

I have never warmed up to cylinders though I tried several times. It's disc and electric all the way for me! I've also dropped out of outside horn windups and windups in general, although I will wind up keeping one for when the power goes out, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

I have the VM 9-50*, the 331 Duo, an RAE-84 that's "in the shop" as we type and read, a Brunswick Automatic Panatrope that's on the list for one of the next fixes, and a Capehart carnival ride changer/ flipper that I need to go through some day- same for the 1938 Stromberg console I have tucked away in a shed. I also have a Dual 1009 with three cartridges and a huge 1958 Telefunken stereo in the great room.

* Yeah, I know what you're thinking, but it really is. Can anyone guess what it means? Peter F and Van Eps don't count.

If you gave up on hand crank phonos, did you sell your Columbia Viva Tonal 810? I still play my 800 a lot. I like the balanced warm sound of it. But I understand liking an electric machine that you don't have to crank. My Victrola VE 8-9 started wavering today. I'd never really looked at the motor. When I took it out, I was shocked that the power cord was rotted in places with bare wire showing. So I rewired that part and lubed the motor according to Victor's directions. Plays like a top again!

My most used machine is my E.M.Ginn Expert, simply because it is by far the best sounding machine in my collection.

My preferred era's are pre-1925 for opera and classical vocal, and pre-1930 for jazz and dance bands. Recording standards have improved since 1925, but standards of classical singing have not, and pre-1930 dance band records are less likely to include superficial and downright irritating "vocal refrains" which have not aged well.

I prefer disc machines for their simplicity, ease of repair and limitless recorded repertoire. I have about 30 machines in my collection, but never more than one cylinder machine at a time. I recognise their historical significance, but for me they are just an interesting sideline.

As the owner of an Expert I obviously prefer external horn machines to cabinet ones. There are some very good cabinet machines, but any attempt to fold an exponential horn into a cabinet is bound to be a compromise.

An external horn acoustic gramophone with an electric motor, such as my Expert, combines the best of both worlds. If trouble strikes, I know more people who can overhaul an electric motor than can replace a broken spring.

For me personally:
Most-used machine: It's a toss up between my Victrola 8-12 and my Edison A250. Both sound fantastic with the electrically recorded records sounding best.
I do play my Sonora Invincible and my Victrola IX occasionally, but not nearly as much as the 8-12 and the A250.
Preferred era of music:Jazz from the 1920s. I cant get enough of the Charleston Chasers (8-12) and the Golden Gate Orchestra (A250)
Cylinders or discs? I don't own a cylinder machine.
Horns or cabinets? Cabinets.
Hand crank or electric? Strictly spring driven motors appeal to me. Once I tried to get an antique radio fixed and ended up selling it.

marcapra wrote:If you gave up on hand crank phonos, did you sell your Columbia Viva Tonal 810? I still play my 800 a lot. I like the balanced warm sound of it. But I understand liking an electric machine that you don't have to crank. My Victrola VE 8-9 started wavering today. I'd never really looked at the motor. When I took it out, I was shocked that the power cord was rotted in places with bare wire showing. So I rewired that part and lubed the motor according to Victor's directions. Plays like a top again!

Yes and no. I sold it for what I paid for it to an older beginning collector pal with the agreement that I get first option if he resells it... but from what I'm hearing he will sell his Credenza first. The 810 is really a super machine- after going through it and cleaning/ preserving it was likely the best looking and sounding winder I ever had.! If it hadn't gone to my friend I would still have it, but early changers are huge and space was needed.

Most-used machine: HMV 102. I don't have a lot of machines (2 BI-Sterlings and HMV 31a) but CRAVE time alone with my two 102s. I just love the intimacy of these machines ... I like things that belie their appearance ... when you get something unexpectedly big from a small thing (I prefer to create interesting web content on my tiny phone ... I love my little Henry Kloss radios (LOVE my tiny Bose Soundlink) ... I love my smallest and cheapest guitar most of all) and with the 102s I can take them anywhere, get down on the floor or the grass and get up close to the horn and record at the same time, and get great quality sound all night from just ONE toothpick, crossfading two little machines. It's just heavenly.
Preferred era of music: I'm currently in a big band phase, so it's durable European pressings right now.
Cylinders or discs? I don't own a cylinder machine.
Horns or cabinets? Portables! With horns right behind ...
Hand crank or electric? Cranks are the only choice, on the beach, in the woods, among the ruins ... I think you can only extract the full potential of a 78 with a hand-crank machine on a desert island (with ample bamboo, of course).

What machine gets the most running time out of your whole collection, and for what reason?
What era of music do you like the best?
Cylinders or discs?
Horns or cabinet models?
Hand crank or electric?

Credenza - most of my records are electric; but Victor IV (mahogany horn} for acoustics. More and more, I use Burmese Colored Needles

Classical and opera

Disc only - more good performances of classical music

Hand crank - it's part of the experience!

Most used: HMV163 and the model E that I got from you. The model N reproducer is of course hard to find, but it's just not comparable to a diamond reproducer, so whenever I find an edison home or fireside with a diamond reproducer, the E might retire from being my main cylinder driver. I will still keep it though, its one of my favorites.

Preferred era of music: my preference for music is all over the place, much like the playlists on my phone and computer. Just in general I have a massive variety - Classical, modern orchestral, opera, reggae, R&B, hip-hop, rap, rock, metal, etc. I have a ton of songs I like from each genre, and same goes for the music I collect. Let's just say that when I'm in a good mood I pull out some Glenn Miller, Jazz at the Philharmonic's, or some 22nd street.

Cylinders or discs: For listening, discs, but for collecting, cylinders all the way. When it comes to collecting machines, cylinders come first for me. Yes there are a few disc machines that I want, but that lists only consists of a few, while the list of cylinder phonographs I want is quite massive, and alot higher on the desirability scale.

Horns or cabinets: for disc machines I prefer a nice and beautiful horn. One of the only internal disc machine I truly want is a pooley flat top, but I long for an EMG and a large oak speed point on a Vic V. For cylinder phonographs, I would like to find an amberola 1-A, and some of the tabletop lakeside cabinet models. Horns are a big part of cylinder phonograph collecting as well, and I would consider myself as much as (or more as) a horn collector than I am a machine collector.

Hand crank or electric: Hand crank is part of the fun, but I couldn't resist a class M

Martin