The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

My Victor II is finally creating great sound reproduction with no harshness, even with electronic recordings. Bass is of course limited by the horn size and reproducer, but still audible enough.

All of the modifications:

1) replaced the reproducer with a British HMV that I rebuilt and lubricated - this provided much more bass and more vivid vocals, less distortion and harshness than the Exhibition reproducer

2) added a smoky quartz resonator to the end of the tonearm - this reduced vibration of the tonearm and eliminated some high frequency harshness

3) wrapped the tonearm with parachute cord filled with lead shot to dampen and add mass - this reduced vibration of the main part of the tonearm improving detail and depth
4) Changed the horn from the metal one to a wooden spearpoint - this increased loudness and dispersion and smoothed vocalists voices

5) Added wide rubber-band to the horn-elbow interface to seal air leakage
6) balanced the turntable by drilling the backside - this eliminated the wobble in the cabinet
7) Added lead bars to the inside of the wooden cabinet, gluing them with RTV - this immediately improved the liveness factor and the bass focus
8) added lead with a soldering iron to the flyball governor weights to bring them within .001 grams of each other (they were off by a LOT) - this reduced motor noise and vibration significantly

9) added an oak spacer to the tonearm assembly mount, pushing back the pivot point ¾" and improving tracking error
10) Added vibration dampening material to the underside of the top of the cabinet. It has sticky back and is shaped to avoid the various screws and mechanism.

11) finally, the most important part - identified and procured the best needles that deliver the best sound quality without wearing the records - My everyday use needle is a soft tone from Walt

https://www.ebay.com/itm/300-SOFT-TONE- ... SwnHZYePiy

Wow this is impressive, I would love to compare it with an unmodified one in person.

Martin

Mormon S wrote:Wow this is impressive, I would love to compare it with an unmodified one in person.

Martin

Happy to share it, after the COVID disaster is over. I'm in Oregon.

For 10 years I modified stereo components, from DAC's to preamps to amps, so I know a bit about "modding". I sell my own designs now.

What is a smoky quartz resonator?

phonojim wrote:What is a smoky quartz resonator?

These resonate at high frequency, overpowering the audio frequency resonance. Their effectiveness depends on where you put them. They are used in electronic audio systems to stop audio frequency vibration/resonance in components and speakers.

Works pretty good stuck on the end of the tonearm. Noticed the difference immediately. The little quartz pucks cost about $10 each and come with paper-adhesive. From Japan.

I love all the organic things you've done. You've prompted me to use rubber bands on both my horns now. I even have a couple wedged into the gaps between the elbow and horn, then with a "finishing" one on top.

Do you have a standard isolator gasket on your No. 4? I use 5Bs on my HMV horn machines, but have a very nice rebuilt brass No. 4 that I've been less than thrilled with. I'm going to try the Meltrope gasket trick to see if I can get a little more liveliness out of it.

I know Youtube is not THE greatest measure of sound quality, but short of getting out to Oregon (although probably my favorite contiguous state) I'd LOVE to hear it.

SteveM wrote:I love all the organic things you've done. You've prompted me to use rubber bands on both my horns now. I even have a couple wedged into the gaps between the elbow and horn, then with a "finishing" one on top.

If you need more ¾" bands like I used on the horn, I can ship them to you for $1 each.

Do you have a standard isolator gasket on your No. 4?

It's one from Walt Sommers pretty standard.

I use 5Bs on my HMV horn machines, but have a very nice rebuilt brass No. 4 that I've been less than thrilled with. I'm going to try the Meltrope gasket trick to see if I can get a little more liveliness out of it.

I know Youtube is not THE greatest measure of sound quality, but short of getting out to Oregon (although probably my favorite contiguous state) I'd LOVE to hear it.

I'll give it some thought. Never done that before. Probably should learn.

I use 5Bs on my HMV horn machines, but have a very nice rebuilt brass No. 4 that I've been less than thrilled with. I'm going to try the Meltrope gasket trick to see if I can get a little more liveliness out of it.

With my 4 and 4a I found that any stress on the diaphragm will kill the sound quality. Make sure that the lever screwed to the diaphragm is not bent and putting pressure on the diaphragm. If you can see any ripple in the surface of the diaphragm, that is a sound quality killer. You can bend it back with needle-nose pliers or loosen the outer housing screws to release the diaphragm and then tighten them again.

I always find tweaking audio hardware to improve the sound quality to be very satisfying. You have done very well!