The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Make : Micro-Perophone.
Model : Chromogram MP23.
Serial Number : None found.
Years made : 1928 to 1932.
Year produced : 1929 (original delivery label dated 2nd December 1929).
Original Cost : £14.14s.0d.
Cabinet Size : Height 39 inches. Width 19 inches. Depth 21 inches.
Turntable : 12 inch, mounted on Garrard motor plate incorporating speed control, manual and automatic brakes.
Soundbox : Micro-Perophone.
Tonearm : Crescent shaped with adjustable counterweight.
Motor : Garrard 10a double spring.
Horn dimensions : Height 15 inches. Width 14 inches.
Reproduction parts : None.
Current Value : Unimportant. This machine is a keeper.

Interesting facts.
Asymmetric horn with resonating panels built into the cabinet sides (see diagram).
Unusually for a British made machine, the alternative cabinet finish to mahogany was walnut, not oak.
The fitment of a rebuilt Meltrope II soundbox has transformed the sound quality.
The Chromogram was advertised as "The Stradivarius of Gramophones".
I consider it the best cabinet gramophone most people have never heard of.

Demand for the Chromogram was such that the company was unable to meet the volume of orders for certain models in time for Christmas 1929. In an outstanding example of customer service, they delivered higher priced models for use during the Christmas period to customers whom they would otherwise have had to disappoint.
So many unsolicited testimonials were received from satisfied customers that the company published them in a booklet entitled "In Praise of Achievement", which ran to two editions.

epigramophone wrote: Sun Jan 08, 2023 1:55 pm Make : Micro-Perophone.
Model : Chromogram MP23.
Serial Number : None found.
Years made : 1928 to 1932.
Year produced : 1929 (original delivery label dated 2nd December 1929).
Original Cost : £14.14s.0d. (Approximately £1200 in today's money).
Cabinet Size : Height 39 inches. Width 19 inches. Depth 21 inches.
Turntable : 12 inch, mounted on Garrard motor plate incorporating speed control, manual and automatic brakes.
Soundbox : Micro-Perophone.
Tonearm : Crescent shaped with adjustable counterweight.
Motor : Garrard 10a double spring.
Horn dimensions : Height 15 inches. Width 14 inches.
Reproduction parts : None.
Current Value : Unimportant. This machine is a keeper.

Interesting facts.
Asymmetric horn with resonating panels built into the cabinet sides (see diagram).
Unusually for a British made machine, the alternative cabinet finish to mahogany was walnut, not oak.
The fitment of a rebuilt Meltrope II soundbox transformed the sound quality.
The Chromogram was advertised as "The Stradivarius of Gramophones".
I consider it the best cabinet gramophone most people have never heard of.

Thank you for the important information.

Please post the performances of this instrument using good fiber needles, not steel needles to prove this one is really amazing. Thanks again.

I am an elderly technophobe. I do not have the technical knowledge or the equipment to post video content.

Really cool little machine. The reproducer looks like one that would come on a 1930s/40s suitcase phono. Is that pretty blue turntable felt original (or original color?)

epigramophone wrote: Sun Jan 08, 2023 2:17 pm I am an elderly technophobe. I do not have the technical knowledge or the equipment to post video content.

I know exactly where you're coming from, though I refuse to use the word "elderly" to describe myself. (Since I plan to live to 130, I'm still middle-aged--that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

I was able to locate a few videos on YouTube -- https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... mophone%22

...notably, this one comparing the Micro-Perophone with an HMV 511 -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV8sMw-Q21I

To my ears, the 511 has a more powerful sound--a more pronounced mid-range and upper bass, but so many factors can account for this-- the condition of the sound boxes (were they both overhauled and adjusted properly?), the type/quality of microphone used for the recording, the fact that it was recorded outdoors, and on and on.

I can't tell by the photograph; does the tonearm have a very gradual taper, or is it straight bore?

OrthoFan

Travis : The turntable cloth is original and that shade of blue is commonly found on Garrard units.

Ortho : The MP23 resembles a scaled down HMV511, but the 511 was a more expensive machine so the on line comparison was hardly fair.
I have owned a 511 and it's larger horn did have a more powerful sound. It outperformed the MP23 with the original MP soundbox,
but with the Meltrope II fitted there was little to choose between them.
I cannot detect any external taper on the tonearm.