The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Just for interest, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186814340632

The seller is asking close to 'top dollar' for these in my estimation, but is not in great condition, lacks an EMG soundbox and winding handle, and the status of the motor is apparently unknown, so I should think it's worth maybe half of that on a good day. It will be interesting to see (or not).

Another easily accessible and local machine for collection! Perth!

The Mark IV is proving to be quite common in EMG terms although for years very very few were ever seen. There is already an over-priced Mark IV on Ebay which has been for sale for quite a while now - the seller makes faux EMG soundboxes from Exhibition spares. The gramophone market is very strange and unpredictable when you can buy an Expert Senior pedestal model for the same price as an EMG Mark IV, neither with original soundbox and uncertain motor condition.

Faux is a mean description, these homage pieces were built to be as close as possible to the article published in 1927 in the gramophone magazine "crede experto" that discusses in minutiae the design features used by the workshop that produced the astra / emg / expert soundboxes at the time. This article that spanned around 6-7 issues o f the magazine seems to be a cry for help in the face of the rapidly changing technology as the mechanical reproduction of the day descended into the all electric that obviously put those who wanted to cling to the past into panic. The development of these "faux" soundboxes was more than 2 years in the making, get yourself a lathe & see how much work it takes to build something like this with no prior experience in a 100 year redundant technology sound reproducer, the results of which out performs a meltrope 3 ...at least to the ears of those who bought one so far . & happy new year .

Relisted and reduced to a still optimistic £999.99 starting bid. Ended 29 December 2024 with no bids.
A side by side comparison with an HMV130, costing a fraction of the EMG's price, would be interesting.

herrickpickups wrote: Wed Jan 01, 2025 4:36 am Faux is a mean description, these homage pieces were built to be as close as possible to the article published in 1927 in the gramophone magazine "crede experto" that discusses in minutiae the design features used by the workshop that produced the astra / emg / expert soundboxes at the time. This article that spanned around 6-7 issues o f the magazine seems to be a cry for help in the face of the rapidly changing technology as the mechanical reproduction of the day descended into the all electric that obviously put those who wanted to cling to the past into panic. The development of these "faux" soundboxes was more than 2 years in the making, get yourself a lathe & see how much work it takes to build something like this with no prior experience in a 100 year redundant technology sound reproducer, the results of which out performs a meltrope 3 ...at least to the ears of those who bought one so far . & happy new year .

Those are very nicely made examples! To produce anything to that level of accuracy takes far more than meets the eye, especially when done by oneself on a non-production basis.

epigramophone wrote: Wed Jan 01, 2025 10:58 am Relisted and reduced to a still optimistic £999.99 starting bid. Ended 29 December 2024 with no bids.
A side by side comparison with an HMV130, costing a fraction of the EMG's price, would be interesting.

Woo Hoo !

My humble little oak HMV 130 rivals an EMG !

The HMV130 is one of the best performing table models ever made. I have never heard an EMG Mk.IV, hence my curiosity.
Does it sound significantly better than the HMV130, or does the price simply reflect the exclusivity of the EMG name?

epigramophone wrote: Thu Jan 02, 2025 3:06 am The HMV130 is one of the best performing table models ever made. I have never heard an EMG Mk.IV, hence my curiosity.
Does it sound significantly better than the HMV130, or does the price simply reflect the exclusivity of the EMG name?

A very interesting thought indeed.

To me, quite possibly one of the very most interesting.

with a "faux" horseshoe form 2 spring soundbox, the Mk IV sounds like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRPohzqh8Nk
with a "spurious" EMG 4 spring...like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BouBKh8Ntbc
with a "not kosher " 4 spring EXPERT box ....... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MhWgVRSTRY
with a 2 spring "bogus" expert 2 spring .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI5kwBhouTU
ALL are 100% hand made, not from reused exhibitions, These 4 recorded versions were made from solid brass stock, spring steel, aluminium (duralium modern type) & hardened mild steel. The Corsican record was found in the street in Portobello road on a very rainy market day, best find for me for a 78' along with a small collection of Turkish traditional recordings triangular RED needle from Andy at B.C.N
I guess if William S Burroughs was still around & was introduced to the pantheon of archaic record players he might use the term for the EMG / EXPERT machines as "the ELVIS" of Gramophones. To build by hand & constantly develop rather than cheapen is what makes for good, honest product design & leaves in it's wake, discussion that lasts at least another ¾ of a century ...& counting & inspires kooks like myself to attempt to recreate something that has been dead, commercially speaking for longer than Iv'e been alive.

Have you any "clones", "wannabes", or "imposters"?

To my ear, the Expert 4 Spring had the best tone, (albeit not Kosher ). Do all of these use essentially the same diaphragm design? I find the differences in tone interesting given, what to my untrained eye, appears to be mostly stylistic differences between the 4 models, (the 2 spring & 4 spring examples are of course more than stylistically different).

Once again, beautiful workmanship.