The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Has anyone ever hear of an Ecco phonograph? Small disc phonograph aprox. 10" X 14" mahogany cabinet, very simple looking machine.

the only one I've seen before is the one that's presently on ebay, unless that's the same machine as the one in your photo. did you check any of the books?

I've see similar looking small, low-end tabletop phonographs. I spotted this ad from 1916:
From -- http://books.google.com/books?id=gtoDAA ... ne&f=false

I thought at first it's crank knob was missing, but it looks like it never had one!

Yes - pretty basic machine. Looks refinished too.

ha... I like the ad's clarification... "made of wood."

Good one! I think they were actually referring to the internal horn built into the little cabinet.

I think they specified "made of wood" in contrast to other cheap machines made of wood grained sheet metal or of cast iron. The hardware is almost certainly swiss- the entire machine might be an import. I like it- cheap but honest, I thought the handgrip on the crank was missing but that's how it came.

The ad states the soundbox is made of wood also?!? Did that mean that the diaphragm was a thin slice of wood, or that that entire soundbox was wood?

bbphonoguy wrote:The ad states the soundbox is made of wood also?!? Did that mean that the diaphragm was a thin slice of wood, or that that entire soundbox was wood?

The ad says "sound box" rather than "soundbox". To me the soundbox looks like a generic metal one, probably original to the machine. Maybe that was just ECCO's way of referring to the wood construction of the case and horn. I think it's a pretty nice looking machine.

I used google maps to view 224 21st Street, Detroit, MI, but it looks like the area has changed and doesn't show an exact location with a building.