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Columbia made some of the most beautiful cabinets for both cylinder and disk machines. Jerry Blais

I agree with Jerry. I really like the Columbia disk and cylinder machines. I specialize in them in my collection. The BE along with their larger cousin, the BF, are very attractive machines.
Harvey Kravitz

hmmm... I don't know. even though I've never had one and have never really considered buying one (they're pricey with small motors and I think they only play 2-minute cylinders), I'd have say the Pathé gaulois or menestrel type machine with the painted metal case and crystal horn blows pretty much any columbia, or any other brand, out of the water from a purely aesthetic perspective. for example (although this one has a metal horn)...

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/3324310

I agree that these B-series Columbias are more attractive than most of the Edison cylinder machines. I have a BF with 2 & 4 minute gearing (the smaller BE was also available this way). It is very quiet in operation with a strong 4-spring motor. The BC is probably the ultimate in impressiveness among the early cylinder machines. Mine is also a later one with 2 & 4 minute gearing. The cabinet is quite ornate and well-made and it's huge - it dwarfs an Edison Triumph that I have sitting next to it.

brianu wrote:hmmm... I don't know. even though I've never had one and have never really considered buying one (they're pricey with small motors and I think they only play 2-minute cylinders), I'd have say the Pathé gaulois or menestrel type machine with the painted metal case and crystal horn blows pretty much any columbia, or any other brand, out of the water from a purely aesthetic perspective. for example (although this one has a metal horn)...

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/3324310

Maybe the photograph doesn't do it justice, but I think the Pathé' looks chintzy, in a flashy sort of way.

bbphonoguy wrote:

brianu wrote:hmmm... I don't know. even though I've never had one and have never really considered buying one (they're pricey with small motors and I think they only play 2-minute cylinders), I'd have say the Pathé gaulois or menestrel type machine with the painted metal case and crystal horn blows pretty much any columbia, or any other brand, out of the water from a purely aesthetic perspective. for example (although this one has a metal horn)...

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/3324310

Maybe the photograph doesn't do it justice, but I think the Pathé' looks chintzy, in a flashy sort of way.

It is a little gaudy, but that seems typical of Girard, a company which often bought Pathé mechanisms and put them in fancier cases. The actual Pathé Galuois is more like the Gem, though I think it's painted sheet metal instead of cast iron.

The B series Columbias don't tremendously excite me unless they are fitted with a tonearm. The A series, in the style of my AO pictured here are among the most attractive cylinder machines imho but none of them will perform anything close to an Edison with an O or Diamond B reproducer...

The AO does not sound as good as an Edison standard with a C reproducer.