How does an Edison Diamond Disc sound through an Orthophonic Horn? This has been the certifiable wet dream of any serious Edison -phile. : )
While at the time there were several after market solutions available to fit an Edison compatible soundbox to a Victrola, the most convincing solution was the Brunswick Ultona soundbox, whose Edison side mimicked the construction of an Edison reproducer.
Now here you have an example - an experiment of mine that I did a few years ago. I took an Ultona soundbox and made it to fit into the tonearm of an Orthophonic Victrola. Originally I started out with the Brunswick mica diaphragm, which sounded great, but exhibited some damaging resonances. So the next step was to refit the reproducer with an orthophonic diaphragm. Not the quantum leap that I expected, but it increased the treble details of the reproduction, while not doing much in terms of additonal bass response.
The 1927 Victor Automatic Orthophonic Victrola 10-50 has the largest and highest fidelity horn of any home Victrola ever produced in the USA.
• CHARLESTON Sweet Georg...
What I am playing in this demo:
Edison ACOUSTIC Diamond Disc 51177-L
Ritzi Mitzi - Foxtrot
Dave Kaplan Melodists, an Edison Studio Band
1923.05.17NYC
This side is one of the greatest sounding Edison records.
Edison Electric Diamon Disc 52321-L
Ida! sweet as apple cider - One-step
Winegar's Penn Boys
1928.05.04 NYC
Recorded with the new RCA recording equipment.
My only electric DD, rather worn and with a skip - my apologies.
A word to the recording:
Recorded straight from the 10-50 with no additional manipulations other than volume level.
The electric DD is significantly less loud than the acoustic.
I have elevated the volume to +3dB. Most distortions you hear on the acoustic DD are digital artifacts, most on the electric DD are wear.
So, what do I think of this experiment of the 10-50 horn vs an Edison machine:
there is some bass boost, but it is not that impressive. On the electric DD bass sounds a little muddy.
It brings the usually faint piano accompaniment forward, and reveals bass lines that you did not know were there. While I consider the improvement minor, it does bring a full body to voices and acoustic violin, which changes the violin tone from saccharine to full-bodied.
The biggest change I hear is an amazing increase in treble detail: Cymbals, clarinet overtones, trumpet, violins all acquire a richness in detail which I only know from some pre-1910 European recordings. This I consider the greatest achievement.
With the 10-50 horn, which is very good at thia, you get a great increase at presence: You start to hear the room acoustics, instruments step forward and create the rich tapestry of a staggered soundstage.
The reasons why I call this an experiment and not a solution, are the following:
Even with the Orthophonic diaphragm, there are still some resonances in the system. The are sonically slight, but may physically damage the record via feed-back.
As is known from the original Brunswick Ultona, while it sounds marvellous, it is rather rough on records. Brown spots under bright light appear fairly soon when played with this set up.
On records like pop and dance, where not much treble detail is necessary, the Edisonic Phonograph delivers a performance that comes quite close to the 10-50. It's in part due to the horn of the Edisonic Beethoven, which develops a pseudo bass through internal reflections which actually sounds quite impressive.
Without the worm gear, if you slightly mishandle the reproducer, it will skid across the record, leaving a permanent scratch.
For me, since the Edisonic Beethoven (developed by Edison for Electric Diamond Discs)
video: • YES! WE HAVE NO BANANA...
was good enough, I never further pursued the 10-50 diamond reproducer.
Here are some suggestions for further investigation:
String & Weight gantry to counteract the skating force.
Exploring modifications of the Mica diaphragms by using different gasket materials, and adding weights to the center (like the Edison whalefish bone cone)
Experimenting with ways of the orthophonic diaphragm spider and gaskets to dampen unwanted frequencies
Trying out different materials for the string ( silk, polyethylene, or metal re-inforced woven silk).
To see an Edisonic Beethoven and a Victor 10-50 record changer in their proper function,
check out more great tunes and amazing vintage phonographs at My KZitem Videos:
/ sanfranphono
More about this and other machines
on my Changer Website
myvintagetv.com....
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