Become a Site Supporter and Never see Ads again!

Author Topic: Value of antique Edioson record player?  (Read 9867 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline 2manyrocks

  • Trade Count: (12)
  • Taperssection All-Star
  • ****
  • Posts: 1664
Re: Value of antique Edioson record player?
« Reply #15 on: November 08, 2017, 06:25:56 PM »
Very cool.  I like your modded cabinets better than the original Edison, too. 

mfrench

  • Guest
  • Trade Count: (0)
Re: Value of antique Edioson record player?
« Reply #16 on: November 09, 2017, 09:52:15 PM »
Thanks. They were a labor of love, to be sure.
After I posted the last time, I listened to my Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday 78 collection (probably twelve 10" singles, 24 sides, between them) through a period correct system (Audrey).  Gotta say, pretty nice. Billie singing Gotta Right to Sing the Blues and Stormy Weather mmm, mmm.... I might need to heat the house up tomorrow morning with some tube glow.

/my highjacking
« Last Edit: November 09, 2017, 09:55:05 PM by Moke »

Offline zowie

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Taperssection Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Re: Value of antique Edioson record player?
« Reply #17 on: February 13, 2018, 03:03:49 PM »
They don't go for all that much, unless in exquisite condition; then still not as much as you'd think.
Record killers, imo.
I have a *ton of pristine 78's (*literal - probably multiples).  I built a dedicated player for them from "more modern" equipment; meaning early 50's electronics, with a lighter tracking tonearm/cartridge combo.
The windup feature, while fun at first, won't be fun for all that long. Its nice to throw a power switch, and then run a constant speed.

It's for vertical grooves.  Notice how the reproducer element is rotated 90 degrees compared to the more familiar victorola and Columbia machines?  "Regular" 78s don't play on it and will get ruined because the reproducer is meant to move in the wrong plane.  And Edison discs (which were 80 rpm) will get destroyed on a standard lateral phonograph.  They also won't play on a modern turntable unless you use a stereo cartridge and cross-wire it.

This is not quite beta/vhs as someone mentioned.  Rather, there were many slightly different acoustic record formats -- different speeds, different groove widths, of course different record diameters, different sized center holes, vertical vs. lateral, all to attempt to get around other people's patents with essentially the same basic technology.  And this was true among both flat discs and cylinder formats.

The Edison cylinder finally failed as a pre-recorded music format during the depression.  (It continued to be used for office dictation until after WWII when tape came along.  But Victor also failed during the depression.  RCA then bought Victor and some years later switched branding to RCA-Victor.  Radio in the 20s was the internet of the 90s.


Offline kindms

  • Trade Count: (6)
  • Needs to get out more...
  • *****
  • Posts: 5950
    • The Breakfast
Re: Value of antique Edioson record player?
« Reply #18 on: February 14, 2018, 07:21:48 PM »
They don't go for all that much, unless in exquisite condition; then still not as much as you'd think.
Record killers, imo.
I have a *ton of pristine 78's (*literal - probably multiples).  I built a dedicated player for them from "more modern" equipment; meaning early 50's electronics, with a lighter tracking tonearm/cartridge combo.
The windup feature, while fun at first, won't be fun for all that long. Its nice to throw a power switch, and then run a constant speed.

It's for vertical grooves.  Notice how the reproducer element is rotated 90 degrees compared to the more familiar victorola and Columbia machines?  "Regular" 78s don't play on it and will get ruined because the reproducer is meant to move in the wrong plane.  And Edison discs (which were 80 rpm) will get destroyed on a standard lateral phonograph.  They also won't play on a modern turntable unless you use a stereo cartridge and cross-wire it.

This is not quite beta/vhs as someone mentioned.  Rather, there were many slightly different acoustic record formats -- different speeds, different groove widths, of course different record diameters, different sized center holes, vertical vs. lateral, all to attempt to get around other people's patents with essentially the same basic technology.  And this was true among both flat discs and cylinder formats.

The Edison cylinder finally failed as a pre-recorded music format during the depression.  (It continued to be used for office dictation until after WWII when tape came along.  But Victor also failed during the depression.  RCA then bought Victor and some years later switched branding to RCA-Victor.  Radio in the 20s was the internet of the 90s.

hell of a first post! welcome aboard the crazy train  ;D :guitarist:
AKG c426, AKG414 XLS/ST, AKG ck61, ck22, >nBob colettes >PFA > V3, SD MixPre >  TCM-Mod Tascam HDP2, Sony M10
Little Bear tube Pre >Outlaw Audio 2200 Monoblocks > VR-2's

Offline zowie

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Taperssection Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Re: Value of antique Edioson record player?
« Reply #19 on: February 15, 2018, 02:03:10 AM »
Thanks.  I was here years ago, back when NJB3 and MD were state of the art, but got out of taping for a while.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2018, 02:05:29 AM by zowie »

Offline anodyne33

  • You'll have that
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Needs to get out more...
  • *****
  • Posts: 14754
  • Gender: Male
  • All my life there's been the magnets.
    • Lucky
Re: Value of antique Edioson record player?
« Reply #20 on: February 20, 2018, 09:22:29 AM »
+T
Pockets full of nickels and nothing left to eat, and I'm stuck behind a semi on Soniat Street.

Offline WiFiJeff

  • Trade Count: (1)
  • Taperssection Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 980
  • Gender: Male
  • I tape therefore I am.
Re: Value of antique Edioson record player?
« Reply #21 on: May 15, 2018, 07:26:28 PM »
I'm coming to this thread a little late, but I do collect these things.  From the look of the grill and the record storage below, this would be a C19, the earlier 250 usually had different record drawers below.  It was introduced in 1919.  But there is overlap, as cabinets (made by furniture companies) got used up or not (and collectors sometimes put the wrong grill on a repaired machine), so you will have to look at the medallion inside, which should also identify it as a "Laboratory Model" which was meant to make it appealing to the techies of the day, I suppose.  It had a bigger spring motor and bigger acoustic horn than cheaper consoles.

The Edison cylinder finally failed as a pre-recorded music format during the depression.  (It continued to be used for office dictation until after WWII when tape came along.  But Victor also failed during the depression.  RCA then bought Victor and some years later switched branding to RCA-Victor.  Radio in the 20s was the internet of the 90s.

RCA bought Victor just before the market crash in 1929, Ned Johnson sold out at exactly the best time.  Pressure from new radio technology, which was the rage, was hurting record sales.  Edison was for a long time a holdout against electronic recording techniques, by the time they jumped into that (pushed by Edison's son) they had lost the game and the final late-20s electric records and radiolas never took off for them.  Edison abandoned original recording to cylinders before WW I, they continued to produce cylinders mainly for the rural market but these were copies of material recorded for the flat Diamond Discs, which weighed in at about a pound each and were vertically cut. These late cylinders were transferred by playing a Diamond Disc to make a cylinder mold, so they are generally worse sounding than the same title on Diamond Disc.  The selling point for both was that you never had to change the diamond needle, versus the usual 78s played with a steel needle that had to be (or ought to be) replaced after each play.  Edison officially quit making commercial records October 21, 1929, the stock market crashed on October 24 and the Depression followed that, it had nothing directly to do with Edison's surrender or RCA buying Victor.

Jeff

 

RSS | Mobile
Page created in 0.069 seconds with 36 queries.
© 2002-2024 Taperssection.com
Powered by SMF