I can't imagine any record maker in the thirties intending their discs to be played with a sound box. As far as Victor is concerned, while they made mechanical reproducers through the thirties on suitcase portables, the players could not play the 33 1/3 speed. I sometimes play the RCA LP discs (manually) on an RCA model 381, which has the ejector changer, or on my main system, which uses a GE VR cartridge. I've played a 78 RPM vinyl disc on my Credenza, and it's obvious that the player is being tough on the record. A few more plays, and it would be history.
All right, on another topic. Magnetic tape recording was IN USE in Germany in the thirties. Do you think that the recording companies in this country didn't know about it? It would be a threat to their markets to have a recordable medium in the hands of buyers who would otherwise buy disc recordings. It proved to be just that, after Jack Mullin imported his two Magnetophones at the end of WWII, and Crosby went on the air, using one of them in 1947. It was the time that Alex M.Poniatoff (Ampex) went into the tape recorder business, and we know the rest. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Wright" <[email protected]> To: "Antique Phonograph List" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 4:52 PM Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Victor long playing records > These are the exact questions I've pondered, Doug... All the companies > had > the technology available and in practical use for decades before 1948. > Even > the demonstrable stereo groove was patented (by Bell Labs, right?) in > 1929, > yet all these innovations didn't come together until 1959. The Vitaphones > of 1927 sound better than LP's of 1932, and I have some heavy vinyl 12" > vertical transcriptions from the mid-30's (WIDERANGE Western Electric > Sound > System, Associated Music Publishers, Inc. of NY) that sound positively > fantastic and obviously had to be played with a lightweight pickup. (Did > Victor actually intend the vinylite 12" PT LP's to be played with an > acoustic soundbox?!) So was it greed and/or ego that kept things > developing > so slowly when all the pieces were right under their noses? > > I have From Tinfoil To Stereo and many other books, but I was hoping to > get > some Phono-L perspective on things. > > Thanks, > Robert > > PS - Again, Doug, endless gratitude for sharing your knowledge and > research. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Doug" <[email protected]> > To: "Antique Phonograph List" <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 3:01 PM > Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Victor long playing records > > >> It's simple when goven a bit of thought. Sure, you can gear down a spring >> motor, but the governor has to run at high speed to remain reasonably >> smooth. This means that you use up all of your spring, keeping the > governor >> going, while the turntable runs at slow speed. Under those conditions, a >> long playing record will play less than half the playing time on the >> phonograph before you run out of spring. The listener would be cranking > the >> motor several times before a 33 1/3 RPM disc could finish playing. That >> wouldn't go over well with customers at all! It would explain the reason >> that Edison used 80 RPM for his long play records. We might say that he > had >> half of the puzzle solved, but he didn't go to slow playing speed >> because >> it wasn't practical with a spring motor. >> >> Sort of ironic, or perhaps tragic, but Victor used the slow speed, and >> the >> electric motor, but nearly standard groove pitch, so they had the other >> half. You have to wonder why RCA didn't investigate the microgroove. It > was >> demonstrated by Edison, so RCA had to be aware of it. RCA had good > research >> capability. Why didn't they put the two ingredients together in 1932, as >> Goldmark did, in essence, in 1948? >> >> My own comment here, and someone might bash me for it, but the RCA LP > discs >> of 1932-34 sounded crumby. I have about 6 of them. I also have a >> Vitaphone >> disc from the "Jazz Singer" film, and it sounds reasonably good. The >> Vitaphone discs wre pressed by Victor; it says so on the label. I wonder >> what happened at RCA between 1927 and 1932? >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Steven Medved" <[email protected]> >> To: <[email protected]> >> Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 12:54 PM >> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Victor long playing records >> >> >> > Hi Doug, >> > >> > This is interesting, Edison had the Alva but I have never seen an > electric >> > motor in a DD phono, I never thought of this until your post. >> > >> > Steve >> > >> > But Edison had an aversion to electric motors >> >>in phonographs, though he could have had them; others did. >> > >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Phono-L mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > >> > Phono-L Archive >> > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org/archive/ >> > >> > Support Phono-L >> > http://www.cafepress.com/oldcrank >> > >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Phono-L mailing list >> [email protected] >> >> Phono-L Archive >> http://phono-l.oldcrank.org/archive/ >> >> Support Phono-L >> http://www.cafepress.com/oldcrank >> > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > [email protected] > > Phono-L Archive > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org/archive/ > > Support Phono-L > http://www.cafepress.com/oldcrank >
