Yes Robert, wonderful evidence of this "incredible time" survives. Some of my favorites are the Edison recording of "Radio" (one media form poking fun at another); in a similar vein is the priceless (figure of speech) Victor record "Twisting the Dials" by the Happiness Boys, which dates from around the time that Edison declared that radio would be a passing fad.
My favorite piece of "hardware" is the Dulce-Tone, which is similar in purpose to the phono adapter you've discovered, but instead of replacing the reproducer, it has a little V-shaped needle rest and you simply place the unit on your turntable or next to it, and lower the reproducer onto it, steel needle and all. It utilizes your reproducer's diaphragm instead of having a built in one, and has exceptionally fine sound quality (depending of course on the limitations of your reproducer and horn, but still a really fine sound and much superior to a typical horn type radio loudspeaker). All in all, these cross-media peripherals are a fun and interesting collecting area in their own right and can provide an added dimension for a collector who has both a vintage phonograph and an early radio. Any radio with an audio stage or two (or three), made from the early '20s through 1928 - 29 should work fine, whether it's a "battery" set or an AC house-current powered radio (the latter became popular late '27 - '28). If the radio was made VERY late in the decade, you need to make sure that the speaker output was designed for the old-style high-impedance loudspeaker, rather than for a dynamic speaker. Best to all, Andy Baron On Jun 4, 2008, at 3:06 PM, Robert Wright wrote: > 1920 through 1930 must've been an incredible time to be alive for > sound > junkies. To witness the birth of electrical recording and to watch > the > tehcnological race for better sound between phonographs and radios > would be > as exciting and using CompuServe or having posted on Prodigy's > billboards > just before the explosion of the internet!
