RE your wondering how the D would sound with an electric record -- it sounds pretty darn good. Though my experience suggests you shouldn't repeatedly play a record you particularly care about. The D will begin to tear it up, at least from my long experience with it. It wouldn't have been much of an issue at the time -- considering an 80 purchased, say, in early 1929 wouldn't have had much use before the records were discontinued later that year. Of course, the owner could have continued to play his favorites, and might have "found out the hard way."
TF -----Original Message----- From: Steven Medved <[email protected]> To: Antique Phonograph List <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, Aug 27, 2013 9:03 am Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Amberola 80 Hello Tim, Thanks for the info you provided, it is very hard to come by. I could not get the Diamond D reproducer to fit in the carriage with the sound tube in the horn on my 50, perhaps on an 80 the horn attaches differently and I could have installed the reproducer without it being in the horn and then attached the horn. I rebuilt a Diamond D and it was a huge undertaking as the normal pot metal weight had swollen so I had to remove material from the lead weight to get the lead weight to fit on the the pot metal weight. Then the lead weight had cracked because the pot metal had pushed it up so I had to reshape the lead weight so it would not hit the record. The stylus just barely clears as you said and it took me several tries before I had the lead weight properly installed so the stylus would play. Then the reproducer would not fit in my 50 carriage unless I took the weight off. The sound was much better without the weight. With the weight you got move volume but the sound was not as good. I would have liked to hear how it sounded on an 80 with an electrically recorded record. Sometimes people will destroy the pot metal weight when removing the lead weight. I have seen a large amount of these reproducers with the lead weight removed, now I know why. The extra weight is lead and only expands when the pot metal forces it to. The clearance between the record and the lead weight is very small, even with after I got the lead weight properly installed it looked like it would not work but it did. They made the lead weight so it would fit a diamond B as well. I have only seen one Diamond B with the extra lead weight attached. Steve > To: [email protected] > From: [email protected] > Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 23:34:19 -0400 > Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Amberola 80 > > Hello Tim, Do you remember the serial numbers? > > I'll look into that and e-mail you separately. > > Did you ever rebuild a diamond D with the extra lead weight still on it? > > I personally found it impossible to rebuild a D with the big weight attached. > > > How much difference does the larger horn make? > > Well, so much is dependent on the cylinder you are playing. I never made a comparison test between an 80 and, say, a 75. > > > Was the carriage different? The diamond D will not fit in a 30 50 75 carriage unless you install the reproducer and then attach the weight. > > That's an interesting question. My perception is that the carriage is identical. The D only "just" clears the record. And they have a tendency to swell, which could explain why you found it a problem to get into the carriage. I had one like that myself. But my impression is a "well-preserved" D will in fact fit a "regular" carriage. > > > TF > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.org
