1928 HMV Model 1 Automatic Gramophone - the first British Record Changer Jack Hylton 1A

[johnster1964]

Thanks so much for uploading this. is there somewhere in London where one can see and hear such devices in action?

[sanfranphono]

@johnster1964 I am sure there are several in the UK - one was recently offered on ebay. Why not get in touch with the City of London Gramo and Phono Soc. I am sure they would be happy to point you in the right direction.

[MB124er]

very nice, look to my "Electrola Automatisches Magazin Instrument W2"

[sanfranphono]

@MB124er Yours is the W2 (or No 2) export model without the repeat function. Everything else is the same.

Best



[ilovecollecting]

I ADORE Gramophones - I think they are such fascinating and BEAUTIFUL Machines! I have several - but nothing like this... I think I would happily die for one of these... Due to their complexity and complicated mechanics; were they 'prone' to go wrong/faults or malfunctions?

[sanfranphono]

@ilovecollecting Well, the service manual for the machine is 250 pages, and written in the most awful, condescending Oxford English. Truely frightening if something went wrong.

However, I only put a bit of oil on the mechanism, I had to time one gear, and unstick one of the push buttons, Otherwise the mechanism runs perfectly the way it was set in 1929. IOW nothing to worry about.

[DaMadFiddler]

That's a great sound; I can only imagine what it's like live. I've also always wondered what one of these large metal horn HMVs would sound like with an Expert 4-spring sound box on it. I don't suppose you have one of those to show off?

Both items are prohibitively expensive; it's a shame that with all the cheap repro phonos on the market, nobody has cared enough to pattern their sound box after a really good one. I'd love to get one for my Credenza, but it'd cost more than the machine did.

[sanfranphono]

@DaMadFiddler Would be quite difficult to adapt an EMG for an orthophonic/ re-entrant machine.

EMG used very thin arms.

A well rebuilt Victor soundbox can give you amazing sound, and I would be very surprised if the EMG would be significantly better. Just my opinion.

Cheers

[paulcirc]

Thank you for your prompt reply. I have another question concerning the Victrola, Electrola machines: did the amplifiers enegize speakers, per se, or was there a compression device connected to the amplifier that played into the existing Orthophonic horn?

[sanfranphono]

@paulcirc for Victor - both - some 1926/27 machines have a horn driver or even a valve device that would switch between the duct for the acoustic reproducer and the eletric driver. By 1929 Field Coil speakers were Standard, HMV always did Speakers.

[paulcirc]

I've watched and listened to videos of RCA Electrolas which sound very similar to this HMV machine - maybe not quite as rich in tone as they used to say. However, when I listen to RCA Orthophonic machines - not electrical amplification, they sound much tinnier than the Electrolas. Now, your HMV machine seems to be acoustic, not electrically amplified, like the Orthophonic machines. If this is true,  how did they achieve this full sound? Also, cymbals even have a bit of ring to them. Great!

[sanfranphono]

@paulcirc yep it is an acoustic machine. Actually, I have owned other Victor Orthophonic machines and they sound very similar, if carefully rebuilt. As you can see from the video - if there is an open gasket or air leak, the sound deteriorates. This machine sounds especially fine a.) because it has an oversize large horn (yep size matter) and b.) because it has a metal horn (vs wood horns on most Victors) That accentuates treble. And of course I chose records that would sound impressive.

[sanfranphono]

Oh. BTW: the jerking of the transfer arm is the @#$%! video software. Of course it glides smoothly from left to right.

[JCJasion]

Hylton blew the doors off Whiteman as a show band.

[sanfranphono]

@JCJasion Yeah, but sadly he had no ferdy grofe as an arranger. If you listen closely, Hylton several times uses little snippets from Rhapsody in Blue.

[JCJasion]

@sanfranphono - Yes, I noticed that.

[zjsprout]

C. - both the machine and the video - stunning! Thank you for another opportunity to drool....

[sanfranphono]

@zjsprout thanks, of course I need to throw away my camera, the video quality is awful.