Hey guys, here's a rare opportunity to score one of the most unusual home phonographs ever made, the Seeburg Home Library:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Seeberg-Automatic-Record-Console_W0QQitemZ260223421468QQihZ016QQcategoryZ3283QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem In case you don't know what it is, this is the first 78rpm version of the Seeburg Select-O-Matic record changer which was introduced as the M100A jukebox in 1948. It is full intermix - you can use 10 and 12 inch records loaded in any order anywhere in the record magazine with automatic size selection by the mechanism. The M100A offered 100 selections, whereas this version holds 100 records for a total of 200 selections. This mechanism was offered as the Seeburg Industrial/Commercial Music (SICM) system housed in a huge steel cabinet as well as this home version as shown in the wooden console. This model includes the preamp, power amp, speaker and 24-hour timer which can be programmed to start and stop the music program numerous times over a 24-hour period. This one looks to be in complete and nice shape, too. I have no financial interest in this item, I just wanted it to find an appreciative buyer. Somebody here on this list should give it a good home. It's very rare to find one of these, never mind in this kind of good condition. Greg Bogantz From taediso...@aol.com Sun Mar 30 15:17:18 2008 From: taediso...@aol.com (taediso...@aol.com) Date: Sun Mar 30 15:17:29 2008 Subject: [Phono-L] Fw: EARLIEST recorded human voice? Message-ID: <cca.2ae52da2.35216...@aol.com> In a message dated 3/30/2008 12:27:40 PM Pacific Daylight Time, allena...@aol.com writes: But who managed to extract the sound from this phonautographic tracing at the ENHS? Was it done at the Site (prior to Scott/Paris)? And what was the actual date in 1878 for the MERR? ======================================== The scans were made by Jerry Fabris and David Giovannoni at the Edison Site late last October. The sound was recovered by Earl Cornell and Carl Haber at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab at UC Berkeley, just like the Scott recordings. We started out with the Edison phonautograms because they were the most immediately accessible, and they quickly allowed Earl and Carl to determine how viable this project would be as well as how to go about reprogramming their existing equipment to work effectively with phonautograms. There are many more Edison phonautograms to be deciphered, but that particular project was put on hold when the Scott phonautograms came to light, thanks to Patrick Feaster's research. The short Edison sound file that has been recovered, and posted at firstsounds.org, was made on September 19, 1878, one of the last phonautograms Edison and Batchelor did for the MERR. Handwritten notations on the sheet indicate the points at which test (vocal) calibrations were made, and where the sound of the train begins and ends. When I first wrote about these phonautograms in my book "Tinfoil Phonographs" in 2001 I commented on how exciting it would be to hear the actual ambient street noise of a vanished New York if these could be played. Well, that was a bit overly optimistic, at least as regards this particular sheet. What we hear is not even the clicking and clacking of train wheels over the ties. It is probably the harmonic vibration of the braces and girders. Edison wrote about this in his notes on July 3, 1878: "We find that the lattice girders some of which are weighted in middle acts as reeds and continue the vibration for a long time after the train has passed . . . We find that the diagonal cross rods vibrate strongly." Further work will be done on this recording as well as the remaining Edison phonautograms, and there's hope that more clarity can be extracted from the fog. It's very probable that other recordings may have recognizable sounds of a train passing over rails, as well as (we hope) recognizable human voices. This is just the beginning, we were under a tight deadline to have as much as possible in time for the already planned presentations at the ARSC conference last Friday. The existence of the "Au Clair de la Lune" recording was only discovered on Feburary 29th of this year, so you can see how little time there has been to pursue this. There will be much more to come, and hopefully more "eureka" moments. Best regards, Rene Rondeau **************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home. (http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom00030000000001) From allena...@aol.com Sun Mar 30 15:39:16 2008 From: allena...@aol.com (allena...@aol.com) Date: Sun Mar 30 15:39:33 2008 Subject: [Phono-L] Fw: EARLIEST recorded human voice?/thx Message-ID: <cb6.27dea3d2.35217...@aol.com> In a message dated 3/30/2008 6:19:38 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, taediso...@aol.com writes: The scans were made by Jerry Fabris and David Giovannoni at the Edison Site late last October. The sound was recovered by Earl Cornell and Carl Haber at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab at UC Berkeley, just like the Scott recordings. We started out with the Edison phonautograms because they were the most immediately accessible, and they quickly allowed Earl and Carl to determine how viable this project would be as well as how to go about reprogramming their existing equipment to work effectively with phonautograms. ============ Thanks for this very helpful and thorough reply! Since a small number of original Phonautographs still exist (here and there), why hasn't anyone made a "modern" phonautogram" and then applied the same computerized technology to recover what was recorded? At least in the modern era, we then have a way to compare the results. If what is extracted from the lampblacked tracings now compares favorably with the actual reality, then we would know that we are, ahem, on the right track... we could even get someone to sing "Au Clair de la Lune" and see what emerges... Allen **************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home. (http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom00030000000001) From jnic...@fuse.net Sun Mar 30 15:47:42 2008 From: jnic...@fuse.net (Jim Nichol) Date: Sun Mar 30 15:48:36 2008 Subject: [Phono-L] Fw: EARLIEST recorded human voice? In-Reply-To: <00c401c89299$50198340$6500a...@your4dacd0ea75> References: <25331959.2916681206897225811.javamail.r...@vms227.mailsrvcs.net> <00c401c89299$50198340$6500a...@your4dacd0ea75> Message-ID: <faa2f4ab-bf98-40ed-b899-1ecfe55c3...@fuse.net> I guess we all haven't read 15 biographies of Edison? Anyway, here's an excerpt I found on the Internet to answer your question: "Thomas Edison developed the phonograph as a result of his work on two other inventions, the telegraph and the telephone. In 1877 Edison invented a machine that would transcribe telegraphic messages through indentations on paper tape, which could then be sent over the wires repeatedly. This development led him to speculate that a telephone message could also be recorded in a similar fashion. He experimented with a diaphragm which had an embossing point held against rapidly moving paraffin paper. The speaking vibrations made indentations in the paper. Edison later changed the paper to a metal cylinder with tin foil wrapped around it." Jim Nichol On Mar 30, 2008, at 3:07 PM, Bob wrote: > Hi Dan, > Someone else mentioned that to me. Could you provide a little > more information as to what he used form the telegrph devices. I > think it would be educational to others on the list as well as me. > RMV > ----- Original Message ----- From: "DanKj" <ediso...@verizon.net> > To: "Antique Phonograph List" <phono-l@oldcrank.org> > Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 1:13 PM > Subject: Re: Re: [Phono-L] Fw: EARLIEST recorded human voice? > > >> >> Except that he didn't copy at all - Edison's phonograph was based >> on his own telegraph recording/repeating devices, not the >> phonautograph. >> >> ===================== >> From: Bob <rvu...@comcast.net> >> Date: 2008/03/28 Fri PM 12:17:43 CDT >> To: Antique Phonograph List <phono-l@oldcrank.org> >> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Fw: EARLIEST recorded human voice? >> >> What Edison copied was the idea of picking up sound vibrations with a >> diaphragm and making a permanent record by transferring it to media >> with a >> stylus and moving the media under it. Whether it was hill and dale >> or side >> to side is insignificant. In fact, for visual examination and >> comparison, >> side to side is vastly superior to hill and dale. I cant imagine >> how hill >> and dale could be observed or measured visually. >> RMV >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob" <b...@lemker.com> >> To: "'Antique Phonograph List'" <phono-l@oldcrank.org> >> Sent: Friday, March 28, 2008 11:01 AM >> Subject: RE: [Phono-L] Fw: EARLIEST recorded human voice? >> >> >>> Am I missing something here.... Was the Scott "recording" hill and >>> dale or >>> side to side? I'm assuming side to side, so just exactly what did >>> Edison >>> copy? >>> Bob >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Phono-L mailing list >> http://phono-l.oldcrank.org > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
