Does anyone do 78s?

[dave2010]

Not sure where to put this query, as "obviously" not "hi-fi" related!

I recently remembered some old 78s which we had when I was younger. They belonged to my parents, and some of them were redistributed - for various reasons. I particularly remembered recordings by Moseiwitsch and also Rubinstein. The Moseiwitsch I remembered was of some Beethoven piano sonatas, while the Rubinstein was of Tchaikovsky piano concerto 1. However (I now know) my memory failed me re the orchestra in the Tchaikovsky recording. I knew it (and still do!) the conductor was John Barbirolli, but I thought the orchestra might have been the NYPO. Checking on the internet suggested that in fact the orchestra might have been the LSO - but I still wasn't sure.

However, very recently I was moving some LPs around (not been played for years) and to my surprise I discovered that I still had some 78s, which presumably I'd rescued from the last house my parents lived in. As I said - not everything was there (Bruno Walter's Mozart Serenade 13 is missing .... shame .... and the version of Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherezade - Arthur Fielder and the Boston Pops IIRC and some others), but the Tchaikovsky PC was in the pile, and indeed it was the LSO in the recording. I'm still not quite sure what the date of the recording was.

After this preamble - does anyone else round here still play 78s? Years ago I knew someone who collected 78s of piano music, and I asked him why. His reply was that they had some very good performances, and also that the 78s always sounded better than any transcribed version to LP. That was in the days of LPs. Now we have transcriptions to CD and other digital formats, and sometimes those are good, but perhaps not always.

I may never play these 78s again - though I always thought that one day I might put together equipment to play them, and either just play them, or digitise them and get file copies. That's a project yet to get under way, and it may never take off.

So - any more stories about 78s which might be of interest? Any genre!

[Audio Al]

No , not me , i'v managed 2 avoid them

[Tea24]

Yes, I do. I have just liberated about 50, mainly jazz/dance music from the interwar period & 50s.

I use a rebuilt Lenco GL75, Graham Slee jazz club etc &, having been flabbergasted by the quality of an AT Mono3/LP for mono vynil, recently acquired, I am going to get the 78 version in due course.

What many people don’t understand is that, once electric microphones came in sometime in the 1920s, the recording of music became very good indeed, but, unfortunately the reproduction wasn’t up to the same standard, just being steel needles & wind up gramophones with a horn or poor loudspeakers.

In fact, once washed & played back through a modern system, with monophonic, or alternatively stereo cartridge (which has to be the correct size depending on the condition of the disc) played through a mono switch on the amplifier, plus a re-equalising phono stage; one can get superb sound out of 78s!

On the other hand symphonic classical music to my mind is better on LPs & one is not getting up all the time to turn the disc over

I also make my own CDs; personally I put no noise reduction on my Cds; in taking away the noise one loses some of the ‘musicality’ & a bit of noise gives more of the period atmosphere! In any case just putting into Mono & re-equalising properly removes a good 60% of the aggravating noise. Some of the remastered CDs & LPs of old discs are so overdone that practically none of the ‘musicality’ is left!

In fact in one or two lightly used 78s of operatic arias one can even hear the intake of breath!

[struth]

I've 2 wind up gramophones that I use a lot Might not be hifi but the sound just reflects the period perfectly

[dave2010]

On the other hand symphonic classical music to my mind is better on LPs & one is not getting up all the time to turn the disc over

I also make my own CDs; personally I put no noise reduction on my Cds; in taking away the noise one loses some of the ‘musicality’ & a bit of noise gives more of the period atmosphere! In any case just putting into Mono & re-equalising properly removes a good 60% of the aggravating noise. Some of the remastered CDs & LPs of old discs are so overdone that practically none of the ‘musicality’ is left!

In fact in one or two lightly used 78s of operatic arias one can even hear the intake of breath!

I was told many years ago that a bit of simple circuitry (analogue) could remove more of the background noise of some 78s to give an almost silent background. The trick was to use the stereo L-R signal to detect the clicks - where the noise was perhaps significantly higher than the signal, and then to suppress or repeat some of the L+R signal for a very short period. This was perhaps more successful than simply playing the L+R (mono) signal.

Some 78s were also found to have a wide dynamic range which was a surprise.

I agree about using too much noise reduction killing the sound, and of course it also removes some of the "feel" of an old recording.

[Tea24]

I was told many years ago that a bit of simple circuitry (analogue) could remove more of the background noise of some 78s to give an almost silent background. The trick was to use the stereo L-R signal to detect the clicks - where the noise was perhaps significantly higher than the signal, and then to suppress or repeat some of the L+R signal for a very short period. This was perhaps more successful than simply playing the L+R (mono) signal

I think this is what the Esoteric Sound de-clicker does, if I have read their blurb right.

[sumday]

I guess the sad thing regarding 78s was their perceived sense of well, utter uselessness in the 60s and 70s.
when I was a kid back in the mid70s, come bonfire night we would trawl our local area for rubbish to burn on a large piece of wasteground.
this would pull in all sorts of (at the time..tat) and the resulting fire was always a big event.
sadly their was always a healthy amount of valve radios and radiograms plus windup grams on the fire.

I remember one year when we emptied the contents of an old couples shed...stacked with 78s...most in quite good shape..a lot in old style multidisc albums.
we saved these for a bonza airgun shoot a few days later.
I now wonder if, in our wildwest style shooting frenzies, we happened to destroy some lost gems.

BUT...they don't half explode when hit by a pointed pellet from a powerful Webley!!!

happy days...NIGE.

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Not sure where to put this query, as "obviously" not "hi-fi" related!

I recently remembered some old 78s which we had when I was younger. They belonged to my parents, and some of them were redistributed - for various reasons. I particularly remembered recordings by Moseiwitsch and also Rubinstein. The Moseiwitsch I remembered was of some Beethoven piano sonatas, while the Rubinstein was of Tchaikovsky piano concerto 1. However (I now know) my memory failed me re the orchestra in the Tchaikovsky recording. I knew it (and still do!) the conductor was John Barbirolli, but I thought the orchestra might have been the NYPO. Checking on the internet suggested that in fact the orchestra might have been the LSO - but I still wasn't sure.

However, very recently I was moving some LPs around (not been played for years) and to my surprise I discovered that I still had some 78s, which presumably I'd rescued from the last house my parents lived in. As I said - not everything was there (Bruno Walter's Mozart Serenade 13 is missing .... shame .... and the version of Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherezade - Arthur Fielder and the Boston Pops IIRC and some others), but the Tchaikovsky PC was in the pile, and indeed it was the LSO in the recording. I'm still not quite sure what the date of the recording was.

After this preamble - does anyone else round here still play 78s? Years ago I knew someone who collected 78s of piano music, and I asked him why. His reply was that they had some very good performances, and also that the 78s always sounded better than any transcribed version to LP. That was in the days of LPs. Now we have transcriptions to CD and other digital formats, and sometimes those are good, but perhaps not always.

I may never play these 78s again - though I always thought that one day I might put together equipment to play them, and either just play them, or digitise them and get file copies. That's a project yet to get under way, and it may never take off.

So - any more stories about 78s which might be of interest? Any genre!

At the other end of the spectrum I have a Thorens that will do 16RPM. I think Dual made turntables in the 1970's capable of 78 RPM
A 78 played at 16 RPM would be a treat... come to think of it.

[Geoff101]

Dual CS-5000 had a 78rpm speed. Got one sat in the cupboard as it happens. Perhaps I'll get a 78 cartridge for it...

[mossy]

I bought my dad about 1000 78's off ebay about 15 years ago for a surprise birthday present.

They weighed a ton!