Diamond Disc Reproducer Diaphragms

[160rpm4ever]

I have C 250 and just yesterday had the inspiration to put a different NOS diaphragm in the reproducer . Having several to chose from , I picked on that was very dark in color on the top side , but appeared normal in every other way . I did not measure the thickness of it but visually compared it to the one I removed and several others . Perhaps it seemed just a bit more stiff than the others . Anyway , I installed it with new damping rings and adjusted the lock ring to just the point where there was no appreciable air leakage . The reproducer sounded pretty good before , but now it was louder , the surface noise was less and the lows were much improved . And the smoothness of the mids was amazing , no harshness or stridency . AMAZING !

Does any one know if the late manufactured diaphragms were dark in color ? Could I have installed one intended for an Edisonic ? or ?? So far this seems to have improved the sound quality for all types of records : ie : dance music , vocals even the pedal tones on the Midmer Losh pipe organ records . Maybe I am just lucky !

John E
Dickson , Tennessee

[larryh]

I was told that the last styles available from Edison as replacements were Aluminum. I think the shellac and cork versions are different shades of brown due to the shellac ageing and perhaps the amount of coats of it? I have not had an Edisonic Diaphragm but have been told it was thicker by a bit than the originals. Its sure nice to hear the music again that a disc has to offer.. Its also good that you can detect the quality of the music.

[marcapra]

Hey John, That sounds great! So it sounds like you are not sure whether the diaphram was NOS or new. I have a Dance reproducer that sounds very good. A friend of mine, Vitanola, installed an Orthophonic diaphram in it, but he told me he didn't bother to attach the spider. It sounds great with a little buzz in it, probably caused by the unattached spider. I don't have much experience in reproducers, but I'm tempted to try to glue that spider to the diaphram to hear how it sounds. Any comments?

[lukewarmwater2]

The Orthophonic diaphragm was designed to function like a piston: the spider keeps the center moving as a unit while the pleated sides allow the stiffened center to pump in and out. I don't know if the shallower Edison groove can take full advantage of the design features of the Ortho diaphragm but it would be an interesting experiment I suppose. I've often wondered how various papers plasticized in polyethylene glycol (PEG) might sound. The PEG might polymerize the paper -- an effect similar to shellacing the diaphragms in the originals -- yet much more pliant and less 'brittle'.