[78-L] 75rpm v. 78rpm.

[Spats]

Hi!

I agree with all of this. When I get an early Russian or Italian 
operatic record, I usually begin with 75 as a default speed setting. 
I also have the strong feeling that France was using 75rpm even after 
WW2. I have some post-war records of Piaf that I'm pretty sure should 
play at 75rpm or thereabouts.

To be fair to Edison, I've yet to play a Diamond Disc record that 
didn't seem 'right' at 80rpm.

American Columbias seemed generally to start out at 75 or 78 and only 
go to 80 later, say after WW1, I've found.

Earl.

At 12:00 pm -0800 04/11/2008, 78-l-request at klickitat.78online.com wrote:
>Definitely there were two "groups" in the early days once the more 
>extreme experiments like those Italian 1903 G&Ts recorded at 68rpm 
>had "calmed down" - one favouring 75 and the other 80 as an 
>(unstated) target speed. 78 as a nominal standard, even if it was 
>arrived at for other reasons (often discussed here), has always 
>looked to me like an acceptable average among records found in the 
>catalogues at the time it came into general use (late 1920's). "75" 
>indeed would have been more "on the spot" for a large portion of 
>these records (e.g. the majority of Victor and G&T/HMV products), 
>but a record playing too slow usually sounds worse than one playing 
>slightly too fast, so the new standard seems to have been set in a 
>way that kept the sizeable number of 80rpm sides still in print 
>(much of UK Columbia, many 1910-1918 HMVs, Path?, many smaller 
>labels) listenable if not quite correct. At 75, these sides sound 
>impossibly tired and sluggish even to the "uneducated" casual 
>listener.
>
>Chris Zwarg