Hi Gang,

Just to have a sample of one, I just acquired one via ebay. It's a 5
incher, dated XX-07-30 (I'm not sure of the month, perhaps May or Nov).
It's a sonic atrocity, which I KNOW is not inevitable for this medium. I
know this because X years ago, I transferred some Vox Pop programs from
33.33 12" disks that were home recorded circa '38 (as I recall). They
were very clear.

In the case of this small one, the stylus (amongst my many) that best
played the grooves is one designed for Pathe disks.

Some questions for early systems such as the one used to make this record

1. are any known original specs extant?
2. were the R & D personnel from Victor and or RCA?
3. if the R & D preceded 1-1-29, then was any of the R & D out-sourced? If
so, who?
2. was there a level control in the recording circuit?
3. could a recording be mixed from the mike & tuner outputs? If so, was
this done via the speaker or a
hard wired circuit?
4. did the earliest versions also record & play 33.33?
5. what kind of mic was provided with the system?

Also,

6. what changes were made to later models?
7. If 33.33 was added to a later version, when did that occur?
8. until when were these systems made & offered for sale?
9. until when were the blanks made & offered for sale?
10. might "PMM" (plastic-memory-migration) cause lower levels in 2013 than
they might have been in 1930?

Art (Shiffy) Shifrin