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"Rob Bamberger" <[log in to unmask]> 03/17/2004 11:27 AM >I vaguely recall that you told me once that while Harmony remained acoustic for a time after the introduction of electrical recording, it did eventually get some sort of electrical system that was inferior, and that some of the Harmony's that I'd described as acoustic were actually crummy electrics... . Is this right? At what point did they get electrical equipment? Columbia was in receivership during 1924-5 as a result of the post-WW I recession and its own inept business practices. It needed to invest in the WE system to be competitive with Victor but it did have a sizable investment in acoustic equipment on the books. To satisfy the bean counters the budget label Harmony was trotted out. Cheap records for cheap players and no royalty to Western Electric. The acoustic system had been tweaked for increased bass response and the records were very popular among younger consumers of dance hits. I've never seen any evidence that Columbia developed or adopted a homegrown system in 1930. Perhaps they negotiated a suspension of royalties for lower priced labels. David J. Diehl Library Director Texas State Technical College