Reviewer:
Aaron Gallant
from Los Angeles, CA United States
This kit is very cheap and doesn't work. You literally have to use tape to hold the horn together. As far as recording goes there is hardly anything to play back. I only got a few sparse warble sounds and clicks and pops. The only good thing this could be used for is to record the pops and clicks it makes for a sound librabry addition, but I don't think it's worth the money even just as a throw away science kit. If you want it to learn how a phonograpgh works, you'll be better off looking it up online and reading about it. Utterly dissapointing.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Very enjoyable, not exactly hi-fi.
March 18, 2010
Reviewer:
Norm Sohl
from Seattle, WA United States
You need to set your expectations when starting this kit. My family and I had a great time putting this together, and we played with it at a party that evening. While we could record sound, and hear something back, it was not easy to understand. From reading other reviews, it seems we might be able to adjust it further to make it work better, but in any case it was entertaining and no worse audio than I expected having used dictaphones in the past. It was the hit of the party! The quality of the kit was exceptional, and I was well satisfied with it.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
It works when adjusted properly
March 14, 2010
Reviewer:
Michael Wolf
from Maineville, OH United States
I built a tin foil phonograph which is on youtube. This phonograph works OK, but it's very important to adjust the angle of the needle. The directions (otherwise excellent in the English translation) are wrong (opposite) when describing the result of the angle adjustment. When you angle it toward you the grooves are deeper; away from you (toward the cylinder) the grooves are more shallow. For the needle to track the recording and play the whole thing, the grooves must be deep. The means adjust the needle toward you, but not so much that the recording is too noisy. In short experiment, something we all have to do with these devices.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Not bad
November 16, 2009
Reviewer:
Eric
from New York, NY United States
I'm not sure what the other reviewers were expecting for sound quality, but I got something that sounded a lot like an early Edison recording (especially since I used "Mary Had A Little Lamb" as the first try). Works best if you record LOUD and close to the horn. Battery holder and switch are definitely weak points. Kit was perhaps too easy to assemble, it took under an hour.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
I disagree completely!!
October 2, 2009
Reviewer:
Michael A.
from San Francisco, CA United States
This kit is great! First off you are dealing with turn of the LAST century technology, if you want high fidelity buy an ipod. Second it is a SCIENCE kit, you have to EXPERIMENT with what works best, try different needle angles and voices, high pitched records better than deep (male) voices. Also play with types of "media." My best recording was with a slice of round shampoo bottle wedged where the plastic cup should go. As for the cone being "flimsy", ever touch the gray part of a speaker? It has to be light weight to work!! The rest is very well designed and I appreciated that the most of the parts are screwed together rather than "snapped" or glued together. Again this recreates the first time ever in human history that sound could be recorded. Pops scratches and all, when Edison first demonstrated it, people thought it was some kind of trick!! BTW, my batteries don't fall out and I am so glad I didn't pay attention to the first reviews.
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Phonograph is terrible 
Very enjoyable, not exactly hi-fi. 
I disagree completely!! 
