A MECHANICAL CONCERT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19488, 18 November 1926, Page 10

A MECHANICAL CONCERT.

GRAMOPHONE AND WIRELESS. A public demonstration of the Brunswick panatrope and the radiola wireless receiving set and loud speaker was given in the Town Halh last evening by the Farmers' Trading Company, Ltd. The big hall was crowded. A varied programme of vocal, choral and instrumental items was given on the panatrope. This instrument has . the mechanism of the Brunswick gramophone, but instead of having a sound box, an electro magnet changes the sound vibrations into electric waves, which are amplified through valves in a loud speaker. The machine thus combines the gramophone and wireless. The loud speaker, the radiola, model 104, amplified the volume of sound to such an extent that fvery detail of the items was heard in all parts of the hall, and a feature of the reproduction was the absence of anything suggesting the metallic. Band selections were delivered with the volume one is accustomed to associate with hand music in confined quarters, while the softest notes of a soprano came through with a sweetness of tone that made one forget for a moment that, the reproduction was mechanical. For the second part of the programme IYA was tuned in on an eight tube superheterodyne radiola set, model 28. This receiving set does not require outside aerials, and its reproduction through the loud speaker was equal to that of the panatrope. The programme broadcast was a varied one, and as there was none of the disturbing static, the audience was able to enjoy the concert to the full. Without making invidious comparisons in a good programme, a striking feature of the radio concert was the clarity with which the high notes of Sullivan's "My Dearest Heart," sung by Miss Christina Ormiston, were rendered. This item alone was a threefold tribute to the excellence of the broadcasting, to the radiola and to the singer.