Sound Quality - Old Phones

[clevispin]

I'm really interested in buying an old western electric 202. I've found reconditioned ones on the net and am wondering what their sound quality is like. Anybody ever used one? Impressions?

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[Sefton]

I use an old rotary phone that while not quite as old as the one that you mention, is over 40 years old. It sounds great and if the phone you want is clean and has no breaks in wiring I don't see why it shouldn't sound fine. There's nothing like the sound of a real brass bell. Beats a dull digital "ring" any day.

 

[clevispin]

I've done a little research and at some point in the later '30s they retro-fitted the innards with a device that improved the tone. Interestingly, the bell on this model is housed in a seperate bell box that is installed on a nearby wall or hidden under the table where the phone is kept.

A stationary phone and its dedicated chair/table are a part of my master plan for domestic bliss. Communication is getting too virtual. I recently lost my cell phone for about ten days and found my anxiety level had dropped down during this period.

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[scotrace]

Mine's about 1940 and from the other end, sounds a bit tinny. Also a bit muffled to hear. I like the ring, but answer and use the portable most of the time.

Go ahead and get one - those are worth any trouble.

 

[nightandthecity]

I've used a 1938 GPO "pyramid" phone for a long time - probably about 15 years. I hear everything as clear as on a modern wired phone (and better than any cordless I've used) but some people have complained that the other end sounds a bit tinny and remote. This usually improves if I simply hold the mouthpiece closer to my mouth. The bell is also separate on mine, which is great though a separate bell does use up one more ren of my line allowance. I don't think you should have any problems, presumably you'll be getting one ready converted and fully checked out by the seller.

 

[feltfan]

I use a Siemens Brothers 354 wall phone, supposedly
made for the Canadian market in 1932. It's one of the
few that (I guess because it was an early long distance
phone) you can hook up to modern wiring with no
modifications. People tell me it is loud, and that may
be partly because it has a cupped mouthpiece, a bit
more pronounced than the one in your picture, and it's
not designed for that mouthpiece (I don't mind- I think
it looks cool...).

The only persistent problem I have is that the
original handset cord seems to have a bit of crackle.
I may, reluctantly, replace it.

That Western Electric 202 looks great. The old Western
Electrics are supposed to sound great, too. You might
buy one from a qualified refurbisher (there are plenty on
the web) just to be sure it is compatible with today's
wiring and has the best possible sound. You will find that
a good refurbisher changes as little as possible.

 

[SleepyDutch]

What's a good reliable resource for them? I'd love to have one on my desk, but am leery of buying anything untested from Ebay.

 

[Baggers]

I've had a restored WE 202 in my office for about a year and a half now, and I love it. I got it via eBay from a collector in Colorado with the ID andrewsjwa. He isn't offering anything right now, but you can check out the kind of merchandise he sells by looking at some of his recent auctions. People I'm talking to say I sound fine, albeit a bit hollow, which I attribute to the "spit cup" mouthpiece while parties on the other end sound a bit faint in the earpiece. Still, it's a fun item to have for just casual conversations, and a landline will beat the heck out of a cell phone quality wise any day of the week. And it looks very cool sitting on the small table next to the wicker chair.

If I have to transact business over the phone or need access to a touchtone for menu navigation purposes, I use one of the modern phones in the house. But the only ringer heard for incoming calls is the one attached to the 202. I love the sound of those double bells, and as small as our place is there is no difficulty hearing it.

Cheers!

 

[Absinthe_1900]

Check around the same places on the 'net that restore old radios, a number of old radio shops do antique telephones as well. (my local shop does)

 

[tonyb]

It ain't as cool-lookin' as that phone you want, clevispin, but this old babe here

works just fine. The sound quality is great on both ends. I had forgotten that I owned it. I bought it about 25 years ago, I reckon, and left it stashed in a shed. I came upon it when I moved, after nearly 20 years in the same house. A coupla-three years ago I met a retired phone company technician who volunteers a few hours per week at a telephone museum. I told him about this phone, and how I'd had a heck of a time trying to make it work with those four old wires and connectors protruding from the end of the cloth-bound cord. He offered to replace it with a modular plug on the end of a period-looking cord. Cost me five bucks for that.

I asked him to leave the old price tag on the bottom.

Back when I had a dial-up Internet connection, I plugged one of those one-into-two (or is it two-into-one) adaptors into the back of my Mac. The Internet connection was on one plug and the antique phone on the other. It was all perfectly compatible.

 

[clevispin]

Thanks all - I have been without a landline for several years now but just had fiber put in so voice will be a cheap add-on. By most reports it sounds as tho it will be a reliable device.

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[Tony in Tarzana]

The "E" handset like the one on the WE 202 at the start of this thread can be a bit tinny, but the "F" that came along around 1937 sounds fine. I have... let me think... 2 202s, with an extra E handset and... gosh, 5 302s, all metal-bodied, and a bunch of WE 500s including a really nice Ivory one from 1955, plus a couple of AE 80s and an AE40.