Phonoland

does anyone knows which hmv soundbox was used on hmv 97c? model 3? my 97 has an odeon soundbox on it. i know it is not the original and i want to change it with the original one.

and does the 97c have autobrake?

That's interesting! I've got the 97b, which had a Columbia No.9 soundbox when I got it. I'm not familiar with the HMV 21, but it sounds like they must have had a problem,and would often end up being replaced. I guess the rubber gromit that connected the soundbox to the tone arm probably perished?? The Columbia No.9 looks very similar to the one pictured on the record cover below.
My tonearm has two holes at the base which looks like it could have had an auto brake attached,but I don't think this model ever came out with them.I think if any of these had the auto brake,the brake wouldn't have been at the front left of the turntable.

shane,
everybody says different things about the soundbox and autobrake. somebody says there should be soundbox 21 (i think this one the most logical because they wrote directly after they looked at the cooper's book), another one says there should be 24 or 5b. about the autobrake i wrote this to mr cooper and he said it should have. so....?

Well, I don't believe they ever had a 5b on them. The tone arm on the 97 was the thin one, so a 5b would not fit without some sort of adaptor to reduce the size of the hole in the soundbox. It is possible I guess, that the 97, 97b, and 97c could have come out with different model soundboxes, like a 21, then 24. That could be a reason for the different prefix letters.
If yours has the brake at the front like in the picture above, it wouldn't have had an auto brake, because the brake lever would be near the back on the right, so the trigger would reach. The holes at the base of the tone arm would be for other machines that used the same tone arm. And if it had the auto start/stop, it wouldn't have a brake lever at all.

i have two photos for comparison. one is from internet and the other one is mine. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/gokhangul ... e2&.src=ph

I stand corrected!That's a brake I've never seen before. Obviously they did come out with these. Is it triggered by the centre of the turntable like the start/stop set-up on a 88? I guess if it is, then hggultek's would have the trigger there. There would also be holes in the motorboard where it was attached. Mine has no signs of ever having an auto brake on it. I'm glad I took the turntable off to check though- I've been saying mine is a 97b, but its not! Is actually a 97D. Mine was made( or at least assembled) in Sydney, New South Wales, so maybe the later ones from here never had this kind of auto brake installed.

shane
what is trigger? is it the long stick which reaches through the center of the turntable? or the opposite side, yoke? if you look at the pictures on the link above, in the picture on right you can see the autobrake. when i bought my 97 the long stick part was missing. i found a complete one in netherlands. the one near the machine in the picture on the left is the new one. yes, there are holes on the motorboard to attach the autobrake. and another tip is: the tonearm's end has a 1/4 missing ring. i think it is the place to attach the autobrake directing arm. but no holes on the tonearm. and for the soundbox, i think 21 is the correct one and i should find this one.

Sorry to take so long to get back.
Trigger was probably the wrong word to use.To "set off" or "activate" the brake would be a better discription. As I haven't seen the same auto brake as yours, Im not sure how it works, but on my 88, the brake is activated by a part which is attached to the centre of the turntable. Its a sleeve with a "hump" which is around the turntable centre. I dont know if your 97 was like this,but heres a picture of mine anyway.



And this is the auto on/off which works with the turntable. It looks similar to yours, but is different.

Just found a 97 on ebay, and thought I'd post a pic of the soundbox. I haven't seen one of these before, so we'll know what to look for now.

i found soundbox 21 and autobrake. so my hmv 97 will be completely ready as original when i get the diaphragm. i'll put a link of the photos of finished 97. thanks to everybody for informed me about the machine.