This week we welcome the arrival of our Endpoint Audio Cylinder player. Our fully equipped machine includes both stylus and optical playback of cylinders and Dictabelts, playback of Magnabelts, the anti-wow software, and the special dark field microscope for examination of media.

Nick Bergh delivered, installed and trained our staff on his precision equipment. It is the most significant advancement in real time playback of cylinders and Dictabelts in a generation, and the ONLY advance in Magnabelt reproduction since IBM stopped manufacturing the product.

A special delight was a visit from Ward Marston, one of the founders of the audio preservation profession. Ward brought two cylinders to test the machine’s limits- a 1965 cylinder of Birgit Nielsen, produced for the Metropolitan Opera Quiz, and a 6”, 150tpi cylinder in an unusual brown wax. We all delighted on the range of sonic qualities the Endpoint cylinder machine produces with different styli, the real time optical playback, and the quick and easy adjustments of centering, tracking angle, speed, and new possibilities with optical settings.

We join the Library of Congress, the National Library of the Czech Republic, the Swiss National Sound Archive and private collectors as the only facility in the world offering advanced, precision stylus and real time optical playback to individuals and institutions.