Eminent Theatre Organ

[Hugh Wallington]

The below is taken from Mike's research into Vintage Organs:

Eminent Theatre Organ

You can get a good idea what the Grand Theatre sounds like from this recording ... the 1500/1600 and 2000 had very similar sounds - of course the 2000/2500 Grand Theatre organs had drawbars, which did make the bigger models more versatile and gave it a somewhat richer sound ....

[Keith Rose]

Hi Hugh

I have thoroughly enjoyed this thread and watching the videos.  It brought back some great memories of organs I have owned, listened to at concerts (often in the company of my late Mother and Father) and “played” whenever I came across an organ showroom.

I once owned an Eminent Grand Theatre 2000 it took up most of my living room but being a bachelor I wasn’t answerable to anyone else and could get away with it.  I eventually traded it in for an EL90 and was quite surprised to see that my lounge was in fact a reasonable size. 

The lounge shrank again (but only slightly) when I traded the EL for the wonderful AR100 which I enjoy as much today as when I first acquired it now almost 20 years ago.

The "Eminent" John Mann was a regular visitor to the organ society I joined and his concerts were something not to be missed.

Thank you so much for posting 

Keith

[Hugh Wallington]

Keith,

Glad you are enjoying these.  I remember the days when 'organ sounds' were created by mixing sine waves. square waves and sawtooth waves.  How things have progressed from then, with us now being able to do 'digital sampling' that gets close to the original sound.

More of these to go up!

Hugh

[Bob Owen]

Hello Hugh.
Thank you for finding the Eminate Vintage Organs Video
This was interesting to me as in 1979 I bought an Eminate Solina F217 Organ. John Mann brought the Eminate Grand Theatre Organ and the Solina F217 to the Grand Atlantic Hotel for a demonstration . As soon as I heard the Solina I new that this was the sound I wanted. It had a selection of drawbars and various solo interments. I kept the Solina for 21 years, but with new technology it became outdated. Brian Rodwell  had a music shop in Weston and he had various Eminate Organs for sale and would also demonstrate  them. They were most enjoyable evenings.

[Roger Mardon]

Hi Keith,

You’re the second person I’ve come across in the last few days who has changed an EL90 for an AR100. I did this just a few months ago after over 20 years with the EL. What prompted you to change and how did you get on with it at the time?

Roger

[Keith Rose]

Hi Roger

Lovely organ that the EL90C was, the ease of selecting registrations and the wealth of features on the AR100 convinced me to make the change.

Keith

[Roger Mardon]

Keith,

Good to hear from you. It seems your thinking was much the same as mine. I changed after a ten-year, or greater, absence from playing the organ much. My story and thoughts can be found in the Members’ Section forum under the thread About Roger Mardon

http://www.ar-group.org/smforum/index.php?topic=3060.0

Roger