Do real candlestick phonesound good today?

[Robert Gift]

Do they have capacitors which need to be replacedue to age -  electrically leaking.

Carbon granule microphones?

We have two fake candlestick telephones which we use.

Thank you.

[SUnset2]

Based on my limited experience, the capacitors don't have much effect on speech quality unless they are completely shot.

The old style transmitters will contribute more distortion that the newer types.  When I call somebody on my 51AL, they remark how it sounds like I am talking on an Old Telephone.  But, if I call from my 151AL, with the bulldog transmitter and 706A receiver, I sound normal (or at least as normal as I can sound). 

For reference, the 151AL was an updated version using the same receiver and transmitter as the 302.  It is also anti-sidetone, with an updated subset.  Most, if not all, 151AL's were converted from 51AL's as an upgrade when they were refurbished.  But many people prefer the look of the original transmitters.

[RDPipes]

I always got comments of me sounding like I'm down in a well when on a stick or hotel phone, I figured it was just from the sidetone affect.
I would say at least back when I was a young man 60's to about the 80's all phones sounded better, clearer at least to me. I have to turn the volume up on my wireless phone to hear anyone good enough and there's nothing wrong with my hearing. Big business substituted quality for cheap to produce, made to last to made to break (within minutes).

[countryman]

Carbon transmitters are known to age. I have many, many capsules that are outright deaf and give all kinds of noise but no voice. Then again, sometimes a 80 or 90 year old specimen may do pretty well. It has to do with the materials originally used and with storage conditions.
The use of compressed data for voice transmission in fact has its own ill effects, like echo, loss of syllables, and my pet peeve, time delay. It is almost impossible to communicate pleasantly when time delay exceeds a half second or so. Invariably the two persons will start talking over each other, with following excuses for this bad behavior, and after that nobody knows what the call was originally about 
Maybe people also used to speak more clearly pronounced and directly into the microphone.

[TelePlay]

The one fact that applies to all carbon granule transmitters is that each "new" design from the time Bell created the first one to the last one designed and manufactured, the "next" version/design was an improvement over the prior version/design.

As said, older transmitters had problems with granules clumping, impurities in the granules and poor frequency response (compared to the "next" designs).

With each "new" design, the frequency response improved to capture a wider range of frequencies making the "heard" voice more realistic.

Somewhere I have a waveform comparison of a variety of transmitters showing the improvement over time and if I can find them, will post them later today.

[TelePlay]

The other half of this issue is the talk circuits which also improved over time, with each "new" version, to produce better transmission quality.

The WE 500 on a complete copper analog circuit, from transmitter to receiver, is most likely the best ever made in the POTS era.

Transmitter/receiver improvements work hand in hand with talk circuit improvements and have to be taken as a complete package when talking about "sound" quality.

The 500 is generations (at least 4 or 5) ahead of the original side tone early phones with respect to sound quality.

Using a carbon capsule side tone telephone on a modern digital chopped system could sound great or some shade less than great.

[Etienne]

I have to turn the volume up on my wireless phone to hear anyone good enough and there's nothing wrong with my hearing. Big business substituted quality for cheap to produce, made to last to made to break (within minutes).

I agree. People always complain of not hearing what I say when it happens trough my 2003 Amarys 220. Switching to the 1941 Siemens Modell 36 always solves the problem. Well, it has an old swiss transistor transmitter and Siemens worked hard to design the handset. More modern phones, full of cheap electronics, tend to age very quickly (yes, a 20 years-old phone seems extremely modern to me!)- and it seems some POTS lines like mine just destroy them within a few months.

[RDPipes]

I agree. People always complain of not hearing what I say when it happens trough my 2003 Amarys 220. Switching to the 1941 Siemens Modell 36 always solves the problem. Well, it has an old swiss transistor transmitter and Siemens worked hard to design the handset. More modern phones, full of cheap electronics, tend to age very quickly (yes, a 20 years-old phone seems extremely modern to me!)- and it seems some POTS lines like mine just destroy them within a few months.

If its as old as I am I too don't consider it old and I was born in 53.

[MMikeJBenN27]

And real telephones were American-made.  Cell phones are made in you-know-where.  There stuff is NOT made to be good, just cheap.

Mike

[MMikeJBenN27]

I hate that delay.  One of the reasons I got rid of my cell phone when I retired.  No longer needed it.  Nothing wrong with home phones.

Mike

[MMikeJBenN27]

Yes, the 500 is the best, but the 300 is close, as long as you are using the correct one for the distance you are from the central office.  E1 handsets that have been retrofitted with F1 transmitters aren't bad, kind of tinny sounding though.

Mike

[FABphones]

And real telephones were American-made...

Plus of course plenty of excellent and beautifully designed telephones made in the U.K./Europe too.

[Contempra]

And real telephones were American-made.

What not to read, MIKE the sacrilegious! you make me laugh. For me a phone is a phone. Whether WE , NE , NT or SC , whatever , it's a phone , no matter the country . I cagree for modern phones , but certainly not for vintage phones . Lolllllll ..

[FABphones]

I have many favourite designs and makes of phone. From over the water, several models of AE (plus SC with just a couple of WE left on the list), remain high on my 'would like' list. 

Re the o.p. question, I cannot speak for other makes but the first GPO stick I found (the second telephone in my collection, which I still have), had very poor sound quality. I could barely hear the person on the other end of the line. I knew nothing about vintage phones when I started to collect, but eventually I found a 'telephone repairer' who (unbeknownst to me) removed the original earpiece internals and replaced with much newer. The phone was then more useable but it came at a cost of originality.

There is more to this unfortunate story, but it needs it's own thread to be told...

[poplar1]

CJ, Western  Electric used to convert customer owned antique phones for a one time charge.of $25; later it was "time and materials." They installed parts equivalent to a 500 set. The customer then had to pay monthly rental on the new parts.

The removed old parts were returned to the customer in a paper sack.