Earlier sound recording

[Derek Jackson]

Is it possible? If so how big an impact?

 

[Flubber]

You need to be able to manufacture screws which have the same dimensions, pitch, and other features so that "playback" occurs at the same speed as "record".

 

[James1010]

Improvements in metal working are key, if Rome had access to Chinese Paper and ideas things like this could have happened very early.

 

[Grey Wolf]

I remember when they tried to "play" Egyptian pots. It didn't work very well

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

 

[1940LaSalle]

If we assume entirely mechanical sound recording--that is, the same thing that Edison came up with in OTL--I don't see why it couldn't have been done as early as the late 18th century. By then, instrument makers were working in close tolerances for making chronometers, sextants, and other navigational tools; Eli Whitney was set to pioneer interchangeable parts in the 1790s. Given a reasonable supply of brass and wax, and I don't see how it would not be possible, given reasonable inspiration to some mechanical visionary--indeed, perhaps Whitney himself. Imagine a wax cylinder of George Washington's farewell address from 1796, or one of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address...