Baldwin D 421

[musiclarry]

I'm interested in purchasing this model from a local church. Is it 100% Baldwin or part European? Behind it is a metal box, not sure of it's function. The pedals seem to be of AGO specifications. I'm concerned of future repairs and are there components that should be replaced soon, are they available? Two external speakers are included and has a nice tone quality. I would appreciate your opinions of this Baldwin, plus opinions of value for the church has no idea. Should I pursue or RUN??

[jbird604]

The D400 series were the last organs actually built by Baldwin in the US before they threw in the towel and started importing Viscount organs. I once owned one of these and thought it was really nice. Somewhere on this forum I gave a complete description of it and raved about the sound, the features, the innovative design for the time period (late 80's). This was really Baldwin's last hurrah. A giant leap from their outdated analog models, and they leap-frogged over Allen and other builders with their extensive MIDI capabilities, the built-in floating orchestral/percussion division, built-in recorder, and other amazing features.

An extremely solid console, pedal board, and key action, about as solid as anything ever built in the US. But be warned that it is HUGE and HEAVY. So big that it may not fit through your doors. And so heavy it will require a LOT of lifting by some strong people.

It was designed to output a minimum of six audio channels -- two for each of the manual divisions, a fifth channel called "low pass" which actually carries the low frequency content of all the channels (pedal stops are actually mixed with the manual channels, and the low frequencies of the pedal tones come through the low pass speaker). A sixth channel was dedicated to producing only the 32' stop, which was awesome. An enormous speaker cabinet with an 18" woofer served only to produce that one stop.

For better performance, it could be set up with five additional channels. This setup split each manual division into four channels, giving far greater clarity to the stops and potentially more power and realism. Of course it required considerably more space to implement all this audio.

Amplifiers were in external units, normally large metal contraptions the size of a large suitcase. All told, this was a big organ for a big space. The only one left in service around here is in a very large Catholic church, and it still works perfectly.

The only routine maintenance is replacement of the batteries in a holder just behind the keyboard stack. You can lift off the top lid and roll the key cover forward to see the battery holder. Otherwise the organ should be pretty reliable. Parts are possibly available from Robert Spoon, but I'm sure he doesn't have all of them any more, as the organs are so old and he no longer works full time in the Baldwin support business.

Maybe you can find my old thread. At other times I have commented on other people's threads when they inquired about one of these.

[musiclarry]

Thanks for the insight. I'm going to look at it again tomorrow and inquire if there are more speakers. Without all of them, can all the voices and pedal stops be heard well, and can non Baldwin speakers be added? As the organ is now, what is its value?

[jbird604]

It could be made to work with fewer speakers by mixing some audio channels with an external mixer. Any decent speakers could be used with it, though the Baldwin system has just the right mix of different type drivers. If you get it without the complete original set, you may need some technical assistance to get it playing, unless you are very knowledgeable about audio system setup.

Also, it's entirely possible that the "two speakers" you see are in fact two of Baldwin's "tower" units that actually contain five amps and five speakers in each one. This was not the standard speaker supplied with this model, but it could have been used by the installing dealer. If that's what they have, you would hear all the stops, though the 32' stop might or might not work. It is possible to mix the 32' stop into the other bass channel, but not ideal of course.

The metal box behind it might be some kind of amplifier -- the genuine Baldwin amp normally supplied with the organ -- but if it is, that begs the question where are all the speakers? Because that genuine Baldwin amp was sold as a package with a set of speakers called the "M5" array -- five channels of speakers contained in three decorative enclosures.

The metal box could also be a Baldwin reverb unit, which would have been wired in series between the console and the external speaker systems.

Honestly, just like any other used organ, it's impossible to put a firm value on it. A rule of thumb is that you never pay anything at all for a non-working organ. And unless it's a truly spectacular organ and fairly modern, you don't pay anything at all if there are all problems or any missing parts. But OTOH, if an organ of that size and quality happens to be in perfect working order and you can check it out before buying, and if all the parts and pieces come with it, you might be justified in paying a thousand dollars or more, depending on how good the condition. I'd ask them what they want for it, then make an offer and see if they go for it. They certainly got their money's worth out of it long ago.

Also, a great deal of value lies in the moving of such an organ. I know that I would have to pay my local moving company many hundreds of dollars to move one that big, even just a short distance. If you are buying it from an individual or church, they are probably not paying for the move, so you should consider how much that move is going to cost you. It may weigh 800 pounds. It is massive!

While this is a great example of Baldwin's creative organ building, a surprisingly complete organ with sound that rivals many newer organs, it may not be a good home organ for a non-technical person. This is truly one of the biggest, heaviest two manual organs you will ever see, and requires a lot of speakers to do what it's supposed to do. And could have problems that you won't be able to solve. So consider carefully!