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The Victrola Page
My Orthophonic Victrola VV 8-4 was built in 1926. I had wanted a Victrola since I was a kid. I finally obtained one in August 2004 at the Fire Side Antique Mall in Crawfordsville Indiana. It was the beginning of my phonograph collection, and due to it being the very last stage of development in the acoustic era, it has the best sound of them all since 78RPM records were still being made until the early 1960's. It was my pride and joy when I obtained it and still enjoys a place of honor on my loft where most of my collection currently resides.
Since there are gazillions of Victrola pages on the internet, I will not add much to this, other than to include a few photos of mine and a few very rare records at the end of this page, which were not recorded on the Victrola.
Here it is in all it's glory. It had one of the largest horns in history. The horn is a part of the cabinet and provides some of the best bass that anyone could ever offer in the acoustic era. When I say bass, I do not mean much as the sound from all acoustic phonographs is 5% bass, 5% treble, and 90% midrange. Still, the large horn and aluminum diaphragm in the reproducer gives this machine about the most frequency response any machine in the acoustic era could boast, with the exception being the monumental and legendary Victrola Credenza which was the ultimate before electronic reproduction became common. There were incidently, many who continued to use them for decades citing the purity of sound over electronic reproduction, which gave more bass, but lost overall quality in some cases.
Here is the turn table area. This particular VV 8-4 has a felt tipped record holding area to the left of the turn table which is very convenient.
It is unfortunately by design necessary to change the steel needle after every play or more damage to the record will result. Just playing a lateral 78 wears it out quickly unlike vertical Edison or Pathé records. It has a little cup area to store new and used needles.
At my brothers request I have included a section on the famous Victor emblem of Nipper the dog listening to a phonograph. We all know it looks like this:
However the artist Francis Barraud first offered it to Edison, who replied that "Dogs do not listen to phonographs" and rejected it. Wow. Think about what could have been if he had not:
The story of how Nipper came to be possibly the most recognizable corporate logo of all time is too lengthy for me to state here. However the story can be obtained here which will open in a new window.
New: 24 May 2008 Recently I happened upon some single sided 12 inch Red Victor records of the Victrola series in absolutely mint, seemingly never played condition. Many of them were with the great Caruso which makes them even more amazing. I decided to digitize them and include them here. The first two listed are of the double sided black label.
Poet and Peasant Overture part 1 - Victor Concert Orchestra
Poet and Peasant Overture part 2 - Victor Concert Orchestra
Elegie Melody - Enrico Caruso and Mische Elman
A la Luz da la Luna - Enrico Caruso and Emilio de Gogorza
Martha Solo profugo - Enrico Caruso and Marcel Journet
Carry me back to old Verginny - Alma Gluck
Invitation to the waltz - Leopold Stokowsky / Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra
Good bye - Nelly Melba Melba had a talent as big as her ego. Yes Melba toast was named in her honor.
