Wayne MME phono show pics 4-19-09

[Viva-Tonal]

What is this machine, on this huge stand?

[AZ*]

Okay, this one puzzles me ---

I have a nearly identical model, which dates from the mid to late 1930s -- using the same chrome plated motor-board with all the same components--double needle cups for used and new needles, folding crank, speed control, brake lever, case latches, etc., -- but it's equipped with a standard Swiss-made "skinny, tapered" tonearm, and a generic style Swiss made sound box---all original. (These components made their way to a variety of off-brand deluxe portables, it seems, but they all seem to share one thing in common--no brand name is affixed to the case.)

I also own one of these generic looking suitcase phonos with chrome deck and folding crank handle. Mine has a brown exterior and has a name inside on the record holder: PAL.

Mine had a brass Orthophonic reproducer when I got it -- obviously not original.

[OrthoFan]

I also own one of these generic looking suitcase phonos with chrome deck and folding crank handle. Mine has a brown exterior and has a name inside on the record holder: PAL.

Mine had a brass Orthophonic reproducer when I got it -- obviously not original.

Hi AZ, many thanks. That's what I suspect has happened to this one. Considering the horn in these generic units seems to be identical, if not slightly larger, than the one used on the 2-55, the Orthophonic sound box should give it a real punch. (I consider mine to be the poor man's version of the RCA Special.)

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Viva-Tonal:

The machine on the stand looks like part of a Vitaphone Projector. There were a number of different models/setups, but if you compare the tonearm to the one in the photo below, they look nearly identical.


FROM: http://www.picking.com/vitaphone62.html

[phonophan79]

What is this machine, on this huge stand?

Yes, that is a Vitaphone. It was for sale for $2400.

From Wikipedia: Vitaphone was a sound film process used on features and nearly 2,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. This was not the original process. The first process was called Fuchessound. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes. The soundtrack was not printed on the actual film, but was issued separately on 16-inch phonograph records. The discs would be played while the film was being projected. Many early talkies, such as The Jazz Singer (1927), used the Vitaphone process. (The name "Vitaphone" derives from the Latin and Greek words, respectively, for "living" and "sound.")

[Viva-Tonal]

Thanks! I guess I didn't recognise it without the projector. Doesn't that turntable require a linkage to the projector motor to drive it so as to maintain sync with the film?

Now that I look again, I can identify the pickup on that massive tone arm: a Western Electric 4A.

[phonophan79]

I mention this because we are in a small hobby and Ken is one of our best representatives. I hope that all of you will keep him in your prayers. Hopefully, we will hear some good news in the next day or so.

Does anyone know how Ken is doing?

[Aaron]

Yes!! i talked to Charley a week or so after the show and he said Ken either was having or already had by pass surgury... He said he was still in the NJ hospital but when Charley visited him he talked and joked as if nothing ever happen. If i get a chance i will call Charley tomarrow.

Keep him in mind!,

Aaron