Circa 1926? Sears Catalog Tru-Phonic models

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OrthoFan
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Circa 1926? Sears Catalog Tru-Phonic models

Post by OrthoFan »

I located this today. It's a PDF file containing some pages from what looks to be the 1926 Sears catalog featuring the Tru-Phonic phonograph models along with records and radios, from vintageradio.com

For instance, here's a low resolution copy I made of one of the pages:
Capture.JPG
The file, itself, is about 17 MB so I thought I post a direct link to the downloadable file, instead -- https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q ... 7634191441

OrthoFan
Last edited by OrthoFan on Wed Mar 13, 2019 8:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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marcapra
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Re: Circa 1927 Sears Catalog Tru-Phonic models

Post by marcapra »

Let me think. Silvertone is a Sears brand, I think. Is this Truphonic Imperial made by Silvertone, or, if not, is it a Sears product? Whoever made it, it is a thinly veiled copy of a Victrola Credenza. I know I've never seen one in person.

OrthoFan
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Re: Circa 1927 Sears Catalog Tru-Phonic models

Post by OrthoFan »

The Tru-Phonic (aka Truphonic) models were sold under the "Silvertone" brand name, with both names appearing on the MFG's decal:
Capture.JPG
(From http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... =2&t=29310)

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Wes K
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Re: Circa 1927 Sears Catalog Tru-Phonic models

Post by Wes K »

Seems like someone posted pictures of the Sears Credenza clone here on th board a few months ago.
A poly-shaded cabinet with the size and proportions of the Victor product, but an awkward pseudo orthophonix horn.

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Re: Circa 1927 Sears Catalog Tru-Phonic models

Post by OrthoFan »

Wes K wrote:Seems like someone posted pictures of the Sears Credenza clone here on th board a few months ago.
A poly-shaded cabinet with the size and proportions of the Victor product, but an awkward pseudo orthophonix horn.
I think it appears on this page -- http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... 7&start=10

From what I can tell, it's an elongated saxophone type horn with a very heavy looking caste-iron connector. Overall, it looks to be about six feet long, factoring in the tonearm, which means it probably has substantial bass output, providing the horn's taper is more or less exponential.

I remember getting into a discussion with a fellow collector years ago who insisted that there was no need to have folded the Orthophonic tone chamber to accommodate a six foot horn in the Credenza, and in doing so, the upper register was dampened somewhat.

I DO know that at least some of the (restored) Tru-Phonic models perform well, such as this video hints at -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc0477xDG5k

By the way, I edited my original post. From what I can tell, the catalog pages pre-date the 1927 Sears catalog, which I remember featured more models.

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Re: Circa 1926? Sears Catalog Tru-Phonic models

Post by estott »

That does sound good- but as portable phonographs demonstrate you can get remarkably good results from a minimal horn provided you have a soundbox with a good strong output. By 1927 you could buy clones of the Orthophonic soundbox which worked very well, though they might not have had quite the same response curve.

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Re: Circa 1926? Sears Catalog Tru-Phonic models

Post by Wes K »

The performance of the Imperial is very good. When you look at the selling price, the Imperial may have been less than the Credenza, but it was still not a cheap instrument . I would bet the Imperial’s performance would compare very favorably with a Brunswick Cortez since the horns are comparable.
The motor in the Imperial is a 3-spring Saal, correct?

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Re: Circa 1926? Sears Catalog Tru-Phonic models

Post by larryh »

I see an occasional Tru Phonic machine out here in the country. So far all the ones I have run into have crumbling sound boxes and usually non functioning tone arms. Yet as a sears fan I always hope to run into one that might work. The earlier Silvertone machines appear to have had much more impressive construction.

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