RCA Victor sound box--new to me

[jboger]

I bought this reproducer today. It was laying on the table with a lot of junk. It seems to be well made. No pot metal.

From a portable?

John

[VanEpsFan1914]

From a c. 1930 VV 2-65 portable Orthophonic Victrola. Yes, it is pot metal, and no, it's not the crumbly one but the good pot metal.

I had one on a 2-65 and it got traded to gramophone-georg for a Grafonola 202 portable with correct No 9 Vivatonal box.

[audiophile102]

It's from a suitcase Victor. I have one on my 8-12 after the pot metal one that came with the machine came apart. Sounds great. All the orthophonic reproducers after 1925-1926 were pot metal. Brass reproducers are very expensive, but if you find a good undamaged pot metal reproducer you are good to go.

[jboger]

So it's pot metal after all. The opening is to big for my usual Victor tonearms, so I haven't been able to test it. It looks to be in good shape. I thought the needle bar was bent or broken, but after finding some pictures, it seems to be OK. I don't see any cracks in the pot metal. Looks to be in really great shape.

JOhn

[Ben the phono man]

I'm sure experts would know better, but these are the poor mans brass orthophonic! I think they were using a different "mix" of potmetal then, and they do not suffer from intergranular corrosion as much as earlier pot metal reproducers.

[jboger]

If I understand correctly, I have a lower grade orthophonic for a suitcase model. Could someone direct me to a picture of a higher grade orthophonic reproducer? I did a google search--not much help. I looked at a few other websites, but can't go by prices. For example, someone has an orthophonic similar to mine for $300+ on eBay. No one is snapping it up. I'd like to compare mine with a better grade to see what the differences are.

John

[gramophone-georg]

As far as I am concerned these are not "lower grade" at all. I use one on my 10-50. It's wonderful.
If you swap the isolator for a Victrola 4 one it will fit the earlier arms.

[JerryVan]

As Georg suggests, there's nothing "low grade" about it. Any Orthophonic reproducer that is free of pot petal degredation has the potential to be a fine reproducer, (if properly rebuilt).

[jboger]

Jerry, Georg:

Good to know. Now to find an No. 4 isolator so I can test it. The Phonograph Shop does not have one.

John

[OrthoFan]

If I understand correctly, I have a lower grade orthophonic for a suitcase model. Could someone direct me to a picture of a higher grade orthophonic reproducer? I did a google search--not much help. I looked at a few other websites, but can't go by prices. For example, someone has an orthophonic similar to mine for $300+ on eBay. No one is snapping it up. I'd like to compare mine with a better grade to see what the differences are.

John

Just to be clear, the Orthophonic sound boxes used on the 2-55 portable ( http://www.victor-victrola.com/2-55.htm ), along with first series 2-65 ( http://www.victor-victrola.com/2-65.htm ) were virtually identical to the ones installed on all of the cabinet models--they were equipped with the same shell, the same spider driven diaphragm, ball bearing needle-bar pivot, back plate, etc.. The only difference was the fact that the sound boxes used on the portables came with a mask or face plate attached to the front of the shell to protect the relatively fragile diaphragm. They sounded exactly the same.

The one you have looks to be equipped with a "spider-less" diaphragm, which was installed on the last of the Orthophonic 2-65 portables. Instead of the needle bar attached to the spider which was attached to the diaphragm, the needle bar was attached directly to the center of the diaphragm. This, I understand, was done to enhance the sound box's treble response.

Now, just to add confusion to the mix, there was a special Orthophonic sound box used on Victor's less expensive 2-35 portable ( http://www.victor-victrola.com/2-35.htm ). That sound box was screwed to a round plate soldered to the small end of the tonearm. The sound box was not pot metal and all if its parts were press-fitted together, which means it cannot be repaired. This sound box will not fit a conventional Victor Orthophonic tonearm. In terms of sound quality, I can't give an opinion, because I've never come across one in good condition, although there are a few YouTube videos of the 2-35, and it seems to perform well.

HTH,
OrthoFan