Victrola 1-5 Portable

[JerryVan]

I noticed a little Victor portable on ebay the other day. I'm usually not interested much in portables, but it had an enticing buy-it-now price AND a very nice, all brass, #4 reproducer, which I wanted for my 1-70. It arrived last Friday. What a neat little machine! I guess I had never seen or heard of a 1-5 before. Even though the reproducer has some cracks the diaphragm, it sounds great! I really like this little thing. It looks better in person than in the photos. Now I haven't go the heart to harvest its #4 reproducer. Anyone else have any experiences, history or knowledge of the 1-5?

eBay photos:

[EdiBrunsVic]

I once owned a VV 1-6 which is very similar to the 1-5. They were made in about 1926.

[52089]

The Victor-Victrola site has little to say about this model:

http://www.victor-victrola.com/1-5.htm

[OrthoFan]

I used to have a VV-1-5 and it is an excellent little portable. The one I had was equipped with an all-brass #4 sound box--both the front and back plate. In terms of performance, it's similar to the HMV 101.

It's well worth keeping and restoring.

This gives you an idea of the sound quality -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccz4vllyMsU

OrthoFan