Looking for Silvertone Truphonic information

[edisonclassm]

I removed the motor board to take a look at the horn to see what kind of a design it might have and found it's nothing special. Just a straight horn made of wood as you can see. The motor is a two spring Heineman motor of quality that runs smooth as silk. There was a paper label om the motor board under the turntable showing the factory from which the phonograph came. The notation is abbreviated BP Co. I wonder if that stood for Brunswick Phonograph Co.? Any other suggestions?

[OrthoFan]

I remember seeing that very same horn for sale on eBay awhile back. While it looks like it doesn't have much of a taper, the inside of the horn was tapered very much like a Victor Consolette horn, though shunted slightly sideways. Whether this horn followed an exponential type curve is anyone's guess.

[Damfino59]

On page 482 of the 1932 Winter catalog it’s still listed at $25 or $4.50 down payment at $4 a month for $27.50.

https://archive.org/details/1932-winter ... 2/mode/1up

[edisonclassm]

It's amazing that they would discount this almost $15 between 1929 and 1932. That was a lot of money back then. They must've had an inventory buildup and had to move them out. I wonder what the 1930 and 1931 catalogs listed them at?

[OrthoFan]

It's amazing that they would discount this almost $15 between 1929 and 1932. That was a lot of money back then. They must've had an inventory buildup and had to move them out. I wonder what the 1930 and 1931 catalogs listed them at?

The 1930 catalog listed it for 39.85 --

Sears Spring & Summer 1930 -- Phonographs & Radios.pdf

(2.38 MiB) Downloaded 10 times

The complete 1930 Sears Spring & Summer catalog can be viewed here: https://christmas.musetechnical.com/

I would guess that over-production, coupled with the growing impact of the October 1929 stock market crash, caused the dramatic fall in the listed price in the 1932 catalog. Thrown into the mix is the fact that even by the late 1920s, more people were opting for radios for their musical entertainment, especially considering the fact that all the popular records issued by the major recording companies--RCA/Victor, Columbia, Brunswick, etc.--cost about one to two hours wages for two songs!

The Spring/Summer 1930 catalog would probably have been at the printers at the time of the crash, so prices would not have been impacted yet.

OrthoFan

[edisonclassm]

I wonder what year the Truphonics were introduced? I have seen a model that looked like the Victor Orthophonic credenza and figured they might have been introduced around 1927? Or 1928?

[OrthoFan]

I wonder what year the Truphonics were introduced? I have seen a model that looked like the Victor Orthophonic credenza and figured they might have been introduced around 1927? Or 1928?

As far as I know, they were introduced mid-to-late 1926. I know they were listed in the 1926/1927 Fall & Winter Catalog -- https://archive.org/details/catalog1926sear/mode/2up -- though the models seem to be a mix of the old style Silvertone phonographs and a few new Tru-Phonic models. That would be about right, since the older Silvertone models would still have been on sale when the Orthophonic & Viva-Tonal models his the market in November of 1925. Unfortunately I don't have access to the spring/Summer 1926 Sears Catalog to verify this.

OrthoFan

[OrthoFan]

I wonder what year the Truphonics were introduced? I have seen a model that looked like the Victor Orthophonic credenza and figured they might have been introduced around 1927? Or 1928?

As far as I know, they were introduced mid-to-late 1926. I know they were listed in the 1926/1927 Fall & Winter Catalog -- https://archive.org/details/catalog1926sear/mode/2up as the "Latest Development..."

-- though there also seems to be a mix of the old style Silvertone phonographs along with the Tru-Phonic models. That would be about right, since the older Silvertone models would still have been on sale when the Orthophonic & Viva-Tonal models hit the market in November of 1925. Unfortunately I don't have access to the spring/Summer 1926 Sears Catalog to verify this.

OrthoFan

[edisonclassm]

It amazes me how fast the cheaper knockoffs would appear after the big companies would introduce a new and successful technology. It takes an intensive effort to bring a new product to fruition and yet a couple of products were introduced by Sears shortly after Victor and Columbia introduced theirs. There must've been a lot of money to be made in the phonograph business.