Please help ID this HMV

[mf77]

I bought this HMV Re-entrant style radiogram cabinet on ebay today, and I am hoping someone here can tell me the model number.
I'm guessing it dates from 1929-30 (or maybe 1931), as it seems the 1931-33 period models that I'm aware of, like the 523, 531, 521, 258 etc, no longer had cabinet doors.
The auction description didn't state the size of this cabinet & I don't pick it up until Saturday, but to me it appears to be of similar dimensions to the 193/4 Re-entrants or at least larger than the 163, which would make it one of HMV's mid to high range models?

I'd really like to start hunting for parts to restore this one, but don't even know whether it had a changer or manually operated record player (or the option to have either), so if anyone can help shed some light on this, I would greatly appreciate it.

[gregbogantz]

That's a Victor RE-45 radio/phono (radiogram) cabinet from 1929. It was all-electronic, not acoustic. These were quite popular in the USA. These "micro-synchronous" tuners and amplifiers were the last of the Victor-branded and Victor-designed products. RCA purchased Victor Talking Machine Company in 1929 and subsequent equipment was designed and manufactured by RCA. The loudspeaker that was used with these 1929 models (R-32 and R-52 radios and RE-45 and RE-75 Radiola/Electrolas) were unique to that model year and were among the best sounding speakers that were to be heard in US-made products of the time. The later RCA models used a crappier speaker that was no match for the 1929 models. If you are interested, you can fairly easily find the two chassis (tuner and power amp were separate) and other components in the USA to restore this cabinet to its original equipment. The record player was a single-play type, not a record changer. Attached are two pictures. You should be able to Google the Victor RE-45 model number and see more photos of what it originally looked like when complete. They show up on eBay fairly often.

[mf77]

Thank you so much Greg. That is great information, and I'm very pleased the parts to complete it aren't impossible to find.
I am a little surprised this is an American Victor machine as it has the Hayes, Middlesex decal under the lid, but it just goes to show that even this late, the Gramophone Co were still importing from Victor and selling them under the HMV name. I imagine the tuner dial would have also been branded "His Masters Voice".

Thanks again for your help Greg.

[gregbogantz]

Yes, mf77, yours seems to be a machine made for sale in the UK rather than an import from the USA as evidenced by the Hayes logo on the lid. Attached is a photo of the logo used on the lid of the RE-45 in the USA. Note that this quotes the transitional company name of "Radio-Victor Corporation of America" that the Victor division used for a short while after the RCA purchase of Victor Talking Machine Co. in 1929.

It would be interesting to know if the chassis were different between the UK and USA versions of this set. Yours is the first UK example of this set that I've seen. The US version, of course, received only the single AM broadcast band of 550 to 1500 kHz which is now about the equivalent of your "middle wave" frequency band. I don't know what band or bands of frequencies were commonly found on radios in the UK in 1929, but the UK version might have had more than one band. Also, the US version was designed for only 120 volts mains power input with a single primary winding, so a different power transformer would have had to be furnished for the UK version as well as a different phono motor voltage.

[mf77]

Yes, it would be interesting to see just what the differences were between the two.
I knew the transformer and phono motor would have to be rated for 240V, but I never stopped to think the frequencies for the radio may have been different.
ATM, my plan is to buy everything I need from USA, because I'm extremely doubtful that I'll ever find the UK version of everything.
I've got a 50-60 year old step-down transformer here that came with an old Kodak projector I bought, so I will mount that in the bottom of the cabinet as it wont look too out of place, and I'll run the US Victor components with that.
If by some miracle I do eventually find the UK parts, I can swap everything over and remove the step down trans.
Actually, I'd be happy to just see another UK RE-45 so I could check whether The Gramophone Co used some sort of data plate on these like the Victor's did, and to see exactly what the tuner dial was like, so I could have a reproduction screen printed.