Victor M With Wrong Back Bracket and Tonearm ?

[JerryVan]

Photos of my M with an Exhibition and with a Concert. Note, this is my M, showing my point of reference and indicating why I suggested what I did regarding proper reproducers for an M.

[Raphael]

I’m not speaking for Grant here, or any other eBay seller that “refuses” to ship internationally. There are numerous reasons: eBay, the difficulty of shipping internationally, and not least of all that it opens a seller up to every conceivable scam artist from Argentina to Zanzibar. COVID hasn’t helped, either, with all sorts of delays. I’ve been shipping internationally since the early 1970’s (in an earlier life I supplied spare parts to seagoing vessels) and one thing I can say is that it never gets easier. So, while I’m able to do it, I can fully understand the reluctance of others to get involved.

Raphael

[Fonotone]

Thanks, I did contact the seller, after the fact, I doubt I'll hear from him, but if I do, I'll post what he said.

Why wouldn’t you expect to hear from him? He’s been selling on eBay for 25 years, has an unblemished record, and is known all over the world as a reputable, responsible seller. Even though emails travel at the speed of light, humans don’t and we all need to keep that in mind when it comes to eliciting responses.

Raphael

Correcting the alignment pin will make that problem even worse and raise the U-Tube even more, this will even create a new problem where the sound will have a very small area to flow as the higher the Y-Tube becomes in relation to the tonearm.

Jeff,

As far as I know, the performance of the phonograph will not be hindered if the position of the U-tube is moved up (or down) slightly with respect to the tonearm. That is going to happen naturally anyhow as a record plays. Yes, the U-tube will be more in line with the tonearm if you install a smaller diameter Concert reproducer, but -- again, as far as I know -- later Monarchs with native rear mounts were intended to be used with Exhibition reproducers, and their tonearms can properly accommodate them.

As for sound, if you remove the U-tube from a Taper Arm tonearm, you'll see that the hole on the U-tube, where the U-tube connects to the tonearm and through which sound passes, is larger than the hole at the end of the tonearm. That's by design, so the aperture will not be reduced if the U-tube moves either up or down (slightly) as a record is playing.

Changing the tracking angle of the reproducer, particularly when there's a needle in the chuck, will in fact alter the position of the U-tube. As the reproducer is rotated counter-clockwise, the needle and chuck -- because they protrude from the perimeter of the reproducer -- will act as a lever. As the position of the U-tube changes with respect to the turntable, so too (though to a much lesser degree) will the position of the tonearm with respect to the turntable, since there's typically some slack in the lower spring bearing that supports the tonearm's elbow where the arm is joined to the back-bracket.

I did understand your concern as you expressed it both here on the forum and in the messages you sent to me through ebay, but there is no problem with the tonearm, there is no problem with the U-tube, there is no problem with the type of reproducer, there is no problem with the back-bracket -- nor is there a problem with where the back-bracket is mounted on the rear of the case. The problem was with the tracking angle of the needle, and that problem was addressed when I replaced the flange.

As for shipping restrictions, I have no issues with shipping to Canada or any other country, but getting wood horn Victors outside of the USA is economically prohibitive for most customers. Unless you're Don Gfell and know how to make custom shipping barrels that conform to USPS size restrictions, the horns are too large to be shipped via USPS. Raphael does a lot of international business and he has for years. Consequently, he is able to negotiate favorable rates for his customers with couriers like Fedex. I am not able to negotiate rates that are as favorable, so I generally restrict the sale of wood horn machines to buyers in the USA. I'm happy to ship anything else (that can be shipped via USPS) internationally.

-- Grant

[Django]

I have attached an image of my Victor M. This machine is an all original survivor from the original family and has the correct, early Exhibition reproducer with the round hole. As you can see, the “U” tube is angled. Maybe Victor had designed the cabinet and hardware for the Concert reproducer and didn’t feel that a change was necessary when they went to the Exhibition reproducer. My Victor III uses the same tonearm and the “U” tube is straight when in use.

Here is the link to the auction.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/193637895900?h ... 7675.l2557

[JerryVan]

Maybe Victor had designed the cabinet and hardware for the Concert reproducer and didn’t feel that a change was necessary when they went to the Exhibition reproducer.

That sounds like a reasonable conclusion.