"Tonalic" Sonora on Ebay: Credenza clone?

[richardh]

That Kimball has a really nice cabinet...personally I think it looks nicer than the Credenza itself.

Is Kimball a well known make in the US? I haven't ever heard of it before...seeing that folded horn through the grill make this a very handsome looking machine...I wonder how it sounds.

RJ

[1926CredenzaOwner]

!

[OrthoFan]

That Kimball has a really nice cabinet...personally I think it looks nicer than the Credenza itself.

Is Kimball a well known make in the US? I haven't ever heard of it before...seeing that folded horn through the grill make this a very handsome looking machine...I wonder how it sounds.

RJ

I believe that's the same company that made pianos and organs -- http://www.kimball.com/discoverKimball/ ... imball.htm

As with other musical instrument manufactures, Kimball jumped on the bandwagon and began manufacturing phonographs when the key patents began to expire, starting in the teens -- SEE: http://www.gracyk.com/makers.shtml (They are # 112 on the list.)

I've seen a few Kimball phonographs from the early 1920s -- very conventional looking off-brand Victrola clones -- but never one designed to emulate the Victor Credenza. It does look like some type of folded horn was installed in the cabinet, though probably not designed by Western Electric.

[phonophan79]

...and the Kimball has an electric motor. I wonder what those two knobs are at the bottom of the picture. Speed adjustment and...?

[richardh]

...and the Kimball has an electric motor. I wonder what those two knobs are at the bottom of the picture. Speed adjustment and...?

...on / off?

RJ

[phonophan79]

...and the Kimball has an electric motor. I wonder what those two knobs are at the bottom of the picture. Speed adjustment and...?

...on / off?

RJ

Hrmm, maybe... any electric motor I've seen the on / off was the lever coming out from the bottom right of the turntable.

[OrthoFan]

An electric motor? This looks like a crank handle:

Crank.JPG (31.24 KiB) Viewed 2800 times

[phonophan79]

An electric motor? This looks like a crank handle.

Oops! Indeed. Well, this is what I meant. What are these?

[OrthoFan]

I'm a bit confused by the knobs too, since, as noted, it does look like it has a crank sticking out of the side. One would probably be for speed control, but I can't see the settings on either to tell what the other might be. (Hooked up to some type of mechanical volume control device?)

This is quite a rare item, and while I personally think $5K, sans records--in TODAY's economy--is a bit much, it's really hard to say, for sure, since I've never seen another come up for sale.

Has anyone been in touch with the seller?

[estott]

It COULD be a mechanical volume control- that was the gimmick in earlier Kimballs, there were movable panels inside the horn.