The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Another off-brand machine. Academy #2, sort of looks like an oak Victor table-top machine in many ways.

Academy was the brand name of the Johnson Talking Machine Company of Liverpool and Birmingham (UK). There was no connection with Eldridge R Johnson's Victor company.

The machines were technically unremarkable, using bought in components, but they sold well in the low to medium price range and survive in reasonable numbers.

Looks like a nice phonograph, how is the sound? Comparable to a Victor?

Some of their machines actually had a large A in the fretwork over the horn.

The company's origins can be traced back to well before the First World War.

Here is a postcard sent to a prospective customer in February 1906.