The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I received a PM requesting that I post some photos of my VT 800. So here they are. I picked this one up about 8 years ago. It was a challenge to get it down the steps from a 2nd floor apartment. I manned the 2 wheeled hand truck and 2 big guys helped.

The original wax sealing the horn joints had become loose or had fallen off, so I used clay cord weatherstrip and tube caulk to reseal it. Performance improved significantly.

Super Nice Machine!
Looks like one of my Credenzas on steroids.
Best of collecting luck!
Gene

Wow AZ! You really hit it out of the ball park on that one!!! Walnut can look great! That's one of the most awesome looking phonographs I've ever seen! And I'm about to become the proud owner of an 800 too! I knew I kind of liked the 800, but never knew it could look like that! Where are you located? I'm in So. Calif. Marc.

Has the machine perhaps been refinished.. The 800 I had at one time had painted flowers in the rectangular small panel on the front above the horn?

I agree that they are extremely heavy, I bought mine home on top of a volvo and it dented in the top a bit.. The sound after replacing the gasket material was great to me. The only thing about it I found problematic was that due to them using the flat side of the machine as part of the horn design it was noticeably better sounding to one side than the other when sitting in front of it. The credenza avoided that problem with the way their horn was made. However the sound was very fine and I have read that some critics found it better than the victor models.

marcapra wrote:Wow AZ! You really hit it out of the ball park on that one!!! Walnut can look great! That's one of the most awesome looking phonographs I've ever seen! And I'm about to become the proud owner of an 800 too! I knew I kind of liked the 800, but never knew it could look like that! Where are you located? I'm in So. Calif. Marc.

I hope you enjoy it. I'm in Arizona.

larryh wrote:Has the machine perhaps been refinished.. The 800 I had at one time had painted flowers in the rectangular small panel on the front above the horn?

Finish is original. The one with the painted flowers is the model 810, which is the same basic cabinet with additional flourishes.

Another difference is that the fancy version, or 810, is made of mahogany, rather that walnut. Another way to tell an 810 from an 800 Viva-Tonal is that an 800 has a rectangular design at the top, where an 810 has a semi circle at each end of the rectangle. And the 810 has the fish like motifs at the bottom painted green. I have heard from some collectors that the less fancy 800 is the more rare of the two models.

AZ, I particularly like the job you did on the grille cloth. It looks totally authentic, unlike some other grille cloths I've seen! Can you tell me what type of grille cloth that is and where you got it? Marc.