The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Is there any reason to get excited about this?

Only if it excites "YOU". Otherwise, just another run of the mill "off brand" machine.... .$400 price tag is wishful thinking for a plain Jane machine.

It takes a lot more than that to excite me.. Just curious. Hadn't seen one before, but $400 seems extremely high.

I would say it really depends on what hardware / motor is in it, what kind of condition, and how far you have to go to get it....


It looks similar in terms of hardware and features to "independent" brand machines such as Silvertone, although the tone-arm tube looks different than what is in my Silvertone.

Speaking for myself, that grille is neat - I like the design of the overlapping circles... but it looks like there's a chip out of the face veneer towards the right side of the grille.

I think $400 is lofty.

Perhaps, since it IS a "Meteor", the price will come down ?

The Meteor talking machines are an excellent example of a company, specialized in a "non musical" product line, jumping onto the Victrola clone bandwagon in order to make a few bucks.

In the case of Meteor, the specialty was rather unique: http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/m/meteor/meteor.htm


I've often wondered if the company's incentive or original intention was to market their phonographs to funeral parlors? Possible slogans:

"A funeral isn't a funeral without a Meteor!"

"Make your next funeral a memorable occasion with the Meteor!"

"The Meteor puts the "fun" in "funeral!"

For that kind of money, you can get a decent Victrola. They are better made without the pot metal issues. Unless of course, it's an Orthophonic. Parts are easier to get for Victrolas than these off-brand machines.
Harvey Kravitz

I agree with Joe_DS - the company history is better than the machine. They aren't terrible, but for $400 you could get a much better machine.

Phonofreak wrote:For that kind of money, you can get a decent Victrola. They are better made without the pot metal issues. Unless of course, it's an Orthophonic. Parts are easier to get for Victrolas than these off-brand machines.
Harvey Kravitz

No interest in buying. I just hadn't seen this particular manufacturer before. Good looking machine, but I agree that the price is way to much for an "off brand".

Scott wrote: Good looking machine, but I agree that the price is way to much for an "off brand".

Some "off brand" machines could be well worth $400, but we all seem to agree that it isn't this one.

The Antique Phonograph Society has just posted a wonderful article on "off brand" talking machines here:

http://www.antiquephono.org/brand-talki ... j-wakeman/

If you haven't read the introductory paragraphs in this article, they're well worth noting.

George P.