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I am not sure if anyone saw this, but Rolling Stone Magazine briefly elaborated on the Victor Orthophonic.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictu ... 25-0570214

I have always wondered why it seems the Orthophonic was so short lived (1925-1930). In that short time only a handful of models were produced. I think it was just at the cusp, before the introduction of the Electric pick-up, and the onset of the great depression. I think the depression caused alot of people to continue to use the older style Victrola, for many it was if it works and plays why buy a new one.

I think the driving force for new Orthophonics was that they were purchased by wealthier urban residents, and the those that were younger would want the newest and the biggest thing, as today the iphone is the new thing, and then it was Orthophonic.

Like many of us agree, only a handful of collectors can really have the opportunity to appreciate the full Orthophonic experience. Personally, I do not have the room or a floor that would support a Credenza, but for those that are privileged to own one, with a restored soundbox, motor and cabinet, they are FANTASTIC!

The large gramophones designed to extract the best from the early electric records were a victim of the depression. People just couldn't afford these big machines and records, when Radio was free entertainment.

"Personally, I do not have the room or a floor that would support a Credenza, but for those that are privileged to own one, with a restored soundbox, motor and cabinet, they are FANTASTIC!"


I don't know what your lodgings are, but a Credenza ( minus the record albums ) shouldn't overtax any floor capable of supporting a couple of fully-grown humans...

Certainly not like the load imposed by an upright or player-piano...

To comment on your original question, I think the acoustic Orthophonic had a relatively short life in this country (USA) for a combination of economic and technological reasons.


The expense of the big machines, like the 8-12 and Credenza and related machines, and the stock market crash and Depression were certainly a factor, but the other big factor was the fairly rapid development of affordable and practical / reliable electronic sound reproduction.

Victor's ( and Bell Lab's) "Orthophonic" phonograph was probably the single biggest advancement in phonograph technology in nearly 20 years ( since the birth of the internal horn Victrola in 1906 ). During the intervening years, most talking machines were just subtle variations on the same theme.

By the same token, Radio as a home entertainment medium began to take hold around 1922, and by 1930 was very firmly established. All the electronics necessary for quality record play-back were pretty-much already developed and present in a radio set. With the development of the paper-cone electromagnetic loudspeaker, bulky complex (expensive to build) tone chambers were no longer necessary.

AND, by 1929, Victor Talking Machine (as it were) had ceased to exist, and Radio Corporation of America was running the show, so electronics were definitely here to stay...

Large Orthophonics are STILL impressive machines, and those of us with limited electronic abilities tend to prefer playing with acoustic talking machines over those mysterious radio devices.

When I was referring to my floor not supporting a Credenza, I was under the impression a Credenza weighed over 200 lbs. Not sure if my thin modern floor can handle it. I moved old heavy Price and Teeple Piano in and after a few years it bowed my floor.

If it were loaded-up with a full complement of record folios, I bet it would push 300 lbs...

I don't know how much a record-less one weighs... Victor-Victrola Page does not list a weight in its Credenza article.


When I brought my two-door Credenza home, it felt noticeably lighter than the GE Monitor-Top refrigerators I've been dragging-home...

Also not sure how to try to weigh mine... maybe take it up to Agway and put it on the feed scale...

Victor Data Book sez an 8-30 is 183 pounds, which seems about right to me. Paul Whiteman (in 1926) or a loaded record cabinet would weight a lot more.

ps - VDB has weights for just a few models, mostly later ones. The heftiest I see so far = Automatic Electrola Radiola 9-55, @ 393lbs. I'd bet that the shipping crate made it top 500 !

Actually, 183 pounds is not bad for a Orthophonic.

Now all you have to do is get the surface area of the bottoms of the four muffins under the Credenza, and calculate the distributed load. I just tilted mine back and it looks like they're about 2" across. There are little metal buttons under those too, maybe 1" diameter. if you're on a uncarpeted floor you use that dimension, but if there's carpet you might get benefit from the extra width above the button.

So the worst case is 183 pounds divided across four 1" diameter buttons (which, nicely, are about 0.78 sq in surface area). 183 / 4 = 45.75 pounds, and 45.78 pounds / 0.78 sq in = 58.65 psi.

Now let's hope most of us weigh somewhere near 183 pounds as well. And that our feet aren't too big. My size 9 birkinstock just measured out to about 11" long by 4" wide at its widest point, or 44 square inches if rounded up to a rectangle...so let's say 35 sq in. Thus, walking around, we exert pressure of 183 / 2 = 91.5# and 91.5 / 35 = 2.61 psi when standing still on both feet. Or 5.23 psi when imitating a flamingo.

But your Credenza is a static load. It doesn't hop around or jump up and down, like you, a dynamic load. So all bets are off anyway, math notwithstanding.

<pause>

So I wrote all that stuff above, then went surfing for building code standards for residential floors...and came up with this killer article. It's aimed at aquarium people, with whom I never realized we phono people have so much in common.

(Even more so when playing Shep Fields records on the Credenza, but I digress.)

It also effectively debunks my attempted science up above. Check this out:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/a ... weight.php

Long story short: get your Credenza!

And if Victor had to pay patent licensing royalties on the Orthophonic machines (due to use of such things as the exponential horn design that Western Electric developed) as they had to pay for each record sold whose masters were recorded with the Western Electric recording equipment, it's no surprise at all that RCA wanted to push its in-house-developed Electrolas into the marketplace and leave the Orthophonics behind. (And that's also why RCA began developing its own recording gear that was phased in starting in 1931, and why as far back as 1929 Alan Blumlein in England was commissioned to develop new recording technology at Columbia and later at EMI after the merger with HMV and Lindstrom aka Parlophone.)