The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I just spotted this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-iX4Oun1J0

An empty 9-54 cabinet turned into an acoustic Orthophonic Victrola. Far better than using it as an armoire. I think it sounds pretty good too.

OrthoFan

I'm glad someone appreciates my madness. The 9-54 is one of my favorites and I'm happy I could give it a new lease on life!

Wow! That is pretty KOOL!!! Do you have another speaker grille by any chance? Cheers, Russie

victrolaguy88 wrote:I'm glad someone appreciates my madness. The 9-54 is one of my favorites and I'm happy I could give it a new lease on life!

It is quite a nice job that you've done

I've been looking for an RE-154 for years, as I like the design that cabinet, don't care for record changers in general, and very much like the sound of the Victor Micro-Synchronous sets.

Victrolaguy88, did you put a real ortho horn in it, or what? The youtube description implies something home-made...and I just can't see how anyone could properly pull that off.

...personally custom built a large bifurcated wooden horn

An orthophonic horn is not just split into two parts; there is much more to it.

I have a loose and complete ortho horn, of the smaller size, that I would contribute. What are the dimensions of the space?

A couple more questions:
How didja get the other door to be an opening door?
Is it a changer also?
Whadidja do about the radio opening?
Cheers, Nosy Russie

Yup, it looks like we need a full expose' - so get those pictures rolling!

Thank you everyone for all the comments. I'm glad there is such interest in this. Tomorrow I will take a video of it playing a 78RPM record. The upper part of the cabinet is all still rough with everything exposed so everyone can see what I did. I'll also remove the grilles to view the horn I built!

OK. Here is a crude video of the 9-54 playing a 78. The upper portion of the Victrola is not finished by any means but in it's current state allows you to see the configuration of the horn and bluetooth speaker. I also have removed the grilles so that the lower portion of the horn can be seen.

The area for the horn is only about 29" wide by 10.5" tall and 17" deep so unfortunately as I found out, I was not able to retrofit an orthophonic horn from another machine, so I made my first attempt at making my own. The dummy door on the left side of the machine was held in place with dowels that I cut and then I switched the opening direction of the door so that both open outwards for better sound projection when both doors are open.

https://youtu.be/yRbLL_PWe20

In spite of the modifications you had to make to the horn chamber's exponential taper, it works surprisingly well!


OrthoFan