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From the February 1926 edition of The Voice of the Victor.

Notice the warning about telling the customer not to try to install the Orthophonic soundbox on an old-style Victrola. I suspect that many diaphragms could have been punctured by curious owners. This is likely the reason for the three-armed guard found in the throat of some of the Orthophonic soundboxes. The earliest ones have no guard and no phase-plug.

Are these postings of interest?

Mark

Very interesting! Reminds me of the owner's manual for my 1912 Overland. In the ignition system chapter it states, "Don't monkey with the magneto."

"The sound box will perform with satisfaction for an indefinite period if it is not subjected to abuse." Or normal atmospheric conditions inimical to pot metal.

We all have tampered with ortho soundboxes... Victor Co. would condemn us tinkerers...!!

Guilty as charged; I'll tamper with whatever. I did try sticking an Orthophonic from a VV 2-65 onto a regular Victrola but that didn't work too well, of course.

If the Victor folks had been thinking to make a few sales they should have advertised the Victrola No. 4 more heavily as an update to older machines--but I think they wanted to convince people to buy new models instead. The question is, was this planned obsolescence on the part of the Victor designers?

I tried a Meltrope III soundbox on a HMV style III hornless tabletop (similar to Victrola VI) ande it sounds fabulous...!

Inigo wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 2:26 am I tried a Meltrope III soundbox on a HMV style III hornless tabletop (similar to Victrola VI) ande it sounds fabulous...!

Thanks for the tip; I might have to eventually find and restore one so I can experiment with it on some of the older ones. My Victor machines at this point are all old models and I do not own an Orthophonic. I have a Viva-Tonal portable and a Panatrope console but no Orthophonic machines at this time. It would be interesting to push the envelope a bit and see what I can get out of old machines like my very average upright Victrola.

Of course, the exponential horn is missing, but the ortho-style soundbox makes it sound deeper, and eliminates the harsh ringing tone of the exhibition. I found Meltrope III better for this medium size horn of the Victrola VI than three HMV 5A, which seems a bit too powerful. In the other hand, the 5A gives a more brilliant sound than the Meltrope, especially in the high treble. I am talking about playing electrical 78s. Definitely, the trick makes much more pleasant to play electrical 78s in an old style machine. I also tried the HMV no4, and although this was an improvement over the exhibition, the sound is only half as good as using one later soundbox with the metal diaphragm, especially in the brilliance of tone.