Columbia Viva-Tonal Model 575

[kutyndall]

Hi all! I see that there may have been a thread on this same model around 5 years ago, but nothing before or since, and I can't find anything on the web... probably 15 years ago my husband and I bought this Columbia record player in Virginia just off the Blue Ridge Parkway - the gentleman in the shop told us it had come from an estate in Richmond VA. It's a Columbia model 575, in wonderful working condition. Wondering if anyone might have any information on this machine? The previous thread regarding seemed to be a bit baffled. I've attached a few photos. Thanks!

[JerryVan]

An interesting machine. What is in the compartment below? Record storage? Is the horn opening at the rear, just to the left of the tonearm?

[kutyndall]

Yes - the bottom is just record storage, and you're correct that the horn opening is next to the tonearm. We have no volume control except to close/open the lid so we often just prop it open slightly with something or it's quite loud.

[drh]

I wonder--any chance the "record storage" area once housed a radio, now long gone? It's odd for a cabinet machine like that to have a portable-style horn. Not that stranger things haven't happened!

[kutyndall]

I don't believe so, it really all looks original. I believe the other person that had one had the same layout. Photo attached!

[OrthoFan]

I'm wondering if that's the original tonearm and sound box (reproducer). From the back, the reproducer, especially, looks similar to those fitted to most US made portables starting in the mid to later 1930s.

OrthoFan

[Skihawx]

It was probably produced along the lines of a Victor VV 7-11. A portable phonograph in a console cabinet with a radio.

[OrthoFan]

It was probably produced along the lines of a Victor VV 7-11. A portable phonograph in a console cabinet with a radio.

Brunswick also offered a similar model with electric radio (and front speaker for the radio) and what amounted to the guts from a portable acoustic Panatrope installed in the record player compartment. It was fitted with the upward pointing horn mouth designed to reflect off the open lid, just like the Columbia 575 --

There was actually one offered for sale a number of years ago and it drew a few disdainful comments by members of this forum -- viewtopic.php?p=104655 I think it attracted little interest because the cabinet had been refinished to an ugly blonde color, coupled with the awkward the design... etc..

OrthoFan