I have a Victor Special, Model K which is the for runner of the M and
considerably rarer. There was also a model L made. According to one person
I talked to the K was the prototype machine. He also told me that these
machines were primarily made for Victor dealers. They were battery operated
because large portions of the country still did not have electric power when
they were made. The machines were used to demonstrate new record releases
and were usually set up on a small table in the middle of the store. There
are a couple of places where a sign could be added to the machine. I think
this was to announce the record that was being featured that week.
The phonograph was designed by John Vassos, a noted industrial designer
of the period. It has a 3 tube amplifier and a 4 or 5" speaker. It
operates with 2 batteries, a 90 volt and a 1.5 volt. The original battery
is no longer available so I took 10 nine volt batteries and connected them
in series and a 1.5 volt D cell to run the amplifier. My amplifier has
been rebuilt and has new tubes so the phonograph plays amazingly loudly and
the tone is pretty good considering the size of the speaker. I have not had
the electric reproducer rebuilt. I don't know the production figures on
these machines but if they were only made for Victor dealers I'm sure it is
pretty low. If anyone has additional information about these machines I
would like to know. I'm told that Bob Baumbach know something of the
history of them, but there is no reference to them in any of his books.
RMV
----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2004 1:00 PM
Subject: Phono-l Digest, Vol 3, Issue 61
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> Today's Topics:
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> 1. Re: Newsgroup (Loran T. Hughes)
> 2. Re: Newsgroup (albert)
> 3. Re: Newsgroup (Peter Fraser)
> 4. Re: Newsgroup (Loran T. Hughes)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 17:48:03 -0800
> From: Loran T. Hughes <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Newsgroup
> To: Antique Phonograph List <[email protected]>
> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
> I think the group has been incredibly quite for the past few days.
>
> Loran
>
> On Mar 24, 2004, at 9:56 AM, [email protected] wrote:
>
> > I am no longer receiving your news group. Any idea how come? Barry
> > Napshin
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 18:49:34 -0800
> From: "albert" <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Newsgroup
> To: "Antique Phonograph List" <[email protected]>
> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> There is a killer Victrola Special M on ebay right now. Wish I could
afford
> it. I saw one up close, and it is undoubtedly the most beautiful portable
> phonograph ever made. I am curious though how they sound. My electrola
has
> an acoustic reproducer with an electric turntable. The Special M is just
> the opposite. A spring motor with electrical reproduction. Anybody have
> one of these, would be interesting to hear some comments.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Loran T. Hughes" <[email protected]>
> To: "Antique Phonograph List" <[email protected]>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2004 5:48 PM
> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Newsgroup
>
>
> > I think the group has been incredibly quite for the past few days.
> >
> > Loran
> >
> > On Mar 24, 2004, at 9:56 AM, [email protected] wrote:
> >
> > > I am no longer receiving your news group. Any idea how come? Barry
> > > Napshin
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Phono-l mailing list
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>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 19:36:34 -0800
> From: Peter Fraser <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Newsgroup
> To: Antique Phonograph List <[email protected]>
> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
> quiet, too.
>
> On Mar 24, 2004, at 5:48 PM, Loran T. Hughes wrote:
>
> > I think the group has been incredibly quite for the past few days.
> >
> > Loran
> >
> > On Mar 24, 2004, at 9:56 AM, [email protected] wrote:
> >
> >> I am no longer receiving your news group. Any idea how come? Barry
> >> Napshin
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Phono-l mailing list
> >> [email protected]
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> >>
> >>
> >
> >
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 19:54:02 -0800
> From: Loran T. Hughes <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Newsgroup
> To: Antique Phonograph List <[email protected]>
> Message-ID: <[email protected]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
> ... quite quiet ;)
> Loran
>
> On Mar 24, 2004, at 7:36 PM, Peter Fraser wrote:
>
> > quiet, too.
> >
> > On Mar 24, 2004, at 5:48 PM, Loran T. Hughes wrote:
> >
> >> I think the group has been incredibly quite for the past few days.
> >>
> >> Loran
> >>
> >> On Mar 24, 2004, at 9:56 AM, [email protected] wrote:
> >>
> >>> I am no longer receiving your news group. Any idea how come?
> >>> Barry Napshin
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
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> End of Phono-l Digest, Vol 3, Issue 61
> **************************************
