The Victor-Victrola Page
CD-60-X
RARITY: ¤¤¤¤ VALUE: ¤¤¤
The
CD-60 was a larger verison of the single-turntable
CD-20 model. These demonstrator units were sold to Victor dealers for the
purpose of allowing customers to audition records before making a purchase. This
machine would have been placed on the dealer's countertop, and the customers
could listen to records of
their choice with a single-ear headphone "stalk" before buying. This allowed for
private listening, so as not to disturb others. The CD-60 would allow up to 4
listeners to audition two different records (two listeners per record), and provided electrical playback of recordings.
Four headphones were supplied
with the unit. There was no amplification needed; the voltage output of the
electrical pickup was sufficient to provide enough signal to drive the high-impedance headphones with surprisingly
strong volume. The cabinet was made of
mahogany, and air ventilation ports were used all around to cool the motor. The
CD-60 was introduced in the summer of 1927 and it was produced into the early
1930's, after RCA had purchased Victor. Approximately 500 examples of this model
were produced, making it a scarce find today.
The original 1927 selling price (dealers only) was
$87.00, which equates to almost $1,300.00 in today's money. In the early
1930's, "update kits" were offered to enhance the performance of these sets,
which included improved tonearms and headphones. The example on the left has the
updated RCA-built tonearms.
No detailed correlation of serial numbers to date of
manufacture has yet been determined.
The current survival database shows the earliest existent CD-60 to be s/n 515 and the latest to be s/n 1010
Do you own a Victor CD-60? Please take a moment and enter some basic information about your machine into the collector's database by clicking here. No personal information is required.