VV 2-65
The
VV 2-65 was not a Victor Talking Machine product, as it was introduced in
1931, a few years after RCA had purchased Victor and taken control of the
company. However, many of the design concepts for this suitcase-style portable
phonograph had been initiated by Victor, and it is considered to be an
incremental advancement of Victor's immensely popular
VV 2-55 phonograph. Like the 2-55, it came with a single spring motor and
gold hardware, as well as an Orthophonic soundbox and a 'shaped' horn chamber
inside the cabinet. Sound
then radiated from the rear opening behind the turntable and was reflected
off the lid toward the listener. Therefore, the lid had to be open in order to
play records. A slot was provided in the lid to store a few records. Given the low price tag for this machine
(during the extremely challenging times during The Depression) many buyers
used these models as their primary home phonograph, rather than shelling out
hundreds of dollars on an expensive floor model Electrola. However, due to the
ballooning unemployment levels at that time, sales were down about 95% from the
peak period of phonograph sales in 1928-1929.
The 2-65 was still considered to be a moderate success, especially given the
magnitude of the economic downturn at that time. Approximately 23,000 were produced into the
mid-1930's. Variations on this
design were used on many portable phonographs, even into the early 1950's.
The original 1931 selling price of the 2-65 was $35.00, which equates to about
$770.00 in today's money.
Approximate chronology of Victrola "Suitcase" portable models
| 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 | 1927 | 1928 | 1929 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Economy Model | VV-35 | VV-35 | VV-35 / VV 1-6 | VV 1-6 / VV 2-30 | VV 2-30 / VV 2-35 | VV 2-35 | |||
| Premium Model | VV-50 | VV-50 | VV-50 | VV-50 | VV-50 | VV-50 / VV 1-5 | VV 1-5 / VV 2-60 | VV 2-60 / VV 2-55 | VV 2-55 |
The current survival database shows the earliest existent VV 2-65 to be S/N 852 and the latest to be S/N 22520.
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