VV-VIII

VV-VIII

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The VV-VIII or Victrola the Eighth was a very popular tabletop phonograph; it was the lowest-priced Victrola model with a closeable lid. The concept of a 'tabletop' Victrola started with the failed VV-XII model in 1909. They had the right idea for this type of small Victrola, but the horn opening was too small and the machine was too expensive. Subsequent tabletop models launched in 1910 included the VV-X and VV-XI, which had much better performance, but were still expensive for the average household. So in the summer of 1911, the VV-IX and VV-VIII models were introduced to appeal to buyers with modest budgets. Even though the VV-VIII was a basic 'no-frills' phonograph, it featured a well-crafted oak veneer cabinet, nickel plated hardware, a two-spring motor, a 10" turntable, and Victor's Exhibition Soundbox. Along with nearly all of the other newly-introduced models, sales of the VIII were strong from the start. Production of the VIII ran for more than 13 years, which was certainly a tribute to its success. The earliest VV-VIII machines (left) used simple wood baffles to direct the sound from the tonearm base to the closely-spaced front horn-opening 'slats'; closable 'tone doors' were used to control the sound volume. It was not until 1913 that an actual horn assembly (consisting of a cast iron elbow and wood horn mouth) was used internally to improve the sound volume. While many of the VIII's design features evolved over the years (see breakdown below), it remained about the same in form and function as when it was when first introduced. Picture at right shows a later-vintage model. The VV-VIII was available only in oak, but a wide variety of stain colors were offered. Incremental suffix letters following the serial number represent small design changes. The original 1911 selling price was $40.00, which equates to approximately $1,400.00 in today's money. By the time it was discontinued in 1924, the list price had risen to $50.00. Based on factory documentation, a total of just over 185,500 Victrola VIII models were produced; however, based on serial numbers of surviving examples, at least 230,000 were ultimately made. Production of the VIII was terminated in the spring of 1924. As with many other Victrola models, the VIII was a success for the company; but when sales of Victrolas began to slow in favor of radio, Victor failed to respond to the market changes by slowing their production rate. Therefore, in spite of lagging sales, many thousands of these machines continued to come off the assembly line, and the large network of dealers and distributors began bursting at the seams with unsold Victrolas. Due to this massive overproduction, it is likely that many late-production VV-VIII models were shipped to markets in Latin America, or sold during the company's 'half-price' sale during the summer of 1925. Very late production models (after s/n 195,000) may use unique suffix letters to indicate a machine intended for export. Interestingly, the majority of surviving (logged) VIII models after serial number 180,000 are now located in Central or South America. For more information on Victor's financial crisis of 1924-1925 and the overproduction of phonographs, please click here. Due to the large volume that were originally produced, the VV-VIII (and many similar low-cost Victrola models) are typically ignored by collectors today, unless in exceptional original condition. They are simply too basic in design, and far too many were produced to be considered 'collectible' in the current market.

* Note: the "A" designator after the model indicates a revised motor design. The A was later dropped from the dataplate, but the improved motor remained.

The survival database currently shows the earliest existent VV-VIII to be S/N 555 and the latest to be S/N 231902.

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