In this article I wrote about my favorite phonographs. Every collector has their favorite pieces in their collection, this maybe the first piece they bought, a piece they just had to have or the one they cant seem to get their hands on. We all have our favorites, here are mine.
Victrola XVIII (18)
The Victrola XVIII was the most elegant non-custom phonograph made by the Victor Phonograph company. It was introduced in 1915. The Victrola XVII cabinet was fancy hand carved with finely detailed veneer. It had

The Victor -VVX (25) was also called the “School House Phonograph”. The Victor XXV was intended to be used in schoolhouses. This phonograph was build to withstand rough use and could be moved with ease. The Victor XXV was made of basic oak. A lockable lid was also included to prevent little hands from damaging the tone arm and turntable. The early Victor VVX phonographs had a non-removable lid. This was soon replaced with a more convenient lid that could be removed and hung from the back of the phonograph. …

Thomas Edison’s work on two other inventions, the telegraph and the telephone as a result of this the phonograph was invented. In 1877, Edison was working on a machine that would transcribe telegraphic messages through indentations on paper tape, which could later be sent over the telegraph repeatedly. This development led Edison to wonder if a telephone message could also be recorded in a similar fashion. He experimented with a diaphragm which had an embossing point and was held against quickly-moving paraffin (wax) paper.

The Edison opera was introduced in November 1911. This superior Edison phonograph was said to have given the best sound of any cylinder or disc machine. This phonograph had a horn-reproducer assembly which made it immobile. The cylinder would move under the stylus. This would produce very little mechanical noise. The reproducer was suspended over the cylinder record by its own output tube. This tube was held in the neck of the horn support by a knurled screw. To play a cylinder record you would just press one lever that …

In the ten years since the introduction of the Victrola , the company executives has noted with delight the gradual shift in public preference towards the more expensive offerings in their product line. Since the demise of the Victrola XX in 1909, the Victrola XVI, which sold for $200.00 (except for the special order instruments), was the top-of-the-line. In June of 1915 Victor recognized the apparent demand for expensive phonographs by introducing the Victrola XVIII.