The Fabulous VICTROLA "45" Collection

My first RCA Victor 45 record player was an RCA 9JY, the first 45 RPM phonograph attachment, really a stand-alone record changer having no amplifier but with an RCA jack that would plug into and use the amplifier of a TV or Radio - a phonojack.

Until that day when I met my good friend Roy, who I believe was one "the masters of repairing and restoring 45rpm players", particularly from RCA Victor, my interest in phonographs was centered around early Edison and Victor Talking Machines. Expecting that I could use my mechanical skills and limited electronics skills to bring this beauty back to life after its 50+ years of silence, I confidently bought a 9JY at the New England Antique Radio club show.

This was the beginning of my quest to restore at least one of each of the more than 55 models of the RCA Victor 45 RPM Victrola bakelite players that were produced from 1949-57 and found in many American homes during the 50's & 60's.  I reasoned that if I couldn't get one of every antique Edison phonograph, (nobody can) then surely I could find one of every RCA Victor 45 changers and players.  Wrong!

I have acquired and restored almost every one of the RCA Victor Table Model Phonographs 1949-57 listed in  'the bible', The Fabulous Victrola "45" by researcher, collector and author Phil Vourtsis. Phil's book is the most comprehensive work on the RCA Victor 45 rpm record players. Caution, if you read this book, you may become addicted to the RCA Victor Victrola 45 hobby!   A special thank you to Phil for the work he has done researching, publishing and marketing this valuable resource. 

Phil, who for many years was president of the New Jersey Antique Radio Club also produces "The 45rpm Phono Gazette" a must-have, bargain-priced, quarterly publication for anyone having a keen interest in this hobby.   Contact him at pvourtsis@optonline.net.

PhonoJack Victrola 45 Collection
Most of the RCA phonographs in the PhonoJack Victrola 45 Collection listed below have bakelite cabinets, use the then popular and still most reliable RP-168 or RP-190 record changers and have tube amplifiers. Once properly rebuilt, these machines will play reliably for another fifty years. 

Note when photos shown here are framed with a square box, if you click that photo you'll typically see a larger or alternative photo for a closer look.  Click on this model below.

The PhonoJack collection includes a variety of other private label versions of these RCA 45 phonographs from companies such as Motorola, Crescent, Crosley, Decca, Emerson, Montgomery Ward, Symphonic, TruTone, Tele-Tone, Victory, Voice of Music and Zenith.  In addition there are some then popular but now rare accessories.

The original term 'Victrola' was introduced by Victor Talking Machines in August 1906, a designation used when external wooden horns were put inside of the phonograph cabinet. Victor Talking Machine Company used the term Victrola on some phonographs after it had been acquired by RCA through 1930 when the company sold radio-enabled Victrolas, popularly known as the Electrola-Radiola and Radiola.  The Fabulous Victrola "45" book has a fabulous photograph of a working prototype of RCA's 45rpm record player that was created in 1942. That phonograph has the RCA Victrola logo, so the company must've planned to use the Victrola name on the "45" player from the outset.   RCA Victor later revived the Victrola product name in 1949 when it introduced record changers for its new 7-inch 45 rpm records. 

It's simply not true that RCA developed the 45 rpm format and player in response to Columbia's introducing the LP.  I don't believe the story as told by a former RCA employee who worked at Columbia that David Sarnoff yelled at his employees for failing to develop the LP and microgroove technology.
RCA had already developed and shelved this technology.

It's more likely that Sarnoff, Chairman at RCA would have been mad at himself for failing to launch the "45" earlier.  There were many obstacles that delayed RCA bringing this new format and product to market- World War II, the global economy, the technology, patent rights and new standards.     

Several friends and I have have monkeyed with researched, repaired and restored many of these RCA Victor 45 Victrolas. We've learned much about the engineering, manufacturing and marketing that created the 45 RPM record industry that pumped new life into the relatively quiet post-war (WW II) entertainment industry.  I've never met anyone who didn't smile upon seeing and hearing one of these machines operate.  ←Friend reading SAMS Photofact schematics.

If you spent countless hours during the fifties or sixties listening to 45 records and you haven't been running in phonograph circles lately, suddenly you're transported back in time the first time you hear that distinctive click of the reject button that turns on the RCA Victor 45 player.  Wait- the sound is too soft.  There it is. It's a tube amplifier not solid-state; it needs time to warm up. A few minutes later you detect the long forgotten smell of the electronics and the bakelite cabinet.  And you hear the distinctive sound of 45 rpm records played on RCA Victor Victrola "45" machines.

Heat-resistant bakelite was used because the tubes in the amplifier created too much heat.  The dark brown chocolate color of the bakelite cabinets restore beautifully.  The less common black bakelite cabinets shown in the photo to the right are also made of durable thermoset plastic that resists heat and flame, but gives off that 'hot electrical smell' when exposed to heat (amplifier tubes) for a long period of time.  Often you can detect the 'electrical' smell the heated components of the tube amplifier.  When restored properly, you should detect no musty or moldy odor that often comes from years of being stored in a dark or damp location.  

Many collectors that remember the sound of a 45 RPM record are surprised to hear the very high quality sound of these records when played today on modern or better quality restored 45 players.  That's probably because many of us were teenagers that didn't take care of the durable but 'scratchable' 45 record.  There is absolutely no doubt that a 45 rpm record will play as well as an LP 33.3 album. Some say the 45 rpm record actually produces better sound than an LP.  When I play a pristine 45 record on a restored/modified RP-190 record changer, with a magnetic cartridge through a pre-amp to a modern receiver, listeners are blown away at the richness and high quality sound. 

Just as there are several generations of audio technology in radios, amplifiers and recording media such wax, celluloid cylinder records and flat disc shellac and vinyl records, there are several generations of cartridges available for phonographs and turntables.  In RCA 45 rpm phonograph circles, the first generation of Victrola players were equipped with Rochelle Salt Piezoelectric cartridges. 

Almost all of these cartridges will have died by now; I have found only two original cartridges (from the dry desert climate of Arizona) that had any life.  In a rebuild, these must be replaced.  These cartridges produced about 500 mVolts or higher output, tracked poorly and will damage stereo records.  These cartridges can be rebuilt, but I recommend no, read on to learn why.   The plastic jar above holds hundreds of RCA and Voice of Music original cartridges.

Later,  RCA and other manufacturers introduced more forgiving, better output capable, low-cost ceramic cartridges.  These provide adequate signal response for most of the RCA bakelite series of phonographs described here.   My choice for replacing these types of cartridges come from Chuo Denshi (CZ 680 & CZ 800) and Pfanstiehl (P-187D 188D and P-190).

If you want the very best sound which RCA's low cost, highly reliable RP-168 and RP-190 can produce, these players can be upgraded by installing the much better 'moving magnet' cartridge which has a more responsive stylus and does a better job converting the vibration of the stylus into an electrical audio signal.  If you're going to upgrade to a magnetic cartridge, there are several secrets you need to know.  My choice for this type of magnetic cartridge is the Stanton 400 or 500 for cost and performance. But I can be convinced that Astatic & Pickering and others might have some better options.  Actually, there is an exhaustive supply cartridges that are compatible with these Fabulous RCA 45 RPM Players.  

For the audiophile that wants the very best, there are many better modern turntables.  You can easily spend well over $100K for a turntable, if you must. RCA's 45 rpm record changers and players described here can be modified to produce surprisingly good analog sound that will compete with some modern analog turntables.   Some purists will say these RCA 45 players have limitations in producing great music, I agree.  But I know a few collectors that "take on the challenge" to quiet potential interference from the low-cost 2-pole motors, solve impedance matching, voltage output of ceramic vs magnetic, eliminate 60 cycle and motor-induced hum, deal with harmonics, manage tracking, tripping, frequency response, base response, range, tweak tone with resistors, grounding and many more variables.   Great mental, mechanical and electrical exercise for the tinkerer.

The best thing you can do to listen to great music is simply avoid playing dirty or scratched vinyl records. Unless the 45 rpm record has some meaningful value, I toss it if it's scratched.  These record changers are very forgiving and will play some of the worst sounding vinyl you've ever heard.

If you want to listen to your 'favorite music', find the singers or bands that were popular when you were sixteen!  As you look through a stack of records, you are in control.  You feel the records in your hands, you make the selection, not some electronic device such as an iPod or mp3 player.   As you begin to hear the record, you just might find yourself transported back in time to a high school dance, a seat at local soda fountain or at an after-school hang out that had a juke box.  If you don't understand this, read on to learn more about these Fabulous Victrola 45s.

When you look at the RCA 45 Victrola record player you see the simple mechanical genius of the most reliable record changer ever made; it works flawlessly.  Sure there are better 'audiophile quality' turntables, but for general purpose listening of a stack of 45 rpm records, I think nothing beats an RCA RP-168 or RP-190 record changer.   You hear subtle sounds long forgotten, some faint clicks and pops, perhaps the repeating cycle of a scratch, but all of this is cancelled out as you begin to hear the rich, full, analog sound of vinyl.  You decide!

I believe these are the last of the great American-made phonographs for some not-so-obvious reasons.  Much like the early Edison phonographs or Berliner gramophones, it was a combination of circumstances and technologies that brought us the RCA Victor Victrola 45 player.  Advances in recording technologies, ownership of the content (Victor Talking Machine's vast library) the vinylite 7" medium, highly efficient speakers that required very low power, low-cost, highly reliable amplifiers that had a limited power budget, high output cartridges, small vacuum tubes, selenium rectifiers and reliable electrolytic filters/capacitors, resistors and other electronics assembled by a motivated, quality-centric, mostly American female, manufacturing workforce. RCA succeeded in planning, developing, manufacturing and distributing high quality, commodity-priced record players, creating thousands of much-needed postwar jobs while building a profitable business that produced solid, forecastable returns for its investors.

Maybe vinyl record enthusiasts get excited not only for the singers or bands (content) but perhaps it's the whole experience of seeing, hearing, feeling and smelling when you play a record on a Fabulous RCA Victor 45 Victrola. All of your senses come alive and while your brain is busy processing these senses, it's probably also busy thinking about great memories that emerge.    

The modified chart below comes from Appendix B of Phil Vourtsis' book, The Fabulous Victrola "45".  I added a few machines that aren't in the book; including photos of each "45" machine in the PhonoJack collection.  

I'm adding photos to this list as they become available. This is a very graphics intensive page; the photos and text may take a while to download depending upon your PC/Internet speed.  The photographs and phonographs belong to me.  Please don't use without permission.

List of RCA Victor Table Model Phonographs