The Victor-Victrola Page   

VV 4-1 / VE 4-1 / Consolette (Export)

RARITY: ¤¤¤   VALUE:  ¤¤

The VV 4-1 was the factory-assigned designation for an early production series of small floor model Victrolas with a newly designed cabinet, all of which were eventually sold in Latin America. However, the designation "VV 4-1" never appears on dataplates or other factory literature outside of parts lists.  All 4-1 machines are badged as "Consolette", but use pre-Orthophonic components.
It is postulated that these machines were designed and produced in early 1925 using Victrola components from prior years, and were originally intended for US sale as a new low-priced model. They were identified as "Consolette" on their ID tags, and serialized beginning with '501' as usual, but were ultimately not released from the factory due to the collapsing sales of conventional acoustic phonographs at that time. They were essentially deemed to be obsolete as soon as they came off the production line, and the completed machines were stored-away until a plan could be devised to sell them. Cabinet production for this model continued at a brisk pace however, and Victor scrambled during the summer months to produce a Orthophonic machine using these cabinets wthat could be sold in the domestic market. Victor's engineers eventually designed a rather crude 'compromise' exponential horn which would fit into the Consolette cabinet, and the Orthophonic tonearm was resized to fit around the smaller motorboard. By the late fall, the company had agreed to launch the US "Consolette" Orthophonic Victrola, and began assembling and serializing this new product. For unknown reasons, they re-started the serialization at '501' as if these machines were a totally new product line; meanwhile, in the back of the plant, a mountain of pre-Orthophonic "Consolette" machines were waiting to be delivered, all with the same same name badges and duplicate serial numbers.
Eventually, the first group of Consolettes with pre-Orthophonic components were shipped to Latin America, since US markets would consider them outdated. There were designated as VV 4-1 models in the factory reference docucments, but they were all badged as "Consolettes".
So it can be conclueded that a large batch of "Consolette" machines (with serial numbers less than 4500) were produced with duplicate serial numbers; one early production run having pre-Orthophonic components and a later production run having full Orthophonic parts. The first versions will have 'slats' in the horn opening (picture at left), and will use the older-style Victrola No. 2 tonearms and Soundboxes. This strategy was intended to "use-up" the already-built and assembled non-Orthophonic Consolette models and sell them as an export-only package without having to re-badge them with new model and serial numbers. So it makes for a very confusing situation. See the VV 4-3 page for more information.
This situation may, in part, explain the rather unsatisfactory launch of the US Consolette machines in the fall of 1925. The clumsy adaptation of a very marginal 'pseudo-exponential' horn (which really is a far shot from the required form-factor needed to provide adequate impedance matching), the lack of a grille cloth or decorative wood trim to cover the gaping horn opening, the use of a small 10" turntable and single-spring motor may belie the extent of the 'panic project' to convert thousands of empty Consolette cabinets into saleable low-cost Orthophonic machines during the summer of 1925. Many of these design issues were rectified the following year with a series of improvments which vastly improved the appeal of the US Consolette model.
The original 1925 selling price of the pre-Orthophonic Consolette was originally set at $85.00 for the US market, but the retail prices in foreign countries would have depended on the exchange rates at the time. It is not believed than any of these early non-Orthohonic Consolette models were actually sold in the USA.
Electrical versions (VE) of this model have been reported, but none have been verified as of this time.
Factory records indicate that a total of only 1,050 Victrola "Consolette" 4-1's were produced; however, based on the serial numbers of surviving examples, actual production numbers are likely closer to 4,000 having been made.  
A correlation of serial numbers with the date of manufacture for this model is not currently compiled, but it can be assumed that all were made in the spring of 1925.

Do you own a Victrola VV 4-1 / Export Consolette? 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.