Hi Phono friends, I'm the proud owner of a second Vivatonal. I've just bought a 721 and it has me puzzled. I also own a 611, the small upright with the oval design in the door. This door opens down and then slides in. The motors on both these units are very different even though they are only two years apart in manufacture date. The 611 came out in '26 and the 721 in 1928. The motor in the 611 is reminiscent of earlier Columbias with its nickel area forr the on/off and speed levers extending beyond the turntable. The 721's motor looks more like one from a Sonora or a Pathe with flat topped spring cans whose lids attach to flanges on the cans with four little screws. The weights are cylindrical polished metal with conical tops. The winding pawl is the spring type. Unfortunately, the Columbia disk machine book does not give a lot of information about what is inside these machines. The motorboard looks untouched, with no extra holes and the crank lines up perfectly so I don't think the motor has been changed. Anyone have information about the VivaTonal machines and their motors? After a bit of work rearranging the ball bearings in the tone arm and applying some fresh lubricants, the arm swings freely, the gooseneck rotates easily without flopping around and the motor runs smoothly and fairly quietly. The unit sounds quite nice and very loud. The cabinet is a pretty two toned affair which is looking better after a good cleaning (love the sickly brown nicotine that comes off on the rags) and application of lacquer thinner to the top to remove blush and opacity.
Ron L _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
