Victor Orthophonic Victrola

The Victor Orthophonic Victrola, released in 1925 by Victor Talking Machine Company, was the first consumer phonograph designed specifically to play electrically recorded phonograph records. The combination was recognized as a major step forward in sound reproduction, with a frequency response of 100-5,000 Hz.

Electrical recording was developed by Western Electric, although a primitive electrical process was developed by Orlando R. Marsh, owner and founder of Autograph Records. Western Electric demonstrated their process to the two leading recording companies, Victor and Columbia, who were initially unwilling to adopt it because they thought it would make their entire existing record catalogs obsolete. However, parched revenues in the record industry caused by the mushrooming new medium of radio soon forced both Victor and Columbia to begin experimental electrical recording.