Nice VM Console

[whirlcool]

Recently there was a post about a TOL GE stereo console, I found this one on Fleabay.
It seems to be a TOL from the same era, complete with integral tape recorder.
I remember those VM tape units in mono only, I wasn't aware that they also made that model in stereo.
Were VM consoles very good? I think they were expensive compared with the other major brands?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Danish-Modern-V...ryZ15000QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[whirlcool]

And this looks like..

It was just ripped out of a console and thrown on a table outside. This seller could use a lesson in product display!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Voice-of-Music-...ryZ73369QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[frontaloadotmy]

Allen

I saw both of those ebls to. I didn't realize VM offered
a reel to reel in that era of console.
I have a VM1000, I think they were first introduced in 1958, and produced for a couple of years after that. They were
tube units and featured the typical sound of same. At that time it seems like VM was wanting to compete in the audio
as fine furniture arena. I am not absolutely sure about this,
but I don't think they introduced the 4 track type of stereo
tape until later in the sixties. I think their early stereo tapes were just two tracks, I suppose the VM 1000 could play
and record them , but I don't think that other makers were offering the same style of stereo reel to reel , at that time,
if at all. I could be completely F o S !!!

 

[whirlcool]

But the tape unit in that VM console looks an awful lot like the one in the GE Porta-Fi console in that other thread!

 

[frontaloadotmy]

The reel to reel in the GE console

may very well have been made for them by VM.

 

[j2400]

It's possible the tape deck is the same

I think VM made stuff for others. Zenith apparently used VM changers until the 70s, for one thing.

 

[paulg]

Can't kill a VM.

My bench receiver is actually the same receiver that is in that console. I bet most of that console still works.
Personally, I feel that VM put every effort into quality and that is why most units either still work or can be repaired to this day.
The cabinets were made by an outside vendor. The speakers were often ElectroVoice but not always. They did side-by-side comparisons of speakers with staff. Whatever SOUNDED the best is what speaker they used for a given model.
In many ways I am fond of VM as a supreme example of American workers putting out the finest of products with great pride. Perhaps that is what did them in. You only bought one.. and it never failed. Their styling was a bit perfunctory. They were in business until 1977 but did some changer manufacturing into the 1980s to pay some bankruptcy bills.

 

[whirlcool]

Since I lived in Chicago in the late 60s & 70's you didn't find VM sold at most large electronic retailers of the time like Polk Bros. You usually found them sold at smaller neighborhood television dealers. They were expensive for what you got, but as you said the quality was definitely TOL. I had a VM "Courier" tape recorder around 1965 or so. The only drawback with it was that it only took 5 1/2" reels. In 1968 I upgraded to a Roberts with the Crossfield heads.

 

[tolivac]

Very nice VM console!didn't think VM made whole systems.Just seen their TT's and Tape transports-made by them to be used in other manufacturers systems-either consoles or component systems.Now I learned something new!That tubed system just thrown out on a table is sad-where is the cabinet?The amp and tuner system would WORK better with the cabinet and speakers it was designed to operate into.Stupid EBAY sellers!The sellers are unaware the systems,cabinets,and speakers are matched to each other.Same thing with the Magnavoxes and other console hi-Fi systems.

 

[paulg]

Sales trouble too.

Whirlcool reminded me of something - and that was the fact that VM was largely sold through self-servicing dealers rather than chain retailers. Didn't help sales much did it?
They sold heavily through the Catholic School systems, but that was their scholastic products. Same basic tape recorder mech in that console was used in their school units because it couldn't be destroyed.

 

[whirlcool]

When I was in grammar school our school music department had several VM tape recorders. I think they had VM 722's. They sounded great! I loved those cool green recording level meters.
Our high school used those heavy duty silver clunky Wollensak 1600 tape units. Those couldn't be destroyed either!

 

[paulg]

Yeah, same era.

I'll look up the VM722, but I bet that was the open-reel with the green tube level meter and spring-loaded handle. Yup. I had fun with those. We'd record all sorts of fun sound effects in grade school and play them back. Much more fun than watching filmstrips of the Saints.
Oddly enough I've never had those Wollensak units open. Built like tanks. Gotta love the stuff.

 

[whirlcool]

Whoops!

I just looked it up on the VM website and our school had one VM 720(which was used for school plays as a sound machine and for taping "readers theater type of productions") and I think three VM 730 machines. It was the 730 that had the bluish green meter tube. Those were used in the classroom to record the class singing and for the teacher to point out who was off key and who needs to sing louder!)
The way that tube operated meter on the 730 worked it reminded me of the light in the helmet of Gort worked from the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still.