Foreign tube radios/HiFis

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cfz2882

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Since there was some european tube radio talk on the '60s color TV thread,time for a foreign tube radio thread!
Heres the ones i have:
-Ca.mid 50s"ducaret thomson"-french made big multiband,it in very decent shape but
needs some electronics repair.
-1958 "lowe opta"-german multiband,pretty beat up but may fix anyway
-1958 "blaupunkt"big tabletop Hifi multiband-basicly works,but has some selector
switch problems
-1959"telefunken"large floor model stereo multiband phono HiFi-plays through the
phono,but only AM works.Cost me $5,no one wanted it-too big+bulky apparently...
-1962 japanese 5-tube AM
-1963 "national"(matsushita)japanese turquoise plastic 5-tube
-1966"EI"-yugoslav wooden tabletop multiband-works intermittant,selector switch
problems...
-1976 "kantana"-russian multiband phono mono medium size HiFi-stands on 4 wooden
legs.Electronics and construction are a lot like late '50s european radios,set
usually works good but does have selector switch problems...Had this sent to me
from Chisnau moldova LOL
Most of the european radios,including the russian one,have multiple voltage
options on the back panel-including a position for 127v,they seem to work good
on US 115-120v
 
Ah, great idea about a new thread. We were getting really far off topic on the color TV thread.

I bought my Saba off of Ebay from a guy in Germany. The price was exceptionally good. The seller was totally shocked when someone from America bid on it. He said he didn't know what to do. He did not speak English, either. So since I am pretty good with German I walked him through how to get it to me. The radio belonged to his grandfather and hasn't been used in years. I think it's from around 1954 or so.

He packed it really well. He used a nice blanket, lots of padding and it arrived in great shape and I also now have a blanket to use too.

The voltage switchover was easy. Just place a fuse in the proper fuse holder for the voltage you want to use. I didn't put a new power cord and plug on it, I just bought an adapter so it can be used in our outlets. The case is in great shape.
So is the face, radio dial, etc.

The first thing I noticed was that the buttons for the different bands was very stiff. Of course when playing with it, one of the button caps shattered on me. I thought I was sunk. Where in the world can you get a replacement button for a radio this old? Fortunately a guy in the Netherlands who runs a vintage radio website had the button I needed and sent it to me free of charge!

I tested all the tubes and only one tube was weak. I replaced it and removed it from it's case and when I flipped it over I was shocked at all the paper & wax caps that were in the unit. When I powered it up, I did it pretty slow with my variac. It plays nicely. But I just moved the case and the radio to my storage closet (in one of the bedrooms in the house) and that's where it has sat for the past several years. I need to find some time to start that project again. Between wife, dogs, websites, cars it seems that I have enough projects to last me a lifetime.

BTW, for anyone interested in old radios and would like to restore one, look into a local radio club. I found that there were quite a few. Most of the gents in them are older, and the stories they can tell you! I went to a few meetings and found the group to be most helpful in any way they can. Even if you don't know a cap tester from a meter these guys can get you started in the right direction.

There are also radio restoration discussion groups on the Internet. The same holds true there too. The people that participate are really nice and take their time to explain things, or point you in a direction where you can find your answers.

You know, if I hadn't been bitten by the flying bug, I probably would have been a Radio/TV repairman!
 
"You know, if I hadn't been bitten by the flying bug, I probably would have been a Radio/TV repairman!"

Allen, if you get bored with retirement,you could get into radio/TV repair now!
 
Don't have any foreign radios or Hi-fis at home--but at work have a 1985 AEG-Telefunken Short wave 250/500Kw transmitter that could broadcast to those neat old radios-and new ones,too.We keep this rig going-even though its 1985-parts are no longer available.So the station ordered what spares they could get-hoarding transmitter parts.And machine shops can make up other parts.Used to have a couple of Grundig Radio-TT Hi-fi consoles.One was mono-other stereo.they worked well-sold them a long time ago-now I should have hung onto them.Well-do have a new Grundig "Satellite" AM-FM,SW radio.Its very nice-but-----made in China instead of Germany.Do listen to the work site at times.Just remembered the Grundig radio.It can run from batteries or AC power.
 
From the color TV thread, Tolivac wrote:

If there are electrolytic caps in the radio-large aluminum cans that sit upright on the chassis or under it with axial leads and the caps is marked with polarity-with upright cans-the can is negative and the terminals underneath are positive-the cans are several caps in one many times.And the cans can have a paper or plastic cover on themIf you see a can type electrolytic in your radio with an insulated mounting plate on the chasssis-be sure you do not remove the cardboard or plastic can cover---that cap has a "hot" can-you can get shocked from ones like that.

I generally don't mess with the caps in cans or cardboard covers. I just disconnect them and mount the replacement caps under the chassis. I tried to replace canned caps before and it's usually next to impossible to find an exact replacement, even from radio specialty shops.
And watch out for those little 5 tube AM radios. The chassis on those is usually hot and you can get quite a charge from those little beasts. I usually use a surge protector when working on those and flip the switch off before touching the chassis.
And discharge any caps that I may be replacing.
I can;t get into to much trouble. I replace a cap, then turn the unit on to make sure it still works. If it does, I move on to the next one and so forth.
 
Good going-if you can put the replacements under the chasssis-so much the better.On "Hot" chassis radios and TVs-its a good idea to put a poloriszed plug on them-so the chassis isn't connected to the Hot side of the powerline.The polarized plug-if installed properly on the cord-will allow the chassis to be always on the neutarl side of the line.And make sure replacement knobs are plastic or wood.For push-pull audio amp stages-good idea to replace the coupler caps from the driver or phase invertor to the output stage-could save you from having to buy an expensive pair of output tubes---or worse yet a replacement output transformer.This is especially if you can't set the bias on the output stage-the coupler caps are "leaking" DC from the driver stage and passing it to the grids of the output tubes-giving them improper bias.
 
Not too much foreign here

I haven't done much foreign radio repair work. I did repair a 1950's Braun phono for a friend recently. Fixed a few Grundigs along the way.
I do have one of those Grundig reproductions that were popular about ten years ago. It was a gift and works good.
Years ago I fixed a Grundig transistor portable for my boss. Don't remember the model. I do remember it was medium-sized (not pocket sized) and sounded terrific.
 
I have a few old tube radios. Mostly early 1960's Saba radios. Some of them are North American models with extended FM scale to 108 MHz and FM Multiplex. In Europe, back in the early 1960's the FM band stopped at 100 MHz and then 104 MHz and FM stereo was introduced a bit later...

Saba 300 11 at the top and Meersburg 11 under it.


A North American 2000 Stereo 11 console
 
I remember while my parents looked at color TV's in the appliance stores, some of them would carry these German radios. They were expensive. The large table tops went for around $249.00 or something like that. I think it was around 1967 or 68' when those started to disappear from the store shelves. You'd generally find them in a grandparents house.

Saba in Germany was considered a TOL radio brand. I'll try to take a photo of it over the next couple of days. I'm kind of pressed for time right now.

The Nordmende I have is a small table top radio (14 in wide and 8.5 in tall). I bought it from a guy in Canada for $15.00. It was one of those "I don't know anything about these, so I can't answer any questions" type of auctions. When it arrived I was surprised to find that it worked perfectly! And it has a highly sensitive tuner. I can very easily pickup European SW stations that are hard to find on the Telefunken.

My cousin in Chicago has a "large" German table radio that one of our aunts left us. She said the thing is huge and heavy. But her son dropped it while carrying it and it no longer works. So far it sounds like the case got scratched really bad, but the dial glass is intact and the tuning knob still works. She's thinking about sending it down here to let me look at it. I think she said it's a Grundig from around 1950. I'm hoping it's only a tube or a broken solder connection.

Those highly glazed finishes on these radios usually are something to marvel.
Those old German also radios sounded good. When I was a kid I sued to DX listen for far off radio stations on SW and collect QSL cards. Do they even have those anymore?
 
more...

decided to add foreign tubed R+R,phonos,and misc to my foreign list:
-'60 sony tapecorder 101-has a couple transistors in it,model introduced abt.1958
-'62 sony tapecorder 101-only a couple minor differences from 1960
-'62 philips R+R-operates vertical with reels horizontal sticking out over the
sides.
-'65 sony srereo R+R
-'66 japanese stereo phono-little series string amp of about 2W/Ch...
-Ca.1968 allied #333 reciever/amp-japanese,has a 1930s style tuning eye tube
(6E5?style)
- 1973 russian army FM transceiver-runs on 28v DC,miniature tubes about 3/8dia.x
1"long are all soldered in.
With my european radios(BTW nice saba radios PhilR)selector switch problems have
been the hardest problem to fix;pushbuttons work little plastic or phenolic slides
with contacts back and forth-plastic breaks,springs come off,contact strips come
off...
When tubes have been bad and i didn't have a good one,new russian tubes have
been easy to get.Brands of original tubes found in european electronics include:
-telefunken
-valvo
-mullard(from england or holland,seen both)
-mazda(from england IIRC)
-EI (in the yugoslavian radio)
-philips
For japanese:
-matsushita
-national
-futaba
-ten
-toshiba
 
You do have quite the electronics connection, don't you.

I first remember seeing Sony audio equipment around 1965. That's when the Allied Radio store in Chicago started to carry them. Then they evolved into Sony Superscope equipment.

What are your favorite pieces of your collection?
 
fave

LOL..collection is pretty large-foreign part is small compaired to the american
portion with 1930s floor radios and all-those will come later,when i can post up
some pics...
my favorite foreign radio is probably the 1976 russian"kantana"HiFi;soviet exotica
nice,pretty lighted dial scale,green eye tube,and the roundabout way it came to
me from chisnau moldova.Can't play the phono at correct speed because it's 50 hz..
For my american ones,the '54 zenith AM/FM phono hifi is a fave,but the '37 zenith
wooden table radio is a real beauty too!
Back to the foreign radios,the big'59 telefunken HiFi is probably my 2nd fave,
though i really like the french"ducaret thomson"too-it's french,a little weird,
and has a big cylindrical tuning coil inside.
 
This is a little off the topic of foreign radios, but since the discussion came briefly above, I thought I'd add this:

The hot chassis radios are quite common. They were the cheapest on the market new. I sometimes wonder about the amazing safety problem they had--and how long it lasted. Those radios often in the earlier years had limited backs (which was probably good for cooling the tubes), and metal screws on the bottom of the cabinet. I wonder how many housewives got a shock dusting, and how many curious little children's fingers got a real jolt. Later on, the exposed metal was eliminated, and there was even electric cord interlock on the back panel.

The worst AC/DC radio is something I've heard about, but never actually seen. I was told that some early models used a 3 wire power cord. Two were regular wires. The third was resistance wire that dropped line voltage down to feed the tube heaters. (AC/DC radios worked partly by having the tube heaters in serial, so they could run off AC power without a transformer. Earliest days tube heaters voltages apparently couldn't add up to perfectly drop line voltage to zero, so something extra had to be added.)

LINK to information on hot chassis radios and how to modify them to be safer:

http://www.antiqueradio.org/safety.htm
 
into the bathtub...

looking at '50s home safety books,they really warned about using plug in radios
within dropping distance of the bathtub- especially"AC/DC"radios LOL
My two little early '60s japanese 5-tubes are "series string"AC/DC radios,but they
have PC board chassis.Now my little '50 zenith 5-tube with it's metal chassis
would really electrify the tub water if dropped in with chassis on the "hot" side
of the cord!
 
The PC 5 tube radios--remember there is 120V AC on the circuit board.so the hazards of "AC-DC" transformerless radios still apply here.So if the PC boarded radio fell into a tub-the water would still be electrofied-same with ANY 120V appliance-I have seen warnings in any safety literature not to have any 120V appliance within reach of any tub or sink.
 
I appear to have forgotten a major point in my thread above when talking about AC/DC radios with the resistance line cord. What made these so dangerous--past the usual "joys" of AC/DC radios--was the resistance wire in the cord. It would, apparently, run pretty hot. This type of radio gave rise to the label "curtain burner." One can imagine that perhaps a few fires got started with the cord getting really hot after several hours, and being in casual contact with something particularly inflammable.
 
resistor cord

I've never seen a resistor cord on a series string 5-tube either-must have been
used on some cheapie pre-ww2 radios.All my series string 4 and 5 tube radios are
post ww2.
All the tubes in my french "ducaret thomson"are mazda,checked a few and no country
of origin was was on the tubes-they might be dutch.
 
I think those radios with the resistor cord were pretty early AC/DC radios. The reason for the cord design was that apparently the tubes then didn't have enough voltage drop. Adding the cord gave enough voltage drop to make up the difference between the voltage drop of the tubes and the needed total voltage drop. Later on, higher voltage tubes were available (development possibly, I'd think, at least partly encouraged by AC/DC radios), and so the cord became unnecessary.
 
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