this was given to me by one of my mothers friends, she saw it on the side of the road (out at the trash) and picked it up for me.

It's made by Saba, the model is the Truhe - Villingen W III

EVERYTHING is in German, I have mutiple manuals (has a dual tt with a cheap plastic arm, manual for that too, in German along with warrantee cards etc... all in German. it is made out of solid wood, although I think the finish is a venner or something because the real wood is lighter. I coudln't find any date, but upon looking at the driver, I got Feb. 15th, 1954

perhaps the most weird part on this is, on the dial, there are names of alot of major cities (all in German) I could make out a few like London, Berlin, Monte Carlo etc... but I have no clue what any of this is. I am not going to pluyg it in (yet either) although it does have a selectable power supply (125/220)

also this thing is tube right? is there any info on this? anyone hear speak German? is this thing worth anything? or not, worth fixing?

I figured if it is not worth anything/too much work to fix I could mkae it a nice case/rack for something it looks really nice (would look better once cleaned up) but the bottom area and also the top adds for alot of space that would be a nice DIY for something, but I have a felling this could be worth something.

It is pretty clear alot of work went into this, I mean there is even a light that goes on when the bottom door is opened (can tell by the light and switch) and the holder for the records etc..

Also I should do much besides clean it up, correct? as it could ruin it's value?

anyway, here are some pictures:

The Dual tt, it looks good (disc drive like my BSR) but has a cheap arm, you will also notice the nice wood and all the manuals etc...

the dial with the names of all the cities

rading the manual now, this is what it says:

(in Germanl but someone wrote in English what band it is)

FM- 87-100mhz (isn't it 108 now?)

HF- 18,7-5,8mhz

Broadcast- 1610-510 khz

LF- 400- 150khz

there is alot of other stuff, but I don't know German ;)

this is all tube, right?

oh, and BTW in one of the manuals, there are schemitics too.....

bottom part

the driver, dosn't seem to be made by anyone familer (DEW?)and what's that thing below it?

and last, a shot of the inside of the bottom part showing the light and stuff

The manual and turntable look very similar to an old Grundig unit my mother-in-law used to own. i listed it on ebay and got no bidders, but someone did want the tubes and speakers. Check ebay to see if any others have sold. I think it those frequencies you mentioned might be short wave frequencies. Don't know much else. I have watched "Antiques Road Show" enough times to see some inexperienced furniture refinisher polishing and refinishing an old piece just enough to reduce it's value to a fraction of it's intact worth. Consult an antique expert before you proceed with any refinishing. A local auction house may be a good source too. Hope this helps.
ps, is that a 7070 in the background or a 6060? Gino

NW
If you can scan the manuals, I work with a German chick; she can translate it for me and I'll pass it on to you.

Who knows, maybe you got a treasure there.

Gino, yeah I was just going to wipe the dust etc.. off. I will do more searching tonight. the receiver that is in use right now (on the wall) is a 9090DB, it is real mint to, the one apart on the floor is another 9090DB that I am going to fix up nice, then sell, and the receiver in the back that you only see a part of is a Sansui G-7700 that I want to try and fix the tuner then sell it.

JoZom, Thanks, I'll see if I can get my scanner to work, it's 3 1/2 years old, and I never use it. If not, maybe I can get some decent pictures with my digital camera, Thanks

That Saba stuff is still pretty popular in Germany from what an EBay customer of mine told me. I would clean it up and boot it off to Ebay land. I think it may fetch a little more then you may think. Oh yeah dont work on it or clean it. Just sell it the way it is.

http://search-completed.ebay.com/search/search.dll?GetResult&query=saba&from=R7&ebaytag1=ebayreg&ht=1&category1=29832&combine=y&st=2&SortProperty=MetaEndSort

Grump, yeah I typed "Saba radio" before and saw some of them, they are getting a nice amount of money

I wasn't go to do major stuff to it, just wipe it down with a cloth and put furniture polish on it.

it is tube, and I don't think there are any tubes in it..... I don't think I would get much on ebay because I don't even know if it works or not, and it seems like there are no tubes in it etc... and how would I ship this thing? it's too big for FedEx or something and weighs a good 70+lbs.

ok, I pluged it in, no smoke or anything, it is missing some tubes so there was no audio output, but the backlights came on, and when I pushed the buttons, on 1 of them the light under the button came on. I have no idea what to do with this thing, I am really not in the mood to mess with it.

I was thinking, just clean it up and put it on the 'bay, but how the hell would I ship this thing? it is large and heavy, and it might not bring in much if someone dosn't even know if the amp works and when they factor in shipping, that woudl leave the final bid on the unit pretty low.

I was looking at this on the 'bay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2164169673&category=933

the display, buttons etc.. looks like mine, but my display has a red backing, here are a few more pictures:

this is without the flash, and that made the shutter speed longer, so I couldn't hold the camera that steady, but if the flash was on, you woudln't see the display lit up:

here is the left side of the amp

the right side.... what is that thing all the way to the right? is that part of this?

I also notice someone at one point wanted the crd longer and cut it and added more wire, the "new" wire is thinner then the origanal part though.

does this look like it's worth anything? I am not doing anything to it tonight, maybe tomorrow I'll get a damp rag, wipe it down (some mildew on the side) and then get polish and see it it'll shine again.

I am sure if I was to sell it, someone would love to resotre this, as cosmetically it is in pretty good shape (missing that one knob though) but the shipping thing would become a problem.

Anybody have any ideas or anything to say?

Listen to Gino, just wipe it down, dont put any polish on it. Putting the wrong thing on some finishes can ruin them. I've seen it, its not pretty. If you are selling it for someone to restore they will do it themselves (and would probably prefer to.)

Also, be careful. Some of the old tube stuff (especially consoles and radios) have live voltage to the chassis.

ahhh the thread got moved, I was going to put it in here, but since pretty much nobody ever goes to this room, I figured I wouldn't. Oh well

yeah today I will wipe it down and then see, I would love to sell it but the shipping thing is still bothering me. it would have to be put on a creat and shipping by a big trucking place or something. I dunno. Any ideas on the shipping thing?

Don't worry about shipping let the buyer decide how he wants to do it and he will tell you exactly how to pack and ship it cuz only a serious collector or restorer would buy it.

That 'thing' hanging down on the right looks to be the turntable motor. :eek:

Originally posted by EchoWars
That 'thing' hanging down on the right looks to be the turntable motor. :eek:

you know, I think you are right. I'll have to take a look at that.

Thor, I understand what your saying, but I would personally still have to pack it up and bring it to a shipping depot.

I dunno. what do you guys think I should do? wipe it downa nd ebay it? would it really be worth much? it's just the shipping thing keeps haunting me....

Ebay it for pickup only. if that does not work gut the shit outta it and sell all the componets seperately. There are also companies that will come to your house to pick the item up and they will crate and ship the whole thing. Course your looking at about 250.00 for such a service.

Grumpy

That will be a gorgeous set once you clean it and get some Pledge on it!

If you don't see the tubes, then someone pulled them out. As far as the FM dial, i think it was common for European sets not to reach 108 mhz up until a certain year.

If most of the tubes are missing, it could cost quite a bit to get replacements depending on what it needs. If there aren't too many missing, it might not cost too much.

Looking in the paperwork that came with it, do you see a list of the tubes for it? They would probably be numbers like EM34 (i think that is the tuning eye tube) or EL84, ECH81, ECC85.

Being in the NY area, you might do well just listing it as a pick-up item only. Or you can state on Ebay that the buyer must make arrangments to have it picked up for shipment.

Looks like it's complete (other than the tubes). If you like it, keep it! Even if you don't get it to play, it will definately display nicely!

You said there was a schematic... the tubes it needs should be there.

Originally posted by Night Wolf
the right side.... what is that thing all the way to the right? is that part of this?

I am sure if I was to sell it, someone would love to resotre this, as cosmetically it is in pretty good shape (missing that one knob though) but the shipping thing would become a problem.

Anybody have any ideas or anything to say?


LF- 400- 150khz = "long wave" not shortwave [low frequency]


Broadcast- 1610-510 khz AM radio medium wave

I believe 1615Khz-30Mhz is short wave, just above your typical AM and a bit below your FM dial.

18,7-5,8mhz I'm not sure on these numbers to be honest.

1800khz -2000khz would be the 160meter HAM band
7000 to 7300 kHz is also another HAM band
5000 kHz is WWVH Kauai HI, Time and solar flare info if i'm remembering correctly.

Too bad it's not working.... with the right antena you can pull transmisions from cross the ocean with such a unit. My only experence with such units was an old HAM tranciever set lent to me when I was a kid, also tube based. I primarly used it to re-broadcast music for my walkman as I went to school.