Do you still use your old radios

[Randy Bassham]

42-50 Mhz is Low Band VHF, several states still use it for their Highway Patrol communication. I'm a Field Engineer for Missouri and my transmitters are on 42.380, 42.920 and 42.940. It is possible to hear these on radios with the old FM band however the volume will be low because we are using narrow band modulation.

And I use my old radios alot, especially the ones with FM, I keep a Zenith 845 beside my recliner and play it often for extended periods of time. The Zenith has all the original caps including the filters and it still has the selenium rectifier inplace. I use my Magnavox Stereo Concert Grand for hours on end, in the winter the 16 6V6's and 4 5U4's keep my Den warm. I've got my Directv receiver hooked up to it and my wife sometimes plays it all day long while I'm at work and we just keep it on when I get home, I just turn it up louder than she does.....

[blue_lateral]

I use my Magnavox Stereo Concert Grand for hours on end, in the winter the 16 6V6's and 4 5U4's keep my Den warm.

I'd sure like to see pictures of this unit, especially inside. Do you have any?

John

[Randy Bassham]

I've not taken any photos of it since I got it home, here's some of it before I bought it. I'll try to take a few of it with the back off asap....

[Charlie]

Man... that Maggie looks like it's pumping the tunes out thru some big-ass speakers! If that thing is using 16 6V6's, it must really rock!

[blue_lateral]

Too cool! Does it sound as good as it looks?

John

Some folks are into old radios for the look, others to re-live/honor the past. A few are into it for the sound. As one acquires and listens to tube radios and understands some of the science behind the tube vs. transistor sound disparity, one knows how to find radios that sound better than new radios.

Yes, some some things were made better in the past. More money was spent in their construction. Homes, cars, furniture...and old radios are often included in this list. Technology progresses but often the quality of workmanship is left out in the pursuit of higher profits and built-in obsolescence.

Some awesome table tube sets and wood consoles were made in the late fifties/early sixties. For example, a good '59 Panasonic K-782 with the wood case has a very rich sound and reproduces vocal audio frequencies better than many a BOSE speakered high end tuner sold today. This can be attributed to the way waves are treated by tubes versus transistors and the sweet design of a 12AJ7 triode-heptode tube. The best speakers in the world are not worth much if the signal that goes into them isn't as rich and diverse as it should be.

Almost any am/fm tube radio table set in working order will outperform any of the cheapy cd players/cassette/tuner systems sold mass-market these days.

And, as all folks with wood consoles or boat anchors know, they get awesome bass response from a tube console. Combined with rich vocals you have the best tool for reproducing music.

Nothing is sweeter on the ears than an excellent stereophonic tube console from the 59-63 era. Refresh the speakers, any necessary tubes, etcetera and get it back in beautiful shape and let the magic begin! That fine wood can be refinished & lacquered to look like a million bucks is just an added bonus!

I see old radios as quality furniture, rather than decoration, and furniture is meant to be used and enjoyed.

Not that there's anything wrong with staring at an old radio on a shelf or collecting them the way one might collect stamps, but I prefer finding the nice ones and <I>listening</I> to them.

[compucat]

I restore my sets with the intent to provide "Everyday Reliability". I use my sets regularly and they seldom need repair if I do the job right the first time. I have a few that spend more time on the shelf simply because there are only so many places in the house to put them in daily service. Even the shelf dwellers are fully dependable and get occasional use. I love the sound, the glow of the tubes, the RF performance, lighted dials, and the beautiful sculptured Bakelite cabinets. These sets are things of sheer beauty whether on or off. Being able to use them everyday is an added bonus. My regular daily users are as follows:

GE Model 202 6 tube AM (great sound, very sensitive)
Sparton 5W?? 5 tube (great looking, good performance)
Silvertone Metal Midget 4 tube (bedside table radio)
Hallicrafters S-53A 8 tube shortwave (very sensitive, built like a tank, way cool)

I have a Philco big Bakelite AM/SW table model Model 48-464 I think that is going into the livingroom once it is finished.

[Randy Bassham]

Finally got a pix of the Concert Grand from the back....42 tubes in total. Each amp is Bi Amped using 6 6V6's to drive the Bass Woofers and 2 6V6's to drive the Horns. This is an example of what happens when the bean counters don't pay attention to what the engineers are doing....

[peverett]

Your electric bill must double when this is turned on! That is a lot of tubes for one set.

Mid to late 1960s color TVs only had 27 or so.

Bet it sounds great though.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by TryHiFi

Some awesome table tube sets and wood consoles were made in the late fifties/early sixties.

Almost any am/fm tube radio table set in working order will outperform any of the cheapy cd players/cassette/tuner systems sold mass-market these days.

Zenith made some great table radios from the '59-'63 era. I have one, a Zenith K-731. It's in a walnut wood cabinet and has a two-way speaker system--a 5x7 oval speaker for lows/midrange and a 3" electrostatic tweeter, the latter driven directly from the plate of the 35C5 output tube, for the highs. Needless to say, it sounds great. The bass response is incredible for a table model; in fact, I'm a little afraid to set the tone control to full bass for fear of damaging the main speaker. I usually set it to midrange and leave it there; that's where my ears tell me it sounds the best.

I have also read reports here on AK that Zenith's C-845 table model also has incredible sound quality for a table set. Several people here have these little sets and seem to like them a lot; I can understand why. These sets were made for high fidelity (that "high fidelity" script logotype on the front panel isn't just an advertising slogan--Zenith obviously meant it, in spades).

I often wonder, though, why Zenith did not include a phonograph input on the K-731, but did put one on the C845. The '731 is a great-sounding radio and, IMHO, would work well as a phono amplifier. I've never heard a C-845 playing, but I'd think it sounds every bit as good as the '731. Are the audio stages in the C-845 that much better than those in the '731? I would think, since the C-845 has two ordinary cone-type speakers and the K-731 has an oval 5x7 and an electrostatic tweeter, that the latter would work every bit as well as a phono amp as would the '845.


I would love to have a nice wood console stereo, such as an older Zenith (I like anything in walnut or other dark wood), but, unfortunately, my apartment is far too small. Oh well. That's why I got my Zenith 731 on ebay a couple years ago; I liked the looks of the cabinet and, since I always wanted a console, this radio is about the closest I'll come to having one. When the set arrived here, I plugged it in, turned it on, and it worked right out of the shipping box. The sound was and still is excellent. I am still amazed I did not have to do anything to it (new caps, etc.) after I got it--as I said, it played as soon as I powered it up, and the cabinet had almost no damage at all (save for a couple tiny wear spots on the front, above the speakers; one can hardly see them unless he/she looks for them). This set is the pride of my entire Zenith collection; you can be sure I'll hold on to it a long time. The one thing I know I should do but haven't, yet, is replace the selenium B+ rectifier. That's a project for some time in the future; I'm in no hurry, since the radio sounds great at this point ("if it ain't broke, don't fix it").

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by peverett

Your electric bill must double when this is turned on! That is a lot of tubes for one set.

Mid to late 1960s color TVs only had 27 or so.

Bet it sounds great though.

Boy, I'll say that system must run your electric bill sky-high! I never saw that many tubes in a console stereo in my life, although I have seen color TV sets with 20-30 tubes (I had one in the early '70s, a 1964 Silvertone 19" roundie table model; it had perhaps 20 tubes in it).

Your set must sound excellent, and with power to spare. I wouldn't turn it up full-blast if I were you, though, unless you want to blow the roof off your house or worse. With each channel bi-amplified, that entire system must be a floor-shaker, even at mid-volume. Seems to me it could shake your floors even with the volume controls barely set above minimum.

The set must weigh a ton as well. How did you get it home after you bought it? For that matter, where did you put it after you got it home? That stereo looks like the kind of set that requires about five feet of floor space, minimum.

[pbda]

Sure; I'm using my 1961 KLH Model Eight every day.

[Randy Bassham]

The set pulls 645 watts off the AC line and it is a little over 5 ft long. I'd wanted a Concert Grand ever since I went on a service call to fix one in the early 70's. I don't remember what was wrong with the set but I do remember how taken aback I was when I took the back off and saw all those tubes. The customer wasn't home and after I fixed it I put on a Bill Black Combo album (WOW). I got word of this one being available through a post on Antiqueradios.com forum, well one thing led to another and pretty soon I was Southbound in my minivan minus seats to Texas. After 1000 miles over a weekend I had my Concert Grand. So far all I've done to it was replace a couple of 5U4's and drop in a later model Micro-Matic turntable with the lighter tone arm. The filters are original and it is absolutly hum free. As far as room I had to move my 1966 Magnavox Imperial to my Wifes photo studio to have room for it but it's worth it. The cabinet of the Concert Grand is mainly a sealed speaker enclosure, the amplifiers are mounted to the backs of the enclosure and the area just above amps that has all the screws around it is where the horns are, there's also a tunnel just below the tuner that connects the two sides together. I'm still looking for a remote control hand unit for it, it's an RF remote and since these sets are pretty rare the remote is even rarer.....

[blue_lateral]

I had heard these existed, but I have never seen one. I never knew it was called a concert grand, or what it looked like. Maybe I'll find one someday.

Thanks for posting the pics, Randy.

John

[Charlie]

Randy,

For a console, that's damn impressive looking!!! If for any reason I'm in your neck of the woods, I'm stopping by your house just so I can see and hear that thing!