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1951 Crosley Model 11-119U Radio
Hello everyone, Saturday I went to my local Antique mall and was looking around and I spotted an old 1950s vintage AA5 radio on a shelf that was a light blue color and was in pretty decent shape yet for its age (minus a little dirt on the cabinet) so I picked it up and sure enough it was an old Crosley which I thought was kind of interesting because I've never seen an original Crosley Radio from the 1950s in person before (that's how rare the original Crosleys are) and to be exact it was a 1951 Crosley Model 11-119U which from what little research I was able to do on the 11-11xU line series of radios they were given away for free with the purchase of a Crosley Refrigerator back in the day and "light blue" colored one like I found was referred to as Smoke Blue colored and was actually rarest of the 11-11xU series of radios because of the fact that the Smoke Blue units were made specifically as the promotional models whereas the other models (the 11-115U-118U models were actually made as regualar retail models as well that could be bought at the store making them more common.) Anyways my unit for some reason had a large cotton ball glued to the back of the speaker for some reason when I got it and when I took it apart to check the unit out (it was sold "as is" not working) I had figured out that the 12AV6 tube was missing for some reason so then I installed a 12AV6 tube into the empty socket and powered the unit on and sure enough it powered on albeit with an incredibly loud hum, So I shut the unit down and unplugged it and figured out that I needed to replace the power supply caps (which the unit is actually now on its third round of power supply filter caps because the original caps had already been replaced previously at least 30+ years ago as it had an old Pyramid 40 + 40 @ 150 Volts electrolytic cap in there that was obviously not original as the "mounting bracket" for the replacement cap was soldered onto the old filter caps mounting bracket that had previously been cut off at the chassis), And I replaced the old replacement cap with a replacement cap I had laying around in an old radio I had previously recapped but then failed to opoerate properly inspite of the recap so it was then used as a parts unit.
Anyways once I replaced the old power supply caps with my new ones I had the unit powered up nicely and played perfectly except that for some reason when I removed the old cottonball out of the back of the speaker the speaker started "rattling" when it was pushed past a certain volume level so then to stop the "rattling" I ended up stuffing another cottonball into the back of the speaker which has of course muffled the speaker so that now its not as loud as its supposed to be. Anyways what I'm curious about is what would be causing the speaker to "rattle around" when its pushed past a certain volume level? And why would a cottonball shoved into the back of the speaker fix this particular ailment? Also is it true what I had read (and also mentioned earlier in the post) that original Crosleys are extremely rare and highly sought after? |
#2
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Original Crosley radios are not all that rare. I've owned at least 3 in the past decade, and have passed by god knows how many at radio club swap meets and antique shops.
They were not the biggest brand, but there were MANY contemporary outfits that were much smaller that are still reasonably easy to find examples of. Of course within a brand some models will be more common due to higher original sales/production.
__________________
Tom C. Zenith: The quality stays in EVEN after the name falls off! What I want. --> http://www.videokarma.org/showpost.p...62&postcount=4 |
#3
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#4
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Most fridge models ARE much rarer than most regular ones. Either you you don't get out to enough radio rich places (like radio collector swap meets), or you are in a region where they did not sell well. A brands presence in an a geographical area is proportional to their representation among local merchants, and their relative sales compared to other brands. Good case studies are Packard Bell, and Andrea brands. Packard Bell was a west coast brand, and they are very common in California and surrounding states, but once you get out towards the Midwest they are very rare to find in the wild (I've only ever seen two of their later offerings in person here, and none prior to the last 5 years). Andrea was an east coast brand IIRC and most of their offerings show up there. Even big national brands like Zenith and Philco have regions and pockets where they outsold all the other brands 10-1 or other brands outsold them by that amount.
Go to the big nationally attended radio swap meets like ARCI's Radiofest, MARC's Extravaganza, or Kutztown regularly for a few years if you want a good feel for what brands are out there and how common they are.
__________________
Tom C. Zenith: The quality stays in EVEN after the name falls off! What I want. --> http://www.videokarma.org/showpost.p...62&postcount=4 |
#5
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Audiokarma |
#6
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Rattling speaker
The rattling sounds may be caused by the speaker or the cabinet. In either case, the cotton pad is damping the sound and so helps some.
I would try to separate the speaker and the cabinet. If the distortion ceases, it was something vibrating in the enclosure. Or it may be the speaker... maybe you can try with another one. Remember your chassis is AC/DC, so don´t touch it while the AC cable is connected (or use an isolating transformer). Unless the chassis is made from bakelite, like your Westinghouse. Anyway, it is not safe to touch anything metallic (speaker, control axles, IF transformer screens) unless the power cable is disconnected. Reattach the knobs to the controls to be able to operate the radio safely. If the cabinet is not guilty and you get distortion with another speaker, we are dealing with some amplifier trouble, keep us posted. |
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#8
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Well, I would try to mechanically damp the space between the front of the speaker and the cabinet. Maybe something like a rubber ring. Most speakers had some form of cushioned ring around the mounting surface, but on an old set they may be missing or became hardened.
These are the times I regret the old mouse pads went the dodo´s way after the modern optical mouse came out. Those pads were great because when one needed some flexible, damping, isolating material, you could cut them into any shape. (In my country the hardware stores are not as well stocked as they should, and one has to improvise . Maybe you can get something better off the shelf.) |
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#10
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Audiokarma |
#11
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The speaker frame is even stamped "Crosley". Not a rubber stamp, but a stamp in the steel, so evidently Crosley made the speaker themselves. If you change the speaker, the filtering supply has to be changed to an R/C network, with higher value electrolytics, in order to use a PM speaker. |
#12
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Or buy an audio transformer.
__________________
Rick (Sparks) Ethridge |
#13
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It does have an output transformer in it, its mounted to the bottom of the chassis though.
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#14
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The field coil is in the power supply, not in the audio circuit.
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#15
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Learn sumpthin' new every day seems like. I never before seen a radio with this tube lineup using an ED speaker. Had to look it up. Sure enuff, tis true. And it shows the alternate (standard) layout using a permanent magnet speaker (and higher value filter caps).
http://www.nostalgiaair.org/pagesbym...1/M0003211.pdf |
Audiokarma |
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