#1
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St Regis radio?
Picked this up today. as far as i can tell, it's a St. Regis model 661, made by International Kadette in 1935.
The cabinet is in pretty good shape. Knobs look correct. I think it's missing a logo that goes under the center bottom knob. 5 tubes. Plug has been cut off. Grille cloth is in good shape and looks to be original. Nothing too special I suppose, but a nice looking old tombstone radio. |
#2
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HOLY SHIrT thats a sweet one!!
SR |
#3
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I know nothing about this model. Never seen one before and there doesn't seem to be much info floating around about it.
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#4
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Quote:
At least, it doesn't use a resistor line cord, but it does use a few octal tubes. |
#5
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Audiokarma |
#6
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Weird duck. No power transformer.
__________________
Rick (Sparks) Ethridge |
#7
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Think it would be difficult to restore?
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#8
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Very nice find. You can't beat tombstone sets from 1935-36. They're all nice. It seems that would've been a budget set, but it's a beauty. I have someone do the elec. restorations on my sets and by the look of that one I doubt you'll have any problems getting it playing. Good luck and enjoy it!
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#9
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I looked up the schematic and it uses a 3000 ohm field coil connected across the B+ instead of being used as a choke. Circuit is a bit more interesting than the average set of it's day. |
#10
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Yep , the tube in front of the 43 output tube is a ballast tube , If I were going transformerless I'd way rather a ballast tube VS a curtain burner line cord .
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Audiokarma |
#11
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Curtain burner line cord? Sounds ominous.
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#12
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Oh yes , it was .
The term "Curtain Burner" comes from the 1930s radios that had a resistance wire built into the line cord to drop the 110 volt AC to the combined (series) 68 volt requirement for the tube's heaters . The 25Z5 and 43 output both have 25 volt heaters , for 50 volts required . Add in the 6 volt requirement of the other three tubes and we add 18 volts to the 50 for 68 volts combined heater requirement . Some sets used a ballast tube (like your set uses) to drop the "extra" 42 volts from the 110 volt line (110 - 68 = 42) and some sets used the resistance wire . The line cord could and did get hot enough dissipating that extra power that fires were started , especially if the line cord was touching something very flammable , like for instance some curtains . Most folks nowadays eliminate the curtain burner cord and go instead with an AC capacitor to safely (and without heat) drop those extra 42 volts . Since your set uses the ballast tube no such re engineering of the heater circuit will be needed . The one caveat here being that the ballast tube is essentially a light bulb with a tapped element (to provide power for your dial lamps) and is subject to burning out just like any other light bulb is . I would recommend picking up a spare or two of the ballast tube to have on hand since as years go on they ain't getting any easier to find .... |
#13
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..Or just go with a capacitor, with a small value resistor to shunt the dial light. Leave the ballast tube in place for looks.
Ceiling fan speed control caps work great. Gobs of 'em on Amazon. |
#14
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Most of the products they built were private labeled products. |
#15
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Were the ballast tube burnt out and unobtainable sure I'd run an AC capacitor in it's stead and not think twice about altering the circuit , in my opinion running condition trumps original condition with most tube radios . But , since I'll bet replacements for the original ballast tube are still available , and since the ballast tube carries no built in safety hazard by design like the curtain burner cord does , I'd be inclined to leave the circuit as is and stock up on a couple or few spare ballast tubes while they are still somewhat available . |
Audiokarma |
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