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Old 03-12-2013, 01:46 PM
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radiotvnut radiotvnut is offline
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'48 Philco & '63 Westinghouse

Saturday, a friend picked up two interesting things for me at an auction.

The first thing is a table model Philco 48-1253 (M-8 record changer) wooden cased AM radio/78 rpm record player. It has a little veneer damage on the top and along the bottom on the right side; but, I still think it's worth restoring. This is a 5-tube model; but, is one of those with a voltage doubler power supply. This one cost me $20.

The next one is a '63 Westinghouse console 4-speed record player that uses a Garrard Autoslim changer. The amp is series string with a 50C5 output tube for each channel and a 12AX7 driver. I've already recapped the amp and replaced the missing speakers with a pair of 6"x9" speakers that I saved from a console that I junked. The changer used a Euphonics U8 cartridge that had weak output and sounded like crap. So, I went to the local parts house to buy a Pfanstiehl P226 or P228. I used to buy these locally all day long; but, they now inform me that someone bought all they had and they probably wouldn't get any more. It really ticks me off that I'm now having to order stuff that I used to could buy locally. Anyway, I just ordered a P228 from Gary; so, I should have it going n a few days. Surprisingly, this one has seperate bass and treble controls; which, is usually not the case on these lower end models. I know it won't rattle the walls; but, I think it will still sound OK. This one cost me $25.

My friend also tried to get me a typical late '40's Airline AM/FM radio/phonograph console; but, one of the flea market vendors outbid him at $45. The next day, I saw the radio at the flea market. It looked fairly decent, was missing a couple of knobs, and was priced at $125. The vendor offered it to me for $90; but, I passed. He doesn't know that I know what he paid for it; so, if I decide to get it, I'm going to let him sit on it for awhile and offer him less. The thing about most of these flea market vendors is that they are not happy with making only a few dollars profit on an item. Instead, they want to make a killing.

Here's a video I made of this stuff, along with a few more things:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNk3vjkQSdc



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Old 03-13-2013, 12:08 PM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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I could understand why someone would buy a console stereo without a radio. Even just an AM receiver. This big sow took up a lot of space in the home and sat there doing nothing, when it wasn't playing records.
With the model shown, the value was in the furniture, not in the electronics.
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Old 03-13-2013, 03:08 PM
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radiotvnut radiotvnut is offline
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There were a lot of different ones made during the '50's and '60's that were phonograph-only models. Up until the early '60's, some of them were quite impressive with decent amplifiers and speakers. By the mid '60's, the phono-only models had become cheap (like this one).

Had I been buying a new console back in the '60's, I think I would have gone for something that had a radio.
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Old 03-16-2013, 11:51 PM
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radiotvnut radiotvnut is offline
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I replaced the cartridge in the Westinghouse with a current production Pfanstiehl P228. It seems to play vinyl OK; but, wrecks styrene 45's on the first playing. I can actually see the grooves changing color with shavings left behind. I tried running the tracking pressure through it's range with no luck. I also played a dirty, beat up LP a couple of times at 78 RPM, thinking that the new needle might not be polished enough and that the dirty record would polish it more. Still no luck. The only other thing I know to do is replace the needle.

I know styrene should not be played a lot on something like this; but, such a player shouldn't ruin the record on the first play.
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Old 03-17-2013, 11:15 AM
bob91343 bob91343 is offline
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It seems you have obtained a defective stylus.
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Old 03-21-2013, 10:33 PM
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radiotvnut radiotvnut is offline
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I borrowed a used stylus from another record player and we have no more instant record destruction. Somewhere, I have a bunch of EV branded needles for this cartridge. Now, comes the task of locating them.

I should probably get in touch with Gary at the VM site so that he'll be aware that there may be a problem with the needles that come with these cartridges.
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