Austrian Combo from 1956

[Josef]

Let's start a more or less typical story:

Usually I don't find the time to write long commands or threads because I'm very busy mostly.
After a bad ski fall a few days ago and a 3 hour anterior cruciate ligament tear surgery last weekend I have to stay in bed for the next days.
So I used this time to introduce my made in Vienna radio TV and record player combo from 1956 which I bought via ebay a few years ago here in Austria:
Generally it was in good condition but of course it needed the usual work. I replaced all wax caps with axial Styroflex and MKP caps a few tubes and resistors. It was also required to replace one of the power supply electrolytic caps because it overheated.
Further a coil in the horizontal circuit generated a terrible whistling noise. This coil was replaced from a junk set. I took my whole set apart cleaned everything, polished the original varnish and it looks really nice now. A few minor scratches are still there but compared to the age of this set that does not matter and is better than a new varnish in my opinion. I also built in an unfortunately not original isolating transformer because of safety reasons. The original isolating transformer was an option and so they are extremely rare. I have seen only one set that had such a transformer built in. It is a series connection heater set with a live chassis. I was able to do this without drilling any not original holes.
The next things I replaced were the original castors which were hard as stones. An other idea I had was to protect the set from dust and sunlight. So I asked my dear mum if she would sew a dust protection cover made of a special fabric. You can see the really well made result on one of the photos.

A few words to the technical details: You can't compare this device with a CT 100 but it has a lot of interesting features:
Radio and TV are combined on one big aluminium chassis. The handwired circuit is more than complicated to realize this. It has a VHF TV tuner and a full range AM, FM radio with 5 loudspeakers. One of them is an electrostatic tweeter, another one a big Isophon low frequency speaker. This speaker is driven by the TV vertical output circuit if the set is switched on radio mode. The sound of this set is very impressive. The 4 speed record player is a made in Germany dual. It is possible to connect a wire bound remote control for volume and brightness. The pictures on the screen are from an famous Austrian actor Oskar Werner who plays Mozart in this film from 1955. As you can see I used all conceivable cliches
I hope you will like my combo and thank you for reading.

Greetings

[Phil Nelson]

What a beautiful set -- I am envious. I own several European radios, not only the usual Philips and Telefunken, etc., but a couple of less common ones from Denmark and the USSR. I will never find a television like that here on the West coast of the USA, so it is interesting to see photos.

The audio from your set should be outstanding, compared to most 1950s televisions. Sound quality was sadly neglected in many American TVs, to save manufacturing cost, I suppose.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

[Josef]

Thank you for your answer Phil!

The reasons for the very good audiosection are easy: These sets were no mass products. Only very wealthy people who had big homes were able to afford such a combo. The price of this set was more than 6 times of a months average income in 1956.
The early table sets were often used in hostelries to watch soccer or other sport events. Good and loud audio performance was also very important in this case.
One interesting point is that these sets are not really rare here in Austria. A reason for this could be that they were used as radios and record players after the TV died or as a commode to put a new color TV on it's top. Mostly these sets are still here but in terrible condition.

I also want to point out that I visite your homepage often. The documentations of your restorations are very impressive and always a pleasure to read and watch.

Greetings

[snelson903]

thats a sharp looking tv set you have got there ,i like how the insides are all organized to.

[Sandy G]

Sorry for yr spill...Tore my ACL/meniscus several years back from a fall down my backdoor steps-My Dobermann Pinscher kinda pulled me/lunged, & down I went..I am IN LOVE w/yr set !! That thing's GORGEOUS !!

[DavGoodlin]

Very nice set you have there. Also amazing that so many still exist there.
The remaining three speakers must be impressive looking but are hidden from easy view.
That must have the nicest sound for something with such a very small footprint.

Thanks for the idea on the dust cover Josef! Thats just what some of my pieces need.

[electroking]

Great set and story. Best wishes for your recovery, please do keep us posted.

[Josef]

I appreciate all your kind replies and wishes!

Unfortunately the electrostatic tweeter which is mounted above the LF chassis isn't visible on this old photo. It was taken before any cleaning or restoration when I bought the set. On the other photos you can see the new castors, the tubes glowing and a jittery one from the combo set on radio mode.

Greetings

[TV-collector]

Hi Josef,

Thanks for the pictures.
I own the table set of it without radio, it has a good sound, too.
Since some years it is not possible to me, to receive austrian television.
Only ORF-E. For the rest are no more russian cookies available!
The other side of the problem is, that a legal buy of ORF-cards is
not allowed to germans or other foreigners.

If I find a way to make some free space in my house I will add one console.
Left severals on ebay in the past.

Best regards,

TV-collector

[Reece]

I really like the looks of that set, Josef. It's beautiful, and so well made. The shape of the cabinet is pleasing. And I love your country: I've been in Seefeld, Innsbruck, and Salzburg, but not Wien, unfortunately.

[compu_85]

Originally Posted by Josef

...I asked my dear mum if she would sew a dust protection cover made of a special fabric. You can see the really well made result on one of the photos.

My mother made me a cover for my Apple Lisa computer, I think from the same fabric... it works great

That's a very nice looking set. It's nice it has all those features in such a small cabinet. Most combo sets here in the US are giant monsters.

-J

[hi_volt]

That set looks like it came off the showroom floor yesterday....and plays well too. Very impressive.

[Captain Video]

That's a beautiful TV! I have a question: in what year did TV broadcasts started in Austria?

[Josef]

Thank you for your interest.
They started a public test program on the 1st August 1955. It was used an improvised studio which allowed only live broadcast. Regular program and recording devices were available in 1958. 1961 a second technical test program was broadcated 3 days a week. In 1970 this station was changed to regular program. The decision for PAL standard was made in 1967. 2008 HDTV was introduced. The last analog TV station was switched off in 2011.
Austria was good average in the introduction of TV here in Europe.

The program on my vintage set is received with a DVBT and DVBS combo receiver. In this case I used the terrestrial digital program and connected the AV output of the receiver to a modified VHF modulator. The videotext and colour signals are filtert out to improve picture quality.

Greetings

[Josef]

Good evening!
Unfortunately the set started and smelling bad while I was watching a movie last fall. At first I thought the high voltage transformer caused the problem because the picture went unstable for a moment .When I took the chassis out of the cabinet I followed my nose and recognized that the main switch was burned out. This power switch is underrated in my opinion and often causes problems in these TV sets. I reconsidered a lot how to repair this defect as good and original as possible. I came to the conclusion that making a bracket and using the switch of the successor TV sets would be the best solution. This Marquardt switch is a German high quality product which works for many ages usually. It will also be possible to replace the contacts from the switch because these switches are still available brand new with higher current ratings but they have knobs instead of claws. It is possible to screw the switch apart and replace the more than 50 years old 1 Amp contacts with brand new 2 Amp rated parts. Never the less I used the old contacts because it is possible to replace them anytime. What sounds easy turned out to be really a lot of work to do- you could also call it a PITA . The reason was that I want to make the switch work in combination with the push button assembly. When I pushed the off button the first time the required force was much too high. I removed one turn of the spring that is built in the switch. This modification reduced the required force to switch a lot. Now I was able to screw everything together and test the whole thing. The push button assembly works in the following way: As soon as the off button is pressed the switch is pushed into the off position. The more interesting part is that a pull spring is set and locked under tension at the same time. If any button that is supposed to turn the set on like AM, FM or PU is pressed, the push button assembly sets the pull spring free. The spring pulls the switch to the on position and the best thing is: This modification could have done with the same materials when the set was new. All added parts are handmade by myself. Please don't ask how long it took me to make the whole thing work as good as it does now

Greetings Josef