Last sunday I bought for 15$ this little bakelite radio built by Mivar in 1958. Mivar are founded in 1945 by Mr. Carlo Vichi, and today is the most important italian builder of low-cost (but high reliability) TV-set.

I fell in love, and after a total recap I got a good sensibility and selectivity, and the UL84 power output tube makes a great sound!

This video is made before the recapping (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imRvS2ZVTd4&list=UUMcD6WtoOo9TXcDU9KonwIg&feature=plcp)

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/8379/dsc05019tc.jpg

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/9035/dsc05026s.jpg

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/907/dsc05023p.jpg

Always AMAZING how much performance Europeans could squeeze outta so few tubes...

And believe it or not, Carlo Vichi still rules ! He must be around 92 now, and goes to work 7 days a week !
You can see his car in front of Mivar offices in Abbiategrasso, south of Milan, even in the summer holidays !

Yes, his blue Lexus... I seeing it when I take this pictures

Old factory (http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/3752/dsc04216a.jpg)

New factory (http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/276/dsc04217g.jpg)

http://www.quattronet.it/85_maggio/mivar.jpg

http://www.carlobramantiradio.it/mivar%20dal_sito_della_mivar_file/image001.jpg