Hi all,

one of the many things I love about restoration is the old speakers. When I was a kid, a friend and I used to collect old vintage bits n' pieces and very occasionally, we'd get something semi-working.

Having acquired some vintage TVs (mostly from the US) and seeing various pics on your posts, I am reminded of those times when I was younger and had an impressive collection of old speakers which sounded and looked great.

New speakers sound good etc., but the old vintage ones have "cool" value.

Is it just me being weird, or do some of you feel the same way?

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Nothin' wrong with you, mate!

Older is better! When I was in my teens I had older speakers hooked up to my turntable. They sounded the best

To me, the B&W consoles of the '50's with their speakers that ranged in size between 8"-12" sounded much better than the tiny little 2"-4" Chinese made speakers found in modern TV's. I have a '69 Zenith B&W console and I don't remember what kind of speakers it uses; but, it has a good sound.

I have a Magnavox console with speakers from 1960, and they sound better than anything I have yet to hear. There may be certain things new speakers have that the older ones didn't, but you can't beat that distinctive vintage sound through the old ones!
In my own judgement, the older speakers sound like your listening to a concert, like your really there.
The extra range you get from new speakers, with the crisper highs, sounds nice, but sounds recorded, not "lifelike".

Great to see another Aussie TV collector in these forums. Nothing weird about appreciating the sound out of older speakers, there are plenty of people who prefer sound from vinyl with crackle opposed to CDs and MP3s, many guitarists prefer valve amps to solid state amps and the list of examples goes on.

Anyways tell me about your US imported vintage TVs, what sets do you have and love to see photos if you can take some snaps and share them here? I am always interested in knowing about what vintage US TV sets have been brought to Australia, I know a bloke up in the Blue Mountains who has some US and UK imported TV sets from the 40s-50s era and has a website http://cool386.tripod.com/ , he has a US import 1948 Airline/Sentinel 400TV B&W TV which he converted to Aussie 625 line 25fps standards http://cool386.tripod.com/400tv/400tv.html . Last year I bought from him a Frankensteined 1947 Andrea VJ12 chassis B&W TV with no cabinet and VCR140 radar tube instead of 12JP4 TV tube, this set is featured on my site http://troysvintagevideo.0catch.com/andrea.html .

Having acquired some vintage TVs (mostly from the US) and seeing various pics on your posts, I am reminded of those times when I was younger and had an impressive collection of old speakers which sounded and looked great.



Was wondering what you use for a signal source to feed the US sets. A DVD player set to "NTSC", and a modulator intended for the American market would be one way. Use the yellow "Luma" video jack for a B&W set, luma has no chroma subcarrier to junk up the picture.

As you're from Australia, check out a vintage radio and TV forum http://vintage-radio.com.au/

Hi all,


Thanks for the links and info, I'll check these out.

The US sets I have (so far) are mainly Predictas. I have a Holiday with roll away stand, a Princess and a Debutante. Unfortunately all restoration has stopped right now becuase of studies, but I hope to get back to them soon. The other one I have is a GE set (17in CRT) in an all metal cabinet. It reminds me of something you'd see in the Thunderbirds! I have no photos as yet, at least not of anything complete and working, but I will post all my experiences with these sets as I get closer to completion.

I'd really like a Tandem Predicta in mahogany finish, and I always look forward to Bob's posts and videos on these. Would a Porthole be pushing it?.... So far everything I've had shipped to Aus has made it intact. I consider myself very lucky! I would be a bit concerned about getting a Porthole over here in one piece, but I would risk it if the right one came along.


In terms of signal, I have a cheap little DVD player that can output PAL and NTSC, so I'm hoping that will work on them, but until I get a raster at least, I can't be sure.
One day....

If I really get stuck with signals, I may have to shell out for an Aurora converter box, super expensive, but it will be worth it to watch these sets!

Cheers,

Adam

In terms of signal, I have a cheap little DVD player that can output PAL and NTSC, so I'm hoping that will work on them, but until I get a raster at least, I can't be sure.


If I really get stuck with signals, I may have to shell out for an Aurora converter box, super expensive, but it will be worth it to watch these sets!



You'd need an RF modulator designed for American TV sets, mainly the sound subcarrier frequency (4.5MHz) and the main carrier frequency (American TV channels 3 or 4). ebay is one likely source. Feed the modulator with the baseband video and audio from the DVD player making NTSC. Use luma video (if the DVD player has it, it would be there as "component video" Y Pr Pb, it's the Y) for the B&W sets.

Old Speakers...My main pair of listening ones are a pair of old Tannoy's from the late 1950's...you ain't weird thats for sure :yes:

If you're "Weird", then there AIN'T NO HOPE for most of the REST of us here...(grin) Now- Keep in mind that I'm basically a Pompous, Overbearing AzzWhole, but I think WE'RE VASTLY superior to those who only like new stuff-A LOT of new consumer-grade electronics are barely fit to be brought into your home...So much New Stuff is just depressingly SO "Cheap 'n' Nasty", "Rinky-Dink", however you wanna describe it.

I had a feeling I wouldn't be alone! ;)

At some stage I want to build a valve surround amp and use it as the amp for the entertainment system... I can wait to hear how it sounds when completed. Of course if I can actually have all 5 channels on the one unit, I'll need a crane to lift it!

But those old speakers do have a magicality about them, don't they? Couple that with being valve driven, and NOTHING of todays equipment even comes close.

The Tannoys are coupled up with a Rogers HG88 valve amplifier.... the combination is very nice, would put alot of solid state stuff to shame (not that I don't like solid state), but it has to be a 1970's Sansui or Pioneer to rock my boat and yes I collect those too! :D