vintage or antique?
 

is 50s vintage or antique?

I would say "Vintage", but others may differ..."Antique", to me anyway, implies 1930 or before...

I always refer to them as vintage.

Vintage sounds right to me too. I looked "Antique" up on Merriam Webster and they infer that various Customs Laws require an antique to be 100 years old or more.

John

Legal meaning notwithstanding (over 100 years old), it depends on the field the item is a part of. An "antique computer" could be the very first PC made by IBM back around 1980. "Antique" software could be Windows 3.11 :D

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" I have radios so antique, they use vacuum tubes!" :D

Ah, so I'll use the "vintage" radio forum for info about a 50s era tube radio. I can do that. thanks.

nope can't use the vintage radio forum. have to use the antique forum.:scratch2:
Oh well, no problem. I just acquired a Zenith X334 tube radio with a date of 1-59, all wood, definately styling of the era. I has the darndest looking "speaker" which appears to be electrostatic, in addition to the reg. paper cone speaker. It's about 2" square with a perforated screen and a shiny silver material behind it. There's electrical connections to it and its mounted as a speaker would be . A plastic covering protects the backside from damage. I'm gonna do the wood finish and detail the dial face . Just pulled it all apart to clean and examine all the workings, it's orig, unmolested, and just needs the grill material reattached in a corner. Not powered it yet.
Anyone care to comment? Recommend a good source of lit. should I want some.?
Thanks
PS: only gave 20 for it with a cut power cord. It'll look good when done. will post pics soon.

Can just about guarantee it'll need a re-capping job. Possibly a re-alignment, if somebody's been screwing w/that. Could have a dead tube, but I doubt it. When you get it going again, it should give good service for a long time.

no signs of being screwd with, only the cut cord. Im the 1st human to see it naked since it was born in 59(?). all tubes orig. Got a tubetester so will check all tubes for life and will recap only of necessary. I'll see how it goes on the variac. Maybe the electroes in the can.
see the pic of the el. spkr I just posted.

Here's the schematic for it: http://antiqueradios.com/gallery/d/9...d41ee2b48bb5f9

Looks like it uses a conventional 4 ohm PM speaker.
I wonder if that speaker looking item is actually an internal antenna ?

thanks for that. that speaker has opening in front like the cone one and it's source is coming from the OPT thru a xover. I know it's an electrostatic speaker/tweeter.

Can you find any marks on the chassis that indicate whether it's a 7N05 or 7N07 ?

The schematic shows a second speaker in dotted lines for the 7N07, but it's also 5" X 7".

Where did you post your picture ? I don't see it here.

Its a 7N07. Look up in the 'electrostatic speaker from zenith x334' thread above. can only post pics once in AK.
FWIW I powered it up today and IT WORKS!!! Tunes stations across the band(AM so far) volum and tone work and are nonscratchy, but I cleaned them. Speaker is abit scratchy being an old paper cone. Hope to find a new one. Hope antiqueradios has one.

I have an X334 also! Lots of ceramic caps, so I recapped the (becoming leaky) electrolytic and there were some resistors that had drifted. Still has all it's original tubes! It's a decient player.
Watch out for that hot chassis and neutralize it at least. On mine, the A/C cord is still original and since it's not polarized, I marked the prongs so I plug it in the same way.

All the caps in mine look to be in good cond visually and are not exploding when turned on. Gonna see if the little bit of hum can be eliminated by connecting some electros across the cap caps. Its not leaking. If it dont work I;ll leave it . the hum isnt that bad. I'll give it a few weeks to awaken to its newfound life after sitting along time.
Point taken on the hot chassis. Once its back in its box and the back is on no ones gonna be touching it sept me and there wont be nuthin metal to touch then.
My speaker search is over as I found some nice sony 4 ohm 6" round cardoor speakers I had squirilled away. One will fit nicely in the space of the 5x7 and it sounds great. No fuzzy scratchy sound now. Just good audio. So I'm good to go.:banana::music:

I have an X334 and an N731, which both use the same chassis. I have been hunting for the schematic for them for a week now. they both use that weird electrostatic plate speaker which is non functional on either of them, unfortunately. they both play, but not really well. I plan on refurbing the insides as soon as I can get the schematic.

Be aware that the power switch is usually in the feed to the radio's ground. So the chassis will get "hot" when you turn it off, if it was at the external world's ground potential when it was on.

I consider any radio or TV that's tube powered Antique and ones that are solid state or hybrid vintage. :yes: :thmbsp:

The word "vintage" actually should only be used when referring to wines. Antique is more proper as it refers to something old that is of value. I must admit that I refer to my radios and TV's as "vintage" because it just sounds better than "antique". When I hear the word "antique" I think of very old items like spinning wheels and grandfather clocks.

My vintage dictionary has three separate entries for vintage. One entry is "of old, recognized, and enduring interest, importance, or quality." I think that describes most of the electronics that we deal with. Anything older than me is "vintage," and anything manufactured after 1947 is just "used."

Old coots would definitely qualify as antique.

So what are you implying here...:scratch2: