Estate Sale

mrloren

Very nice score, looks like real wood too

oldrocker

Took it to her house last night.

Stopped by earlier today for a visit, drop off a cord for her keyboard and to advise her it's probably not a good idea to play the albums.

She had an album going.

Did a tad more cleaning, didn't sound all that good, some pops & scratches, tried another better looking one and it played a little better.

Talk about a flashback remembering when my Mom would stack a bunch up on our old console when I was a kid and let it run.

Decided to stack some up, let it run and the crazy thing dropped the next ones just as it should. I told her that's about all the better it will sound for what it was and the age.

She was smiling when I left which is all that matters.

Clipdat

You did well for $20!

oldrocker wrote: »

She was smiling when I left which is all that matters.

miner

Donald Fagan was a Floyd Cramer fan and influenced by his playing style - you can tell that by listening to "Sign in Stranger".

mhardy6647

miner wrote: »

Donald Fagan was a Floyd Cramer fan and influenced by his playing style - you can tell that by listening to "Sign in Stranger".

Interesting -- hadn't thought about that.

Cramer's style was certainly unique -- didn't folks call it "crying piano" or "weeping piano" or something like that?

I am a fan; I have my parents' copy of his album Last Date still

Viking64

Here is one of my favorite Floyd Cramer contributions to an Elvis Presley song. "I'm Coming Home" (1961)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izbpgw2ofgE

oldrocker

Philco 46-1213.

Approx. 71 yrs old, power cord shot, finish is rough.

oldrocker

Tubes

mhardy6647

Field coil speaker driver, too.
Probably a darned nice radio with some TLC.
Note that it has the "modern" FM band (88 to 108 MHz, umm I mean MC).

Loktal tubes (except for the outputs, which are 6V6, and the HV rectifier, which is a 5U4 -- oh, and a 6SQ7).

oldrocker

As usual, I have no clue what I bought but for the few bucks I paid, I was thinking maybe I could at least pull the amp for another something.

Cabinet might go to friends who does great finish work.

Any idea what the green clamp like thing to the left of the TT is for?

mhardy6647

The record player is a 78 rpm changer. That's a record support, not unlike the one used on the classic (for lack of a better word) Garrard Type A.

verb

Nice find @oldrocker ! I have a Philco 41-290 recently restored. I found the following site very helpful during my restoration:
http://www.philcoradio.com/phorum/
Have fun!

mhardy6647

The amp may be useful for other things, but that usefulness may be limited -- or may require a little resourcefulness on your part.

The speaker driver is electrodynamic -- instead of a permanent magnet speaker (as we've grown used to in most loudspeakers) this radio used an electromagnet motor for the speaker driver. This isn't a problem per se, but it may be a complication. It was pretty common for radio manufacturers to kill two birds with one stone and use the DC "electromagnet" (coil) as a choke (smoothing filter, analogous to a capacitor) in the high voltage power supply. You'll notice a four prong plug on the umbilicus from the amp to the speaker. Two pins are the signal, the other two are high voltage DC from the power supply to energize the electromagnetic coil in the speaker driver.

You may need to add a choke of appropriate value into the amp's power supply -- to replace the speaker's electromagnet if you want to use a PM speaker.

mhardy6647

Interestingly, the radio apparently doesn't use the "modern" standard 10,7 MHz IF frequency for FM -- if I interpret the datasheet correctly, it's 9.1 MHz. That shouldn't be a problem... but it's certainly a little different.

mhardy6647

FWIW, this is how the Garrard stacks -- this Philco will be similar (10 inch 78s only, I reckon, though).


source: https://www.vinylengine.com/library/garrard/rc884.shtml

oldrocker

As always, excellent info guys...Thanks.

There was also a KLH model TT at the sale, it said Garrard on it. I didn't buy it.

Truth be told I only bought it because of the tubes and I liked the way the turntable cabinet door opened.

I have been giving it some thought to just pull the TT and put a different one in if that's even possible.

V- just looked at some pics of the 41-290, those look awfully cool.

verb

Thanks Rocker! I had the chassis completely refurbished at a local repair shop. My field coil speaker was in good shape, so no issue there. I did, ahem, have the shop add a bluetooth receiver to it! Lot's of old time radio programs can be streamed nowadays. Love it!

oldrocker

The speaker cone on this one looks good, still dusty & dirty but no dry rot I can see.

I was surprised that the felt on the platter was also still intact.

V-with your permission of course, I'd like to send you a few pm questions if I may?

verb

Of course! Anytime!

mhardy6647

Just to be very, very clear: there is nothing wrong a priori with field coil drivers. In fact, the best of them may be the best possible dynamic drivers, period.

This system, e.g., is all field coil.



... and of course, the DC power supplies for the field coils are all vacuum tube. You can see two of them in the background in this photo.

mhardy6647

oldrocker wrote: »

As always, excellent info guys...Thanks.

There was also a KLH model TT at the sale, it said Garrard on it. I didn't buy it.

Truth be told I only bought it because of the tubes and I liked the way the turntable cabinet door opened.

I have been giving it some thought to just pull the TT and put a different one in if that's even possible.

V- just looked at some pics of the 41-290, those look awfully cool.

[emphasis added]

Well -- it could be done, although it wouldn't be quite trivial.
The cartridge in that phonograph is probably crystal, with output akin to (maybe even greater than) line level. The input (mono!) on the amplifier would probably have no EQ (the cartridge is 'self-equalizing', so to speak) -- and, of course, the 78 rpm disks weren't EQ'd to the RIAA standard we use now (and which came along in the 1950s, some time after the introduction of 12" vinyl 33-1/3 rpm LP records).

You'd need a phono preamp and a mono cartridge in the tt, and/or a way to get mono output from the preamp.

But the output of the preamp may be OK as is to feed the phono input of the amplifier.

May be.

oldrocker

Cool.

Not sure what I will do with it, sadly you are right, only plays 10' at 78.
Thinking about pulling out the TT and putting another one in it's place.
Did watch a video showing how an album drops, that was neat.
Arm on this thing weighs a ton.

Probably better served to give this tube console thing a rest.

mhardy6647

oldrocker wrote: »

Cool.

Not sure what I will do with it, sadly you are right, only plays 10' at 78.
Thinking about pulling out the TT and putting another one in it's place.
Did watch a video showing how an album drops, that was neat.
Arm on this thing weighs a ton.

Probably better served to give this tube console thing a rest.

well -- it depends on your end goals (if any).

What you have there is a very, very nice old console radio. Well worthy of rescue/restoration, I'd say. It can be a nice piece; even maybe a centerpiece in a family room (maybe even the right kind of living room). But not really for hifi. That doesn't mean it won't sound good (it probably will)... but not for serious, sit down and listen to it hifi.

This being said, there are absolutely consoles that are capable of good hifi (stereo) reproduction -- and they're not even necessarily expensive (although the best, of course, are -- like anything else).

"Chance favors the prepared mind", as L. Pasteur said... if that's what you want, keep your eyes peeled at yard sales, barn sales, etc., etc.

The "bones" in many of the 1950s and 1960s consoles from brands like Zenith, Motorola, and Magnavox were, and are, good, and quite capable of "hifi" as we would recognize it. They need some TLC, and generally also benefit from better loudspeakers than their makers endowed them with -- but, again, the bones are there.

oldrocker

Probably better just stick to getting the exterior done for now.

Once again, THANKS for the info everyone

verb

oldrocker wrote: »

Cool.

Not sure what I will do with it, sadly you are right, only plays 10' at 78.
Thinking about pulling out the TT and putting another one in it's place.
Did watch a video showing how an album drops, that was neat.
Arm on this thing weighs a ton.

Probably better served to give this tube console thing a rest.

Do it! Professor @mhardy6647 will assist every step of the way!

oldrocker

oldrocker wrote: »

Philco 46-1213.

Approx. 71 yrs old, power cord shot, finish is rough.

Here's the label

verb

Thanks Dave for posting that! And Ivan too!

So I would say the rectifier tube 5U4G is worth some coin. Some NOS tubes like Ken Rad's can get a hundie. 2nd on the list would be the 6V6GT (you have 2 of em). Just do a quick search to see what they get.

Unfortunately I can only use the 7B7 for my Philco, of which I already have 2 NOS spares!

If they test good, I would try to let someone else use em. Good luck!