Reliance 36 valve radio.
I found this radio while browsing through TROVE.
36 valves! Output is 807’s in pushpull/parallel.
Can you believe it?
Has anyone seen one of these?

Yes totally this is extremely rare is it for sale and what is trove. Put it to you literally reliance made the best ever radios in Australia at that time. Their multivalve sets were legendary but at the time not many people could afford them so not many sold and are very very collectable now.

Trove is an archive of newspaper articles and other material hosted by the National Library of Australia.

Thirty-six valves? If I had that radio, I wouldn't a have heater. I would use the radio to heat the room.

Wayne.

Garyoz can you do a screen shot and share it with us buddy . I would love to see this.

Gary has sent me some photos. They will go up tonight.

Update: Photos uploaded to the OP.

Article below is from Radio & Hobbies of May 1949.

Reliance made a number of multi-valve monsters over the years. The 36 valve job topped them all.

Thats 31 valves more than my Skyraider lol.

It is certainly an interesting radio. I wonder if anyone has one.
Here’s more info on it;

This is probably Australia’s most elaborate commercial radio.
Advertised in the “Sunday Herald”(NSW), July 24, 1949 and displayed at the 1949 Sydney Royal Show.
It comprises separate AM and FM tuners feeding into a common audio amplifier.
The AM tuner has variable selectivity and makes extensive use of the EF50 valve.
AFC is also provided. It has a single short wave band.
The audio amplifier incorporates a number of preliminary stages which feed into push-pull 6V6GT valves and then into parallel 807’s.
The audio section can be switched to either radio tuner, from a gramophone pickup or a crystal microphone.
Output can be fed to the speaker or to a crystal cutting head for recording purposes.

Does anyone know anything about the History of Reliance?
Trolling through Trove indicates that the Reliance Radio Company sold imported radios from 1925 and in 1932 sold their own models. Name also changed to Reliance Radio Company (A/Asia).
Some company do you think?

It comprises separate AM and FM tuners

FM tuner in 1949 -- is this an import?

I know there was a limited level of experimental FM broadcasting in Oz in late 1940s, but I don't know any local manufacturers of FM tuners in 1949.

This is a beast that would certainly spin the disc on the meter quickly. Not only does it have more valves than most, if not every other radio ever made but more than most televisions were fitted with. The power transformer would be larger than usual to handle the extra load too.

AM and FM? It's a shame the FM tuner wasn't a stereo one, though in 1949 and with no FM stations I suppose it was a futuristic gimmick, given that any radio made in 1949 would most certainly be obsolete by the time FM did launch in Australia. Though at the same time there was consideration to an introduction of FM broadcasts before a backflip in favour of television.

I guess I should ask the big question that has been asked by others here.... Does this animal still exist? Are any in collections or is there one in Nanna's unused formal loungeroom?

At 550 guineas (£605), only those in the eastern suburbs would have been able to afford one and even then, not everyone there.

The 36 valve job topped them all.

I stand corrected. A year later in 1950 Reliance showed a 40 valve monster at the Royal Easter Show.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/1035088?zoomLevel=1

There was an experimental FM service in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane & Adelaide between 1947 & 1961. The Government decided to do away with the service so they could increase the amount of TV channels from 10 to 13.

Calstan also had a few FM models in 1949 including a tuner only which could plug into the PU inputs of a radio.

http://www.thebakeliteradio.com/page52/page52.html

Electrosound, from Sydney, had a few models with FM in the late 1950's.

US manufacturers tended to pride themselves on building big, and sets containing between 6 and 15 valves weren't that uncommon there. I wonder if they ever reached 40?

I also wonder if the market leaders here such as AWA, Philips and Astor looked at what Reliance was bringing out and wondering if they should try the same or just let Reliance soak up what would ultimately be a niche market.

Until now I did not realise there was a 30+ valve receiver out there. My hospital piped music system, made by STC, from the Royal Ryde Rehabilitation Hospital doesn't have that many valves and it has three separate receivers inside the cabinet.

I have serviced a couple of Midwests & those have had 16 & 18 Valves one had amplified AGC & a push pull feeding four 6F6's in Push Pull. First time I had seen Two 80's with their plates tied together & one in each phase. One of these sets was a nightmare as they had RF wires radiating into the audio & shielding was not one of its highlights. I must admit that one I tamed it the sound from it was rather good & one had a pair of electrodynamic Jensen's One Woofer one tweeter.

I have a feeling that it may have been made prior to a massive court case in the US where several manufacturers were hauled over the coals for making sets in which several valves were really surplus & in the scheme of things did nothing other than consume power.

One of the absolutely best performing & sensitive radio's that I have ever worked on was believed to be a one off, based on an AWA R301 but with a 6A6 as a push pull OP added. Never have I seen a 1930's radio, or many others where you could turn it up full volume (& it had a lot) with no signal & hear nothing. It has a bandpass filter as the first IF & that is what brought it down after someone got at it & AWA had changed the IF frequency from that of the R301. They did share the same parts list albeit the special had more of them.

Marc