Hello I recently bought what was advertised as (and is identical to) an AWA B15 Radiola, however it being identical to one of those has "Westinghouse Wide Fi" s it's name on the front and Model W518m on the chassis, t least I think, as it is scarecely readable. When I pulled it to bits it was full of bug carcasses, cocoons and cobwebby debris, the dial cord was broken and it was full of paper capacitors, a bit of a mess all up, but with a thorough cleanup and new dial cord I discovered the speaker to be in very poor condition, bugs had eaten holes in the cone and the center, I found under the felt over the voicecoil the bodies of bugs and their poo and wee has stained and rusted the voice coil to the magnet and although I have done my best to repair it, it sounds not too flash, very scratchy and tinny even if quite loud, the radio itself working very well, but I need a new speaker and can only seem to find ones on ebay in the US, so I'm wondering if anybody has an spare lying around they are willing to part with? It's 15ohm 6X4 inch, My transformer appears to be good, just need a speaker, even if anybody knows where I may buy one off the shelf, the magnet can't be too big though as it must fit in the radio without much space to spare.
Cheers.

As a last resort you could find a suitable ex transistor type round speaker and build a simple MDF baffle board.
If you can find a reasonable quality one, it may even sound better than the original.
JJ

Looks like it, depressing day, hunting everywhere for just a 16 ohm 6x4 inch oval speaker, what I expected to be fairly run of the mill, but no, would you believe, every space aged, new fangled ultra fandangled ridiculous speaker you could poke a stick at, too big too small, to fat, everything but a simple damned speaker. It seems I have to buy from the US as everyone in Australia has gone mad, nothing useful available,,,

Those were not common, but oval speakers were common in 60's cars, but like 6 1/4", are not easy to come by. As I repair, I have a few speakers squirreled away. I know I have at least one oval. Its sitting behind me but is only around 2'' across.

Do note that in Australia "Manufacturing Industry" is fast becoming an oxymoron.

Marc

Does this help?

http://picclick.com/6x4-Inch-Oval-radio-Speaker-182261844605.html

Thanks guys, there's a few options, I could fit a smaller one and mount it on a backing plate, 15 ohms sorry not 16, there's one, a car radio speaker looks good for $55 but looks new... I'll figure something out! Cheers.
For some reason I thought they'd be fairly commonplace, it seems not...

Has anyone noticed that the cabinet is is supposed to look like a futuristic building?
Imagine it the size of a block of flats.
It never occurred to me until I was told. Now I see it clearly. Also remember it was designed around 55 years ago.
I am a big fan of AWA's styling of the 60's and 70's.

Wayne.

If you are not in a great hurry, an alternative to buying a speaker on eBay is to keep an eye out on eBay, Gumtree, etc, for a cheap B15 set with a damaged case.

I've seen such sets at HRSA auctions and swap meets.

True, I've always got m eye out, but I found a 6"x4" speaker on Ebay, for an HR Holden replacement radio speaker, it's 15 ohm, which is the particular requirement for this radio, $69.00 including postage, so I bought it... Not cheap, but it's brand new and will sound good.
Should be a great little radio once I fit the new speaker!

That's why I mentioned car. I have a Breville 730 that I did send photo's of for something to put in photo of the week. It has a 6 1/4" speaker and was one where I acquired an NOS one as used a Mitsubishi Magna front door. Those may be more expensive as they are made to withstand the pressure wave form doors being open & shut.

Marc

Oopsie, I made a bit of a boo boo, the speaker arrived, but 8"x4" instead of 6'x4', so had to make a decision and decided to try and make it fit, the short end of a long story is that we (my wife and I) were successful, but it wasn't easy. The speaker at one end touching the case on the RHS with the front face down, the opposite end of the speaker would rub on the dial cord wheel attached to the tuning gang, so with the speaker flat on the table, using my wife's grinding tool (a cross between an angle grinder and a jigsaw... sort of!) I surgically removed the steel backing of the speaker, from the edge to about a centimetre from the magnet, the full width of the speaker, just leaving the very steel rim attached to the cone.

Then I cut the upper two mounting lugs (which were already broken) flush with the face of the cover, then carefully cut slots in the lower lugs and the case lug, the width of the speaker rim so I could push the speaker into the slots I had cut, when I did this it held the speaker firm, so I traced around the speaker with a texta, removed the speaker and applied contact adhesive inside the line I has traced, and around the edge of the speaker and placed the speaker in position to allow the glue to set.

I then drilled two small holes in the right hand side of the speaker casing and bolted the transformer from the old speaker in place using the original bolts which tightened perfectly. With wires soldered, I replaced the chassis into the front of the case, to notice the gang wheel still rubbing on the rim and cone of the speaker (where I had removed the back plate) So very carefully I bent the upper chassis vertical section where the tuning gang is mounted, backwards enough to give 5mm clearance from the gang wheel to the modified speaker, to find the wheel now fouling with the ferrite rod, so bent the mounting of the ferrite rod slightly down to give sufficient clearance.

Satisfied all was well after turning the tuning knob from one end to the other, I replaced the case to find the handle bit in the middle of the case rear fouling with the speaker magnet, so another operation with wife's grinding tool to remove about 5mm of plastic from the corner of the inside of the handle and it all fits together nicely.

Plugged in and powered up and working very well. Nice and loud!