Does anybody here know much about Sparton radios?
I've got one I bought in New Zealand in the late 70s, and I've only recently gotten round to doing a serious restoration on it.

The previous owner had done a nice job on the cabinet, and he'd replaced the original transformer and 80 rectifier with a transformer out of a small B&W TV running a voltage doubler(!)

A bit feral, but it worked OK and I just used it as an everyday radio until I returned to Australia in 1987. Due to incompetent packing by the removalists it stopped working, which, as I recently discovered, was simply due to the volume pot being open-circuited by a bash on its shaft.
To cut to the chase, Sparton made a huge number of models both in their US and Canadian divisions, but I can't find a circuit that matches the one I have, nor the cabinet style.
Basically it's a 6 valve superhet with an RF stage and 3 shortwave bands (plus broadcast) . The valve lineup is:

78 RF amp, 6A7 mixer, 78 IF amp, 75 detector & Audio preamp, 42 Audio Output, 80 rectifier.

From what I can see, Sparton stopped using UX-based valves in 1935, and they also stopped making radios with power transformers around the same time, so this would have to be an early '30s model.

Originally I didn't know that Sparton had a Canadian operation, and that their designs were somewhat different to the US ones. I was originally baffled by the IF transformers, because every US Sparton circuit I could find showed a 456kHz IF, but there was no way these could be tuned that high. I eventually discovered that many of the Canadian Spartons used an oddball 356kHz IF.
I found one Canadian Sparton circuit that had four bands and a switching setup like mine, but not one with an RF stage.

I've been through all "The Usual Suspects" and I'm waiting for my membership to the German RadioMuseum to come through to see if they have anything, but it doesn't look like it.

Can anybody shed any light on this.

I should add that despite its age, this radio is an incredible performer. Apart from the 6A7, all the valves look original too!

Might be worth contacting http://www.nzvrs.pl.net/

Radiomuseum has 4 Canadian Sparton models: 467A, 467B, 467C & 468, all with the same valve line-up as the subject of this thread. All have short-wave & all have the very unusual I.F. of 345 kHz.

Can we have a picture please?

The U.S. Sparton model 67 was sold in NZ:

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19341105.2.27.1

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sparks_wit_67.html

The Canadian model 67 has the same cabinet but uses metal octal valves:

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/spartoncan_67.html

Both US & Canadian version I.F. is 345 kHz.

Well, by looking at the various links I've discovered it's probably a Sparton 616X or 666X (Both have the same circuit)
Here it is:

http://www.nostalgiaair.org/pagesbymodel/881/M0018881.pdf

What I've been doing up to now is going through the model numbers one by one. I probably would have found it eventually, but 616/666 are a long way down the list!
Anyway, this also has alignment instructions which I suspect I would desperately need, the way the band switching is done!
It looks similar to this:

http://radioattic.com/item.htm?radio=1340039

The hard part was the unusually shaped dial scale. Every Sparton picture I could find showed a round dial.
It looks like it's meant to have one of those celluloid dial covers that poke out through the front. I can't see how a flat glass one could be used.
There is a mutilated label on the back, and now, from this

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19341105.2.27.1

I can confirm it said "NZ Express Co".
The standard of construction was very ordinary, quite out of character with Sparton (or so I've read) which makes me wonder whether it was something made locally in NZ from imported kitsets.
The audio output section shown on the circuit looks nothing like what is now in the radio but you can see where the parts were supposed to go originally, so someone has given it a real going over!

My radio has a tone control pot, not a switch, but I have no way of knowing if that is original or not. (Probably not!)

I'm not usually partial to wooden radios but that 616M Tombstone pictured is a fine looking set.

makes me wonder whether it was something made locally in NZ from imported kitsets.

Again, I would suggest contacting http://www.nzvrs.pl.net/

Watch what you say about wooden cabinets

http://archive.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_109837/article.html

Ahhhh, the days when the Vintage Radio column was more than a product showcase. I also like a good timber set and am looking at my Raycophone Peewee for some inspiration.

Ahhhh, the days when the Vintage Radio column was more than a product showcase.

I don't see it as that. Most articles are about repair or restoration of a set.

Is the dial on the Sparton anything like this?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/antiques-collectables/art-deco-retro/appliances/auction-1167744789.htm

MonochromeTV: Is the dial on the Sparton anything like this?

That's the one. I've since found it's a model 616. There's a whole lot of model numbers on the same circuit, which appear to be the different cabinet variations.

It's this model:

http://radioattic.com/item.htm?radio=1340039

I've since joined radiomuseum in Switzerland and they have lots of nice pictures.
Bit of an odd setup; you can apply for membership and pay your joining fee instantly by PayPal, but they'll only send your login password and secret member number by snail mail. Ernst Erb must have worked in a Swiss bank for his day job

Somebody did a real hatchet job on the audio amp section of my 616. The 42 output pentode had a mixture of cathode bias and back bias. I never would have figured that out without a circuit.

They simply wired it as a conventional back bias with a grounded cathode. No wonder it never worked properly.