Hi Guys,

Recently I was doing some second hand shopping and came across an old radio. Being in IT I am naturally attracted to electronics and something about this thing was calling my name. The price was $360 but the lady in the shop said it was taking up space in her small shop and would sell it to me cheaper for $120. I didn't buy it straight up but it kept me up at night knowing it wasn't mine. The next day I made the purchase and took the radio home.

I have been looking all over online about these radios and haven't found much about them, I did however find a service manual for the model. I have a friend who is great with electronics and asked him to have a look at it. We plugged it in and let it warm up and sure enough it works!

The only thing is and the questions I have about it are. What can I do with it? I would like to use it, but I don't want to damage it. It looks good but I would like to perhaps restore it, but i'm scared of devaluing it. I am not even sure what it is worth or what its history is.

Not that I would get rid of it but what would it be worth as is, just curious. and does anyone have any suggestions. I am not a collector or enthusiast. I just love this piece of history.

Here are some picture links

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WLZtji9AMPE/UZF6BQpKsZI/AAAAAAAABlw/HbyCPBhhzRc/w228-h304-no/IMG_20130508_123759.jpg.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-CRnmSpG1aoI/UZF6BWnSOMI/AAAAAAAABlw/FKSuWNygx8g/w228-h304-no/IMG_20130508_123803.jpg.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-CpPckJMyFus/UZF6BSekU4I/AAAAAAAABlw/0W4PfYa0Zqs/w405-h304-no/IMG_20130508_123846.jpg.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-N5Y3CWTiWhQ/UZF6BdzaqRI/AAAAAAAABlw/ZO2cQu0KWvY/w405-h304-no/IMG_20130508_123855.jpg.

I'm very much a beginner with radios too, so I'll leave the more experienced members to help you, but I wouldn't recommend plugging the set in again. You need to replace some of the components inside (electrolytic and paper caps and some resistors), and do some general work to make it safe for use. The original components may currently work, but they will without doubt fail as a result of age and years sitting idle in storage.

Chris

The major issue with those is the fact that they do take up space.

Don't bother to try running it. Those two brown caps on the electrodynamic speaker will be shot, as will its cousins and all of the wax paper capacitors: minimum.

If it has rubber insulated wire that will also not be healthy.

That is similar in appearance to a 661 both that and an another from the later series I have had dealings with.

I would confine my initial enthusiasm to carefully cleaning it.

It does not look too knocked around so may fix easily. Depends on what may have stopped it.

Marc

That should clean up pretty well. I'm guessing that the speaker grille cloth has been replaced. My guess is the original would have been brown/tan or maybe maroon?

Here's the service notes and schematic:

http://www.kevinchant.com/uploads/7/1/0/8/7108231/470509519.pdf.

Not exactly a beginers set. beware of the wiring of the two caps on the speaker. On the 661 I had I ended up adding yet another board & putting them in the pan. The set is back biased so take careful note of where both ends of the electrolytics go. Replace all of them.

That is fitted with a shielded transformer, rewire using a 3 wire cable to ground the charge it will put onto the chassis.

Inside the cap over the socket of the tuning indicator there is normally a 1M resistor: Rarely are they in spec.

If you choose to DYI take photos inside the pan before you touch anything; even if its been messed with.

Check resistors as you change caps. You will probably have to unscrew (not neccesarily remove) some of those tag boards to get at the tags.

Marc

Hi,

Thanks for the replies, definitely not going to turn it on again. I was just curious to see if it still worked and if it was worth fixing. I was quite surprised when the circuit breakers did not trip when I flicked the switch.

The caps on the speaker don't seem original but are still very old. And the paper cone on the driver has a hole in it from a mouse or roach.

As GTC mentioned, I think the grill has been replaced, the wood that the speaker is fixed to is newer/different than the rest of the wood. My guess is it was refurbished at some point already.

The rubber on the wires looks okay still flexible and good condition, no cracks or heat deformation noticeable. the plug has been changed.

At the moment I am happy with it taking up space in the house. I might just put some pva glue on the loose joints and leave it as is for a while, maybe get some new knobs and clean up the plastic face so its more presentable.

Overzealous enthusiasm so often rules the head.

Just turning it on to see if it works often causes me extra work. I have been repairing them long enough to know that a visual inspection alone often says " not in a fit will you plug this in ... yet alone power it".

I endevour to impress upon the collectors I service for to not, unless it works in the shop, to turn it on and after a recent experience (repair); That is no guarantee that it has been repaired properly (or is hacked)

Aged unused for ages, electrolytics often loose their polarity and present as a short circuit. That has the potential fo fry the transformer secondary and there are plenty of examples on the Anitique Radio Forum for one, of that being achieved. Power transformers are far from cheap.

If you need to get it repaired off site electrically, you may not need to send the cabinet with it. The last set here & the one current (Televerta) came to me less cabinet.

Marc