In the last week or so I have been driving around NSW looking for good valve radios to add to my collection. Stops included some antique shops I've been known to haunt for a fairly long time, namely the Burning Mountain Antique Centre on the New England Highway in Wingen and Antique Sounds in King Street, Newcastle. I've also ordered one in from Perth, WA for sentimental reasons.

Sadly I have to report that Antique Sounds will soon close, due to the pending retirement of the proprietor. I always enjoyed being in his shop and two or three of my radios have come from there. I wish him well in his retirement years.

The photo above shows the two Airzones I have purchased. For now I have cut the old cords off and will only power them up when I am in the process of restoring the chassis. The Radiostar allows me to pretty much complete the collection of the different models that were available. My first Radiostar was purchased in 1991 for the price of $400.00 and comes in a white cabinet which is a rare colour and is a 240 volt AC model. The second, purchased in 2010 for about $220.00 is an 240 volt AC/DC receiver, suitable for some of the capital city DC electricity supplies that existed back before statewide AC grids became more commonplace. AC/DC receivers have a bad reputation because of the danger they pose to servicemen and tinkerers. There is no isolation transformer fitted (or the set would not work on DC) and if any mains wiring leading to the receiver is not of the correct polarity you would get a great jolly wallop from the 'innards'. AC/DC receivers are best left in an unrestored state unless the person working on them has a lot of experience working with high voltages - there is no room for errors with them. The Radiostar purchased yesterday is a 6 volt DC model, equipped with an inverter to boost the high tension voltage to a level suitable for pumping through valves.

The latter two radiostars have walnut cabinets with white grilles and this colour combination was more popular. Other rare colours were black, jade and an all-brown model. The Radiostar was also badge-engineered as a Mullard 10 and these were identical apart from the grille. The Radiostar has several cracks in its top however these can be repaired. Cracks are a common problem with this model due to the thin gauge of bakelite used in such a heavy receiver.

The Airzone Cub was purchased on impulse as it was on special due to the pending closure of the shop in which it was sold. As I already have one of these, this one will probably get restored and sold at a later date. The chassis fitted to the 503 was also fitted to some of Airzone's gothic 'tombstone' models.



The Kriesler pictured above is an 11-7 from 1948. It is a fairly heavy table model featuring AM and shortwave and has an impressive sound. This set was restored by Radio Revival Parts in Perth and was sent here well packaged as the 5,000km ride would not have been smooth all of the time. The biggest weakness in the 11-7 are the grille flutes which break easily and reduce the value of the radio as a whole. This one has a new badge and no breaks in any of the grilles and was thus worth the price paid.

More radios are to be purchased by me over the next week, depending on what I find and the outlay required. This thread will be updated as necessary.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

If your Radiostar is model 525, then one in "top condition" went for $360 at a recent HRSA deceased estate auction.

Yep, she's a 525. The Cub is a 503. The Radiostar looks fairly complete but the repair to the top of the cabinet is a bit of a worry. Curved bakelite likes to curl around a bit more when it breaks and this cabinet is no exception.

There is a mint cabinet in Ebay at the moment however it only has three holes.

See this listing for details.

If repair doesn't work the way I want I may find myself in the market for a replacement cabinet, if someone has one surplus to requirements.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

I like that wall phone in the picture of the Kriesler 11-7. Wonder if it would work on American phone lines.

The phone is a goer as our exchanges still recognise pulse dialling. If the US phone system does this and is wired in a similar fashion to the British phone system then it should work. Although before committing to a purchase of an Australian phone you may want to investigate your line and ring voltages and make sure they are the same as the British system.

Close-up photos of both my working relics are here.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

I was interested to see your Airzone 525, I am currently working on the same model. I have completed the cabinet restoration, with a replacement dial window and grille cloth and a clean and polish.

The electrical work is on hold, as I am waiting for a solid state vibrator module kit. This will be fitted inside the original vibrator can for visual integrity. I made up a 6V power supply to drive it when finished.
With 2 IF stages, I expect it will be a good performer.

Regards

Harold

A very nice radio. I should get the three I have and put them side by side. None are restored though so it'd look no better than the first photo in my original post.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Hi Brad,

Yes I know Antique Sounds well and have bought several radios from them, one a pink airzone cub and the other a 1933 AIrzone cathedral cub model 404, the most ornate of the early cubs. I paid a bomb for it but how often do you see a 404?

Ralph

That 404... I've been trying to get him to sell me that radio for about 15 years.

Luck of the draw I suppose heh. He had it sitting on a high shelf opposite the sales counter.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Yeah it took me 3 years to get the 404 from hiim, at first he was asking a crazy price - $3K I think and I think in the end he just got tired of me pestering him, I still paid a crazy price mind you but at least it was less than half the original price tag. I just had to have it and it is in amazing condition, one of those sets you wouldn't refinish because the original is still good.
cheers

I remember back to when he first got that radio, he had several other gothic receivers with it. Another Airzone (slightly different model), a Philco and a couple of Atwater Kents.

You may also remember that for a long time he could only sell radios once a month due to laws relating to the trade of second hand goods. It's amazing how the long arm of the law extends to something as harmless as flogging off a few electrical appliances.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Ralph: "I just had to have it and it is in amazing condition, one of those sets you wouldn't refinish because the original is still good."

Okay, so let's have a photo!

Happy to oblige, I'll include the other 2 early 1930's Airzone cathedral cubs in the pic as well.

The purchase of this AWA Radiolette console (pictured left) from 1934 completes my holiday spending spree. I know of only a few of these to exist and I believe it may be only one of a few consoles to sell under the Radiolette brand.

This receiver is small by console standards and is equipped with the same chassis as the first of the 'Empire State' Radiolette mantel receivers, the R27, also from 1934.

This radio will undergo a full restoration soon thence it will see daily service in my office at work. The console pictured right is an Airzone 'Fine Radio' receiver from 1936. The dial glass from this radio featured in the masthead image on this website for the last four years or so.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...