Does anyone have any information on Belatone stereos? I picked one up from Gumtree today and traced it via ads in the SMH to Knock and Kirbys in 1966. I'm wondering if they were some kind of 'in house' brand and, if so, who made them.

It's also interesting that the 1966 price of $156 translates, via the Reserve Bank inflation calculator, to over $2000 in today's money. Were they really that expensive back then, in real terms?

If it was Nock and Kirbys, it was probably made for them by AW Jackson Industries at Annandale. 2nd possibility, KG Harris.

Yes, $2000 sounds about right. Buying something like this in 1966 would have been a major purchase.

But you could easily spend 2 grand on a sound system today.

Thanks Ian. It's still in the car as I speak, and it's in very good condition cosmetically. I'll either get it running or install a new amp, probably a Krielser clone (11-104), since I've made one of those already. It has an 'extension speaker' in a separate little box with a switch on top, for those moments when you really need to listen up close.

Can't say I recall the Belatone brand, although I well remember Nock and Kirby's and their chief spruiker Joe "bring your money with you!" Sandow, the Gadget Man and his mate Handy Andy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qld7KYNVwbc

There are some ads for Belatone radiograms and TVs in Trove.

Either put up a chassis pic or email it and I should be able to tell you what it is.

There's no reason at this stage to believe the existing amp is any better or worse the the Kriesler design.

I once upgraded a Precedent (AW Jackson) stereo amp by fitting better output transformers, only to discover the next weak link as being the speakers.

If its in good cosmetic condition then that fairs pretty well that its been looked after and may not be a big job to get it going.

I've had a look at the amp, I'll try to post a pic here as well. It has a 6V4 rectifier. Two valves (6BE6 and 6N8), which I believe are involved in the radio section. And two 6BM8 valves which, as I understand it, are a triode and pentode in one, which means each of these probably represents both preamp and power amp sections.

That line-up certainly does sound like an AW Jackson model.

You mention 1966, but does the receiver have short wave?

Yes GTC I concur.

No intrinsic reason why a single-ended class A valve amp with a 6BM8 would be any better or worse than the Kriesler, except possibly slightly lower power output. Say 3 watts as against 4. Less than 3dB difference, all other things being equal you won't hear that.

The settings on the selector are "S.W", "B.C" and "GRAM". "B.C." must be the standard medium wave bands, but I've never seen B.C. before. Photo being sent for approval now.

BC is a fairly common abbreviation for Broadcast (i.e. MW).

Photo uploaded.

It's made by AW Jackson (Precedent). I can tell that it a flash from the pics, it's quite distinctive.

Grey paint on the mains transformer with yellow tape pin IDs, red tape on the speaker transformers, large IF cans.

Here's your circuit:

http://www.kevinchant.com/uploads/7/1/0/8/7108231/361-561-761_1.tif

Thanks so much Ian. A schematic was going to be my next query. I would have had no chance of tracking that down myself. The unit has been cared for very well, and I'm tempted to just "plug it in and see if it works", but actually I'll take the chassis out and do a visual check first. I've built a couple of valve amps, including a clone of my Kriesler 11-104 so I'm not a complete novice (but not so far off being one either). But I don't have a variac to bring it up slowly. Any tips on the best way to apply power in these circumstances? Cheers....and thanks again to everyone here for being so helpful.

Check this one out:

http://www.kevinchant.com/uploads/7/1/0/8/7108231/361-561-761_1.tif