Hello, new friends!
My name is steve
I'm 23, work as a photographer and I love old stuff.
I have a radiograph that I have bought from a local collector that he didn't want anymore. It's branded Gulbransen but I'm not having any luck finding information on it.
It has all the tubes, they all look a little sad but. It has written on theback of the wireless where to put the tubes which was really hard to read (but with some photo magic I managed to get a bit more out of it)
It's an amazing cab and has a Collaro Conquest record player.
Main plans:
Would be nice to have the wireless working, just getting static
Have the record player working
Put a new speaker and build a new part of the cabinet for a subwoofer
install bluetooth *damn youngins*

Realistically: if it's not possible to have the wireless working, I'd like to bypass the amp and have power going straight to the record player then have a separate amp to push the signal. I would like to do this but have no idea what kind of voltage the player would need.

It's absolutely possible to have the "wireless" working. I assume you have tried connecting an antenna?

Too late to warn you about the risks of powering up old electronics, you've already done it!

Gulbransen used to make pianos, mainly.

Look up the HRSA ( Historical radio society of Australia ) via google and you will see the Sydney branch with John McIlwaine in charge . His email address is there and I suggest you contact him about joining or finding someone that may help you . John is a good fellow I am sure he would help.

Welcome to V-R.

I think you meant to say radiogram. If you let us know the valve types that you've been able to decipher, it can be a help in identifying the model.

Photos uploaded.

Welcome to the site, Steven.

That line-up appears to be: 6X5GT, 6AN7, 6N8, 6BD7 and 6M5, and the only radiogram I come up with matching it is Stromberg Carlson's model 53A31 of 1953.

According to Radiomuseum: "Gulbransen radios were distributed by E. F. Wilks & Co. Pty Ltd, 124 Castlereagh Street, Sydney. There was no connection between this brand and the USA brand of the same name. Australian made Gulbransen radios were first marketed in 1932. From 1932 to 1935 at least some chassis were manufactured by Emmco. From 1938 to 1940 Gulbransen radios were made by Breville."

The style of your radiogram is early 1950s. I'm not sure who was using/selling the Gulbransen brand at that time.

In any case, the radio section looks quite fixable.

The Collaro Conquest is a well known phonograph and is well documented.

You don't need a sub-woofer in a cabinet like that.

Yes, I agree with that valve line-up. Left to right in your photo would be 6AN7, 6N8, 6BD7, 6M5, 6X5GT.

It should not be an issue to fix, but you will need to perform various component tests and replacements before applying power.

but you will need to perform various component tests and replacements before applying power

Too late for that: "Would be nice to have the wireless working, just getting static"

... however, if he's lucky, no irrecoverable damage has been caused.

Moral: Never power up old electronic equipment unless it's been in constant use beforehand. Many of us cut off the mains cable of such units until we are ready to commence the restoration process. The mains cable will usually be replaced anyway.

To put this in perspective: at the most recent Sydney HRSA swap meet, someone unthinkingly powered up a vintage tape recorder and took out one the school hall's power circuits, the breaker for which was behind a locked door and thus inaccessible. Not a good look for HRSA committee having to explain that to the school's administrator.

Wow, Look at all these responses! I got no email saying they were here and I just stumbled upon them.
Here's where I'm at:
I had never actually attempted to put power to the radio
I'm planning on just fixing the conquest and sending signal to a preamp, then to a Sonos PLAY5 so it could double up as a bluetooth speaker.
(Yes I understand I'm not going to get the same sound as original)
This method works with an Audio Technica record player, not too sure how it would work with here.
Thanks for your messages on identifying the radiogram!

You don't get emails from this site (there would be too many!) but you do have a dedicated team of experts at your disposal.

The record player uses a crystal pickup cartridge, now obsolete, replaced by ceramic. It will need to be replaced, the crystal cartridge will be dead by now. Suitable ceramic cartridges are readily available.

You can't feed them straight into your Sonos, crystal and ceramic cartridges need a higher impedance that the inputs of the Sonos provides. Typically from 500k ohms to 1m ohms for good bass response. The sonos has the right sensitivity but the impedance is too low, about 10k ohms I think. It will work but your sound will have no bottom end at all.

You'll need an op amp voltage follower or similar circuit. Or, you could wire the 6BD7 in your radio chassis as a cathode follower to get the same result - mono though.

If it were me, I'd be restoring the radio chassis, adding the ability to support In and Out of your Sonos system, and adding a 12AU7 to the radio chassis wired as a twin cathode follower for the stereo vinyl feed to the Sonos. A valve solution is practical here and it would use parts you can buy at Jaycar for example, even the additional valve, it's a common audiophile type.

That chassis is too new to get precious about originality. It will need to be re-capped though. All the wax paper capacitors will be bad and need to be replaced, as does the power cord to meet modern safety regs.

There are people on this forum who can help you with the turntable mechanicals too.

What would you like to do??