2 telefunkens in one week
 

i usaully dont browse this forum that much as im more into the hi fi gear more than the antique radios.i can say however that it was my dads interest in the antique radios that got me into the tube type communication radios(boatanchors ) which eventually led into the tube hi fi gear.since my dad hasn't been dabbling in the antique radios for awhile i thought for his birthday id see if i could find him a radio to sort of get him back into the hobby.i decided to go around and scour the flea markets to see if i could find anything and came up with the telefunken jubilate 205(solidstate) i know not really a true antique but it looked in good shape and the price was right.that was last weekend.i went out again this weekend to see if i could mabe find a radio that was a little more antique(with tubes)and spotted out of the corner of my eye in a shop another telefunken.upon closer inspection of it it turned out to be the jubilate 105(with tubes)so needless to say i bought it and gave them both to my dad for his birthday.he was elated and i think he'll be back into radio sometime soon.here a pic of the 2 radios.the 205's on top and the 105 is on the bottom
chris

I can relate...It's because of my dad's hobby of tinkering with tube radios when I was a child, I began my fascination with tubes as well, but with audio instead of radio. Now he's into business for himself (part time right now) restoring antique tube radios of all types, and I'm in the process of putting together a vacuum tube 2-channel audio system (300B SET amp with 6SN7 SRPP line stage pre).

Gotta love our dads, huh?;)

you bet,without him and some others id probally be listening to some bpc.thank god im not though.
the 300b amp sounds like a fun project youll have to keep us posted as to the outcome of it.i myself have an older amp that came out of a radio that uses a pr of push pull 45's that i might try and get running someday.theres just something about those old globe shape tubes that makes me go ahhhh.
chris

105
 

I have that same 105 radio. Found it in a shop in New Mexico about five years ago. Plays pretty good. Has a nice shiny finish on it.

Makes me mad thinking about it...I had an opportunity while stationed in Germany to buy a mint Grundig tube shortwave radio to next to nothing, and I didn't bite at the time. Oh well, those Telefunkens do look sweet...enjoy!

This is my Telefunken "Concerto 9U" from 1958. It's a huge wooden model with 4 speakers. Large flywheel tuning. It's the american version with the full FM band. Great sound. EL84 output!

Cloth is a little stained and the ferrite bar antenna broke during shipment, bummer! Aside from that she's in good shape.

Haven't fired her in a while....

Regards,
crooner



http://members.cox.net/nsalguero/telefunken.JPG

Wow! Nice radios.
What got me into this forum was a fifties era Blaupunkt Virginia table top. I wish I had pics. If anyone got info on it, I would appreciate it.:)

I love those big, wooden FM table radios! I'm working on a Zenith right now that is identical to one my dad gave my mom for Christmas many, many moons ago. It works great already, but I need to upgrade it for reliability.

Speaking of the German imports, lately I've been reading through some old issues of Popular Electronics, and in the February '58 issue they had an interesting article, German Radios: How Good Are They?, by H.H. Fantel. He discusses a number of differrent brands, including Telefunken, Grundig, and Graetz. Here's what he had to say about their sound:

"A German table model radio usually turns out to be a real 'surprise package' in terms of sound. The larger models boast what is probably the most musical sound ever attained with a table set. The credit for this goes partly to the solidly built hardwood cabinet and judicious placement of tweeters to attain wide-angle sound distribution. But most of the credit is due to careful electronic compensation of audio circuits to prop up the response where it sags under the natural limitations of relatively small speakers and cabinets. German radio-makers apparently design their sets 'by ear'."

[BTW, is it my imagination, or is the model in the picture below wearing a very early -- and possibly experimental -- version of the now-popular cycling helmet??]

Paula

Thats the very same radio I played my very first LP on which happened to be a kiss record at my grandma's house. She didn't care for it much and made me sit through the sound of music soundtrack as punishment. To this day I am permanently scarred from that ordeal.

Grumpy

WOW! The console in that ad... i had one like that for a short while! Just like it! i thought it was the ugliest cabinet i ever saw!

I got it from an elderly woman that lives on the next street over. She called me because she heard i played with old radios, and asked if I would like to come see it, so I did.

It was on her back porch, unfortunately rotting away. She told me she and her husband bought the console in Germany in 1957. It had been about 20 years since it was last played. She wanted to get rid of it because she didn't have space for it, and the cabinet was starting to fall apart. She didn't want any moeny for it... just hated to see it go in the trash. So, i took it to see if it could be salvaged in any way.

When i got it home, a quick look inside showed that mice had made a nest of the woofer. The woofer faces the ground, and the sound is deflected off the lower tilted panel seen in the above ad. I pulled out the radio chassis to give it a look. As i was sliding it out, three roaches came out from under the chassis almost causing me to drop it! I tried to power it up, but quickly found the power transformer to be toasted! Man, what a smell!

The only thing I was able to salvage was the two mid-range speakers. i kept them for quite some time, and then one day decided to put them on ebay. There were several bids, and to my surprise some guy in Korea ended up bidding 60 bucks for them. I guess he had a Grundig to put them in.

I ended up throwing away the cabinet... not much could be done for it. IIRC, i think i recently threw away the radio chassis. It sat in the garage for 4 years untouched, so out it went. I do still have the original knobs for it in a little baggie somewhere.

It was a shame that such a nice piece of equipment ended up rotting away like that. Even though i didn't care for the cabinet styling, i still knew it was a quality built console. I never thought I'd see another like it... until today when I saw the ad that Paula posted!

one really neat feature of the radio is that it has a 5-band equalizer on it! Very hi-end coming from the 50's. Instead of little slides like we see on modern EQ's, this radio had 5 little rollers in the middle... similar to the radio controls found in many of the big-body Chrysler car radios from about 1970.

But the question is, was your grandma a cross-country cyclist? If so, that may be her in the picture! :eek:

Paula

I hear ya, Charlie.

About fifteen years ago, my uncle in Chicago passed away, and several of us relatives made the journey north to see about his last affairs. I remember him as a nice man, but he was the king of pack-rats! His entire house was filled, from top to bottom, with 'stuff'. My father had to rent one of those half-a-railcar-sized dumpsters just to handle the stuff we weren't going to save!

It turned out that there were several large, old radio/phono consoles down in the basement. I'd say these were from the thirties. To me, the workmanship on these old machines was unbelievable! Like nothing I'd seen before. But alas, decades of dampness and neglect had taken a sad toll, and the cabinets, especially, were nearly ruined. I would have kept at least one of them anyway, had there been any practical way of getting it back home. As it was, they went to some junk dealer. Very sad. :cry:

Paula