Got ANOTHER high-power Sylvania table radio

[rca2000]

If you recall, about 6 months ago or so, I showed a little wooden Sylvania solid-state table radio,1968 model, rm-90k, that I had acquired. Unlike most table radios, this one is all BITE and not much bark, meaning it LOOKS sedate, but is anything but. It has a sealed,long-throw 4" speaker, driven by a P-P amp, using a pair of to-3 germanium transistors, and probably at least 5 watts of power. And when it is playing, it has bass better than many large radios with 8" or bigger speakers, such as the acclaimed Zenith h-845, and similar. It WILL trounce the 845.

Now, I have ANOTHER Sylvania radio, similar to the first one, but a little BIGGER, with a somewhat bigger long-throw speaker-5- 1/4". Like the rm-90, this one has a Sealed AS speaker, and foam surrounding it(which has completely diseintegrated). It also has a P-P amp, with to-3 outputs, with a BIGGER sink,0.33ohm,2-watt emitter resistors on the outs, bigger caps in the power supply,and probably at least 8 watts, to drive the bigger speaker. Like the other one, it has bass and treble controls, and a dual-tapped loudness control. THIS one does NOT look as sedate as the other one, but still does not look like the screamer that it is. It has an electroluminescent-lit dial, and a tuning meter.This one is a 67 model, model rm-300r.

I do wonder, it seems that Sylvania ,at one time when GTE owned them knew how to make a good product. IMHO, when they sold out to Phillips, in the '70's, they "wimped out", and became a typical, low-quality company.

[Chad Hauris]

I had a Sylvania radio like you speak of when I was young, it's still at my parents house. As I remember the sound quality was good but the sensitivity was not as good as say, a Zenith of the same time period.

[Nolan Woodbury]

That sounds like dynamite pair of radios RCA2000. The H-845 is one of my favorites, but if your little Sylvania will 'trounce' the big Zenith, that's a radio I'd be interested in trying.

Your description of the RM-90 kind of reminds me of the Tivoli Model One (sealed, long throw speaker, diminutive size); another radio that packs a solid punch for its size. But, even hooked to an aftermarket CC-Radio radial antenna the H-845 has WAY better reception than the ultra modern Tivoli and its sophisticated tuner. And that is using just the internal, wrapped antenna fitted to it in Chicago. There's much more to the mighty Zenith H-845 than just sound...

Still, you've peaked my interest. I'll be on the lookout for one. Any leads?

[rca2000]

That is where I got BOTH of mine, and I have seen several of the smaller ones(rm-90), as of late. It worked pretty well, when I got it, aside from a loose dial pointer and bad bulb for the dial, and to replace the foam for the speaker.

The rm-300, may take longer, but I still got mine there. This one did NOT work very well, it had a real low, distorted volume, like a bad coupling cap in the amp, but that was NOT the problem. I found that the first audio predriver transistor had almost no b+ on it. traced that to a very leaky cap, from the 28 volt b+ line, through a resistor, and the cap was pulling the volatge(which should had been about 14 or so, )down to about 1 volt. Put a modern cap in.... it CRANKS now, and other than the meter bulb,(#159 type, in both radios) all I need to do now, is replace the foam, behind the speaker(as I did in the other one).

BTW-- I paid LESS than $20,(including shipping), for this one, and about 25 for the other one.