'48 Philco & '63 Westinghouse

[radiotvnut]

Saturday, a friend picked up two interesting things for me at an auction.

The first thing is a table model Philco 48-1253 (M-8 record changer) wooden cased AM radio/78 rpm record player. It has a little veneer damage on the top and along the bottom on the right side; but, I still think it's worth restoring. This is a 5-tube model; but, is one of those with a voltage doubler power supply. This one cost me $20.

The next one is a '63 Westinghouse console 4-speed record player that uses a Garrard Autoslim changer. The amp is series string with a 50C5 output tube for each channel and a 12AX7 driver. I've already recapped the amp and replaced the missing speakers with a pair of 6"x9" speakers that I saved from a console that I junked. The changer used a Euphonics U8 cartridge that had weak output and sounded like crap. So, I went to the local parts house to buy a Pfanstiehl P226 or P228. I used to buy these locally all day long; but, they now inform me that someone bought all they had and they probably wouldn't get any more. It really ticks me off that I'm now having to order stuff that I used to could buy locally. Anyway, I just ordered a P228 from Gary; so, I should have it going n a few days. Surprisingly, this one has seperate bass and treble controls; which, is usually not the case on these lower end models. I know it won't rattle the walls; but, I think it will still sound OK. This one cost me $25.

My friend also tried to get me a typical late '40's Airline AM/FM radio/phonograph console; but, one of the flea market vendors outbid him at $45. The next day, I saw the radio at the flea market. It looked fairly decent, was missing a couple of knobs, and was priced at $125. The vendor offered it to me for $90; but, I passed. He doesn't know that I know what he paid for it; so, if I decide to get it, I'm going to let him sit on it for awhile and offer him less. The thing about most of these flea market vendors is that they are not happy with making only a few dollars profit on an item. Instead, they want to make a killing.

Here's a video I made of this stuff, along with a few more things:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNk3vjkQSdc