Quote:
Originally Posted by Old1625
Some of those old portable phonographs were notoriously dangerous. What's worse is that they were more commonly used in the kiddie playroom or bedroom than as a livingroom entertainment. Left unsupervised by adults they became a serious fire and shock hazard.
Most of the Califones and Newcombs I encountered had a transformer power supply, but they may have made them both ways.
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I had a Califone phonograph years ago that came from a school which was upgrading equipment in its A/V department. The phonograph was transformer-powered, IIRC, and had about the most powerful amplifier I ever heard of. I never turned it up full blast, but thinking back on it, I bet it could blow the roof off a building if run wide open. Then again, Califones (and probably Newcomb phonos as well) were built this way so that they could be heard in the back of a large classroom, if necessary.
I did not stop to think that the old one-tube phonographs were or could be fire or shock hazards under the right (or wrong[!]) conditions, but it's true, especially since these were transformerless chassis that were connected directly to one side of the line. I knew someone years ago who had a transformerless phonograph (whether it had a one-tube amplifier or not I couldn't tell you) that was severely damaged when water was spilled into it. I was told there was quite a bit of smoke coming from it right after the mishap, but fortunately there was no fire. Unfortunately, however, the phonograph was destroyed because of the damage to the amplifier. These small phonos may not have been worth repairing, even in the '40s-'50s, due to the sheer simplicity of the amplifier circuitry; I don't think there was much to these except the tube, a filament dropping resistor (if an amplifier tube other than a 117Z3 were used), a selenium rectifier, the loudspeaker of course, and the volume control with an AC switch on the back.
BTW, speaking of the 117Z3 tube, how many one-tube phonographs used this tube as an amplifier, with a selenium rectifier? I asked this question earlier in the thread, but it was never answered. I would think that phonographs using the 117Z3 would have almost ridiculously simple amplifier circuitry consisting of little more than the tube, volume control and a speaker. Talk about an electronic circuit in which almost nothing can go wrong! The only thing that could really go wrong with these, I think, is that the tube would eventually burn out or short.
Were the phonos with the 117Z3 among those that required a high-output cartridge to get any kind of volume? If a cartridge with an output on the order of 2 to three volts was needed to drive the tube to usable volume level, the 117Z3 (and probably most other tubes used in one-tube phonograph amplifiers) must not have been a very powerful amplifier to begin with.