Quote:
Originally Posted by Electronic M
It says "Regency symphony" on the plate.
I variaced it today and it powered up fine. There is no hum at all and no noticable distortion. The am/sw radio works but ignores weaker stations, and the base and function controls could benifit from some control cleaner. The fm is remarkably clear, but the tuning knob don't turn as freely as I think it should. The fm tuning knob seems to change the tuning, but the tuning indicator needle does not move. The phonograph works, but has a constant periodic rumble.
I'm probably going to squirrel this one away for a while till I figure out what I want to do with it.
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If the radio does not receive weak stations, it is likely because of the antenna (these old sets generally don't work well without an external antenna, even if you are reasonably close to one or more stations). The next thing I'd try is replacing the RF amp tube, if one is used in the AM tuner.
The radio may not be humming now, but it may start to do so at any time. I'd replace the filters in the power supply, as well as any and all wax paper capacitors in the set. Also, if you do not replace the filters, they could (likely will) short and destroy the power transformer.
If the FM tuner changes stations, but the dial pointer doesn't move, the dial cord is either broken or off the pulleys.
The phonograph probably should be relubricated (what grease is on the mechanism now has certainly turned hard as rocks or is gummy) and all worn parts replaced, including the rubber idler wheel. Since your console dates back to the 1940s-'50s, that wheel is probably shot and should have been replaced decades ago. If you don't care about authenticity, you could replace the entire record changer with a used one from a junked console.
It looks to me like you will have your work cut out for you on this set, but it will all be worth it as these are excellent consoles. I had the tuner/amp chassis from a Magnavox console about 35 years ago, and managed to get it to work fairly well using a length of wire as an antenna -- even in the suburban location in which I lived at the time.
The sound was good as well, even using an old car radio speaker plugged into the external speaker socket, and jerry-rigging the speaker connections so that the set would work without a speaker field coil. This coil was a part of the power supply in old radios, from the 1930s until the end of the '40s, and of course was required to be present and operating in the circuit before the radio would work. The advent of PM (permanent magnet) loudspeakers in the '50s eliminated the need for a field coil.
I did nothing to the set as far as recapping goes, but that was a couple decades before VK; had I known at the time (late 1970s) what I know now (that the standard procedure for restoring an old radio begins with a recap), I would have done that without thinking twice.
You will have an excellent console once it is fully restored. As I always say about Zenith and other major makes of TVs, radios and hi-fi gear (including Magnavox) from the '20s to about the '70s, they don't make them like that anymore.
BTW: The name "Magnavox" was derived from two Latin words meaning "great voice", and all vintage/antique radio or TVs made by The Magnavox Company of Fort Wayne, Indiana were built to live up to that name.