A friend of mine six hours south of me had decided to thin out his collection a little, to make some space for future finds, so he offered me some various sets for free. Of course I couldn't pass up on this offer! I left at 1am, got there at 7am, and eventually got home at 5pm with a tray-load of tube-powered B&W goodness. The sets I was given are:
- 1961 Admiral Son-R consolette.
- 1962 Thorn-ATLAS 4708 low-boy.
- Mid-1960s General Electric TF-2 portable.
- Mid-1960s AWA Deep Image P1Y portable, with the original box.
- 1969 AWA Telstar P4Z portable.
- Early-1970s AWA K-1610 tabletop/low-boy.
The Admiral Son-R and GE TF-2 are two sets that have been near the top of my "Wanted" list for a long time now, so adding them to my collection for free was a near dream-come-true. Both require various degrees of work, and as the GE uses (rare in Australia) compactron tubes, hopefully it won't require the replacement of any expensive/hard-to-find parts.
The Thorn-ATLAS has quickly become one of my favourite sets for it's interesting history and nature, as well as the clean design. It's a cheap budget set used for hotels and rental companies. The cabinet is made of chipboard with laminated vinyl wood-grain (as opposed to most sets of the era which had a hardwood or timber-veneer cabinet). I'm currently working on tracking down a fault in the EHT circuit.
The AWA K-1610 is quite a neat set and can be used as either a tabletop of a low-boy, and while it is sans-legs, I'd like to find some replacements (they're a common style fortunately). It uses a 58-series hybrid chassis, which is a copy of the British Thorn 1500 chassis. The cabinet is made of metal with a wood-grain print.
The AWA P1Y is a nice set, and is the earlier version of my 1971 AWA P1Q. The early versions use a rounder 11TP4 CRT, while the later versions use a flatter AK11X2 CRT, which required a change of the bezel design. It's nice to have an example of both versions now.
Lastly, the AWA P4Z Telstar is one of those sets that you don't really appreciate until you own one. It's already been restored, so runs perfectly. It uses an unusual design though - there is a flap on the top which when opened turns the set on, and also deflects sound from the upwards-facing speaker forwards. This set won AWA the 1969 Sebel Design Merit Award.
If you're reading this, thanks John! They're all beauties. Now for the challenge for getting these sets restored and running again!
Here's my Youtube video of these sets:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=806lkaBYF_g
Chris
