Atwater Kent 55C - Videokarma.org TV - Video

apurcell22 · #1 05-31-2007, 06:06 PM

Hey all,
I just picked up an Atwater Kent 55C In a very nice cabinent for 45 bucks!
All tubes are present, but unfortunatley the speaker is not. The radio looks great, one of the clips on the top of one of the 224 tubes is broken

but the tuning wheel turns smoothly

Pictures to follow. Any tips for recapping? This is the oldest radio that I have aquired.
Peace,
Al

targeteye · #2 05-31-2007, 06:56 PM

Nice well performing radio! The 45's will be worth more than what you paid for the whole radio if they are in good shape. Are they globe or st?

The 224 should be easy to replace.

The speakers actually show up on ebay from time to time so keep an eye out. I assume this is in a console and not the metal cased table top.

Here is the speaker. Unfortunately this auction is complete.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Atwater-Kent-vni...QQcmdZViewItem

Steve

apurcell22 · #3 05-31-2007, 09:44 PM

The 45's are ST Reytheon I belive. I figured that it was an excellent deal. It is a console, a rather nice one at that. How do these sound? I would eemagine preaty sweat with the 45's.

Al

targeteye · #4 06-01-2007, 12:36 AM

as good as AM can be expected to sound! Really an old tube console radio will play AM better than more modern AM tuner. That one I believe is a TRF from 1929 or so and will not sound as good a nice mid to late 30's superhet console. However, these days there is virtually nothing to listen to on AM anyway so its more of a interesting addition to your audio stuff than a useful radio. I had a nice 20 tube Philco hi fidelity (for then) console I wound up selling rather than restore. I figured whats the point? There is nothing to listen to anyway. I keep a few of them around to listen to old radio broadcast via a home transmitter when I get the urge.

Steve

sean · #5 06-01-2007, 07:18 AM

I recently restored a 55C for someone. It was the second one I had restored. All of the caps are in metal cans. There are 2 or 3 (depending on if you have the early or late version) capacitor cans under the chassis and one of the large cans on top of the chassis contains the filter caps. All of the caps are paper dielectric, no electrolytics. I took a bunch of photos during this last restoration with the intention of putting together a website on restoring these sets. I also reconed the speaker since the original cone had about 40%-50% of itself missing. Let me know if you need any help.