Tues. show and tell pics

[onepixel]

Man... those are beau-ti-ful!!

[Old1625]

Originally Posted by gadget73

It seems that there are at least 3 Masterpiece models. 2 in a cabinet like mine, and one with a bakelite front. All the ones I've seen online have the other chassis with a "staggered" tube layout, where mine are all inline. I don't honestly know the difference if it was more involved than a physical layout change. As for the transformers, well they seem to work, though the audio quality isn't so hot. One may be bad, not honestly sure. It appears that one was previously replaced, but its with a unit that looks absolutely identical to the other. Either it was replaced with an OEM one, or just the wires were re-soldered to it. That looks to be the only work ever done to this set. Its totally un-molested internally.

I know I had one go bad in my Radiola 18 and I bypassed it with a simple RC network. I stuck that one inside the box where the interstage lives, so its nearly undetectable. I've actually been told that RC coupling usually gives better sound quality than the original interstage setup provided for. I know my 18 sounds pretty darn decent, especially given that I'm using it on the correct Radiola 100a speaker from the late 20s. Its not HiFi, but its very workable for AM listening.
.......

Although it doesn't have to be so a transformer-coupled interstage of the day was usually of narrower bandwidth along with non-flatness of frequency response as compared to an RC-coupled stage--thus the inferior sound quality. The tradeoff is that the TC setup is often of greater efficiency within its bandwidth than the RC type. I've not attempted to drive a horn with my Freshman; just headphones. But I enjoyed hearing a symphony orchestra on a station out of NYC, and was surprised to hear the full body of the timpani.

Both my chasses are of the "staggered" socket configuration. The coil design on these sets is worthy of mention.

[gadget73]

Mine sounds horrid. I've read a few places that they normally sound pretty good, so I'm going to have to look into why mine sounds so awful. My RCA Radiola has a pretty comparable circuit and it sounds pretty respectable, even using the original 1928 vintage speaker. I've had that same speaker on the Freshman and its still barely comprehendable, even on talk radio. I know this isn't high fidelity but it ought to sound a lot better than it does. I'll try injecting sound at the audio stage directly to see if its an issue with the audio amp or the RF side of things. There aren't too many things that could really go wrong in here, so this ought to be no big deal to troubleshoot.