It followed me home

[dtuomi]

Normally I don't collect old radios and the like. My taste is mostly in the nature of television equipment and funky TV sets (usually on the newer side). But this one was free, and it looks to be in good condition. Anyone know anything about it?

David

P.S. Please excuse the pictures, they were taken at my storage under sodium lights.

[dtuomi]

Weird, I uploaded the pictures, they're here on Audiokarma, but for some reason they're not attatched. Bummer.

David

- Let's try this again.

[Sandy G]

Free is always good; How's the condition of the cabinet ? You shouldn't have any trouble gettin' the radio going again, & you might be surprised at the sound quality those old consoles were capable of.

[toxcrusadr]

Looks like a Zenith? Postwar, late 40s. If you can find a model number on a paper stapled in back or on the chassis, we can help you find a schematic.

[toxcrusadr]

Correction, do I see Silvertone above the buttons?

[cooljjay]

I would like to see better photos, it looks like a emerson that I have, cabinet wise. this is the only console version I have seen of this emerson, and was always curious if it is a home brew or factory.

[jetblack]

Originally Posted by cooljjay

it looks like a emerson that I have, cabinet wise.

That's a purty cabinet. I have an old upright grand piano with the same veneer.

[dtuomi]

I'm going to go back out to storage in the daylight after the Holiday (I have to work all the way through it so I won't have a day off until next week). Anyway, I'll try to take better pictures of it in daylight and look for the stuff that was mentioned.

The cabinet is in really good shape. It looks its age, but its not unduly banged up. The top is a bit more of an issue. Someone used it as a buffet and put hot stuff on top of it. There's now circles that outline the hotplates and perhaps plants (with water stains) from days gone by. My wife wants to put it in the kitchen to use as a buffet again, but she wants to set some large tiles on top to protect the top. I think we'll be using it without refinishing.

As to the brand, I think Silvertone might be its name. But I didn't recognize this as a brand, having never heard of it, and thought it could just as easily be a model name or description.

I'd like to get it going again, but its missing a couple of items. First and foremost is the speaker. I'm not even sure where the speaker goes in this thing, or if it perhaps used an external speaker. Its a bit of a bummer. The other item its missing is its reproducer. There is a drawer at the same level as the tuning faceplate. I suppose once upon a time you could pull out the drawer, put on a blank record and record to your hearts content, but not any more. My wife intends to put silverware in there, but I'd rather have whatever belonged there in there.

Anyway, that's what I've figured out so far. Thanks for the suggestions on where to look

David

[radiotvnut]

Silvertone was the house brand for Sears-Roebuck electronics up until the late '60's-early '70's. The speaker will be inside the radio behind the cloth grille on the front. You can use a modern speaker as a replacement; but, you may have to do some electrical modifications. Most radio speakers from this vintage had a field coil instead of a permanent magnet. The field coil serves double duty as a magnetic field for the speaker as well as a filter choke for the power supply. The feild coil can be replaced by a seperate filter choke or a 10 or 20 watt resistor of the approx. ohmage as the original field coil (can be checked from the schematic). Also, many of these old speakers had the audio output transformer mounted to the speaker. If someone stole the original speaker, they probably got the output transfomer with it. You should be able to get an output transformer (and any other old radio parts) from www.tubesandmore.com or www.radiodaze.com. If you know the model number, you can probably find a schematic at www.nostalgiaair.org.

[radiotvnut]

The "reproducer" (turntable) can probably be replaced with a newer 3 or 4 speed record changer. I've done this in cases where the original turntable was missing or in too bad of shape to repair.

I can't say if this unit actually cut records or not. Some of these units actually recorded records; but, most were just playback only.

[dtuomi]

I still haven't made it out to photograph and inspect the unit better. I had hoped to go today, but my wife and I sort of fought over the fact she wanted to decorate for Christmas, and well.. she won.

Anyway, I had always thought the term reproducer referred to a unit that recorded as well as played, but I've been known to be wrong.

Interesting detail about where brand Silvertone came from. The thing is that it doesn't quite resemble the Emerson in the earlier post. Each of the doors opens in the same direction, I think. Meaning the two middle ones don't open up as this one does. And my unit has no grill, and really no indication of where that grill might have been originally located. It almost looks like the inside of the under unit originally had shelves in it, which is why I speculated that it might have had an external speaker. Although that would seem to be unusual for the unit of this age. It could have been that the unit hadn't actually operated in years and years and they owners just modified it as a piece of furniture over time. I think I might be lucky the radio/amplifier section is still intact.

Anyway, thanks for the links. Hopefully I'll be using them soon. Hopefully I'll be posting again soon when I know more.

David

[dtuomi]

You know, talking about the speakers made me relook at the Emerson pictures and my grainy nightvision photographs, and I think these two cabinets might indeed be virtually the same.

I think the unit may of had a speaker that was in the middle. I suppose the speaker box will have to be recreated with a cover, etc.

cooljjay,

Does that Emerson have a crossover? I mean the picture looks like there may be a woofer and tweeter on there.

David

[cooljjay]

nope no crossover just one huge woofer, I am thinking it is an air vent, maybe there was a back on it at one time, way to heavy to move away from the wall to refresh my memory. it is one big cabinet is 3 1/2 feet tall and wide.