Grundig Rf 250 U

[SixCats!]

Hi all,

Forgive me if I am posting in the wrong forum. I thought that perhaps this is the place to post about todays find. Today while at my local GOODWILL, I found a GRUNDIG RF 250 U/STEREO AM/FM/MW/SW Table top TUBE radio in rather nice condition! A note on the unit said that the AM/FM worked and that a antenna was needed for the SW. Now, I know NOTHING about these types of units but, I figured it MUST be worth more than the $30.00 (less 10% discount) selling price. I bought the unit and visited a friend at his place of business right next door to the GW. I plugged in the unit, it powered up and it did pull in FM. I noticed the unit appears to have some sort of MAGIC EYE tuning system ? The sound was rather static/noisy which I attribute (in part) to all the DUST (which I could see inside the unit) and the typical dirty switches. Once home, I took the unit apart and pulled the AMP/TUNER section out of the cabnit. DUSTY would be a understatement! I set the AMP aside and then took the cabnit (with it's small oval speakers) over to one of my Audio systems. I then disconnected one of the pair of Speaker wires (from a pair of HPM 100's) and reaching inside the GRUNDIG cabnit, tested the GRUNDIG speakers. Ahhhh, sweet! the speakers are working fine and sound CLEAN and CLEAR! Within the next couple of days, I will take a AIR HOSE to the AMP and blow out all that dust. Later, I will do a DETAIL job and clean the switches/buttons using CONTACT cleaner. I HOPE it will clear up the noise. At any rate, I think this should be a fun project as it is something different for me in the Audio World. Anyway, I would appreciate it if someone who know could share a bit of information on this unit or similar units by GRUNDIG. I did a GOOGLE search but didn't find much information in ENGLISH. I THINK this unit is circa 1968. Also, if anyone has any idea of value of this GRUNDIG, I would appreciate that information as well. Thank you for any help in this matter.

Regards,
SixCats!

[Sandy G]

SixCats!- I think you got a bargain. What does this bad boy look like? Is it that xtra-high gloss wood finish? Is it dark or blonde? Stereo or mono? My Uncle had a Grundig about that vintage, his was stereo, dark, & kinda long. And it had a tuning eye gizmo-the Germans must have been big on those doo-hickeys. I wouldn't be surprised if it had an EL84 audio tube. As far as SW goes. try running a length of wire, say 10-20' or so out a window & over to a tree. You might be VERY pleasantly surprised what it'll pick up...

[SixCats!]

Hi Sandy,

Yes Sir! This 250 RF is indeed a (wide) STEREO unit with dark glossy wood. Thanks for the info on the SW. I'll keep you posted!

Regards,
SixCats!

[Jeffhs]

The Grundigs were all good sets. (Sandy, your uncle's Grundig must have sounded great; I've read good things about those older sets, especially the ones built for stereo FM.) I had one about 30 years ago (Grundig model 2168, table model, in a blonde cabinet) which I got from an old friend. The radio was in pieces and the dial scale was missing when I got it, but I was able to get it to work fairly well across all four bands. Because the dial scale and tuning mechanism were missing (I replaced it with a piece of wood and two knobs from my junk box), I drilled a hole in the side of the cabinet and used a length of plastic tubing attached to the tuning cap shaft (fortunately, it was on the lower right side of the chassis, so a short length of tubing fit on it nicely). I left the tuning eye dangling at the left end of where the tuning scale would have been (near the volume control). The darn thing worked, and well, for a couple of years (I even hooked up an old Webcor RTR mono tape recorder to the DIN socket at the rear of the set, and made a nice mono sound system), but eventually I noticed that the FM tuning range stopped at about 106 MHz; the FM quit altogether shortly thereafter. Not having a schematic and not being familiar with Grundigs, I eventually gave up. This was years before I discovered the Internet and AK; believe me, if this had happened a few years ago (when I joined AK) rather than three decades ago, I would have come here for help as soon as I knew I was up the creek (as I was with the tuning issue).

Oh well. Live and learn, I guess.