Any "new" old radios out there in Fedoraville?

[RetroToday]

Hmmm, too bad. If I can help I will.
What's the model number on your radio/phono, or was it removed? That's the first thing I need to see where to look.

It's also possible it was a model made for export to Canada or somewhere else, it may have a strange model number because of that....

Good luck with it,

 

[Ripper]

I think you looked for it earlier. I had posted it in a different thread. It is a Model 14BR - 515B. Hard to find but if you can I would appreciate it!

 

[RetroToday]

I think you looked for it earlier. I had posted it in a different thread. It is a Model 14BR - 515B. Hard to find but if you can I would appreciate it!

Ah, yes, I thought I was having Deja-Vu.... oops. :eusa_doh:

I'll keep looking around. Again, good luck with your search....

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

So, I got home from shopping yesterday to find this old man sitting in my dining room.
My sister has officially gotten me the coolest birthday present ever.
Pictures of mine are forthcoming.
As I know nothing at all about radios, I'm hoping someone around here knows something about it. I don't think that it will ever work, but it's cool just to have.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Those 1929-30 Victor sets are some of the best-made receivers of their era -- extremely durable and well-built. More often than not, and barring anything obvious like burned up transformers or missing tubes, they *do* work as found, and when restored they work very well.

They were built just after RCA merged with Victor Talking Machine, and combine the best features of both companies -- RCA technical engineering with the acoustics and fine cabinetry of Victor. They were very high-class radios in their day.

 

[RetroToday]

Those 1929-30 Victor sets are some of the best-made receivers of their era -- extremely durable and well-built. More often than not, and barring anything obvious like burned up transformers or missing tubes, they *do* work as found, and when restored they work very well. They were built just after RCA merged with Victor Talking Machine, and combine the best features of both companies -- RCA technical engineering with the acoustics and fine cabinetry of Victor. They were very high-class radios in their day.

I agree with Lizzie, very good radios for the time.
But, I always advise on the side of caution - make sure the capacitors are replaced before you try to operate it (if you want to), that will save you a lot of heartache and wallet-ache later on. A qualified radio restorer will do that and also align it, etc... if nessessary.
I only have the insides to the same radio as you and I also have a Victor RE-57 of the following year. Both are built like brick outhouses!
Such a strange dial mechanism too, it's actually kind of fun to watch the dial turntable movements on the inside of the chassis.

If you do ever think of restoring it yourself, here's a schematic to help with the electrical layout of the R-32. You need Adobe reader to look at this document, or an equivalent program:
http://www.nostalgiaair.org/PagesByModel/693/M0015693.pdf
Make sure to scroll down to all the PDF pages. Even if you don't want to restore it, this document has some illustrations. There's also very nice advertisements for the 1929 Victor radio line in old magazine ads - I'll have to search my archive for the links to them, if I have any.

By the way, great radio and an amazing gift! Nobody I know would be able to pick out a gift like that for me, they're always afraid they'll get me the wrong thing....

 

[ScionPI2005]

Just yesterday, I got this very nice RCA Victor tabletop tube radio from roughly 1947. It has been refurbished and polished and looks great. The sound is very clear too. With two nice vintage radio sets now, I really need to get an AMT transmitter for my Big Band, Jazz and Radio Shows.

 

[russa11]

Congratulations on your birthday present Lulu. That must have been a nice surprise to come home to. Scion, that is cool looking radio. Very nice!

 

[RetroToday]

Just yesterday, I got this very nice RCA Victor tabletop tube radio from roughly 1947.

Wonderful radio. I love the cases like yours which are not just the plain old bakelite look, very nice when you can find one that's marbelized like that.

 

[Flivver]

So, I got home from shopping yesterday to find this old man sitting in my dining room.
My sister has officially gotten me the coolest birthday present ever.
Pictures of mine are forthcoming.
As I know nothing at all about radios, I'm hoping someone around here knows something about it. I don't think that it will ever work, but it's cool just to have.

Lizzie is right...these were some of the highest quality radios made during this time period.

Victor was a premium brand, with a reputation for the highest quality to uphold. This was Victor's first real venture into radio so they wanted it to be just right. Prior Victor radios and radio-phono combinations had used RCA- supplied electronics, but this was Victor's first real attempt to "go it alone" in radio. The design for this series was started before RCA bought Victor, so it shows some of Victor's original thinking in radio design (particularly the bizarre tuning arrangement). But, as Lizzie points out, it was introduced after the takeover so the circuit design would have benefited from being tweaked by RCA.

The fidelity of these sets is among the best of their time. The TRF circuit used tunes rather broadly and the audio section using push pull UX-245s is quite good for it's day. The results are not high fidelity...but they're awfully close!

You have a great radio there...enjoy it!

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

Lizzie is right...these were some of the highest quality radios made during this time period.

Victor was a premium brand, with a reputation for the highest quality to uphold. This was Victor's first real venture into radio so they wanted it to be just right. Prior Victor radios and radio-phono combinations had used RCA- supplied electronics, but this was Victor's first real attempt to "go it alone" in radio. The design for this series was started before RCA bought Victor, so it shows some of Victor's original thinking in radio design (particularly the bizarre tuning arrangement). But, as Lizzie points out, it was introduced after the takeover so the circuit design would have benefited from being tweaked by RCA.

The fidelity of these sets is among the best of their time. The TRF circuit used tunes rather broadly and the audio section using push pull UX-245s is quite good for it's day. The results are not high fidelity...but they're awfully close!

You have a great radio there...enjoy it!

I intend to. I'm currently looking for someone qualified to take a look at it; I'd love to get it to work. However, I'm afraid to mess with it at all, especially as I live in an apartment and don't want to be responsible for torching the joint...
I tell you what, I can see how owning these can become an addictive hobby very quickly. I already want another one for my bedroom!
Quick question for anyone out there:
According to web page I found for it, this radio cost $155 in 1929. Now, I have found a couple of inflation calculators out there, and they're telling me that $155 USD in 1929 is equal to $1867 today. Can this possibly be right? Is there something to calculating this that I don't understand? If anyone can help me out here I'd appreciate it.
Thanks!

 

[ScionPI2005]

I tell you what, I can see how owning these can become an addictive hobby very quickly. I already want another one for my bedroom!

So many radios of different styles and designs, so little time, money, and space!

 

[RetroToday]

Quick question for anyone out there:
According to web page I found for it, this radio cost $155 in 1929. Now, I have found a couple of inflation calculators out there, and they're telling me that $155 USD in 1929 is equal to $1867 today. Can this possibly be right? Is there something to calculating this that I don't understand? If anyone can help me out here I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

Easily answered, radios were a hot item for entertainment value and this would be considered the equivalent of a fair sized LCD or plazma TV today. Your inflation calculator probably isn't too far off. The more options you got in a radio, (such as higher tube count) the higher the price would be.
Only thing is, back then you got more value out of a radio purchase - at least the airwaves were free to listen to, which is not the case when you want to watch a high definition broadcast on a TV today...

My Victor RE-57 was $397.50 (Cdn) when it was introduced in September of 1930, can't imagine anyone but the very well off buying one of those right after the stock market crash.
For example, the RE-57 I own was purchased in 1930 by one of the three owners of a massive Dairy Company based in Toronto. Many dairies did very well during the depression because milk was deemed a nessessary product that all people should consume in that day.

After the great depression set in, much of the general public bought used radios or last year's model that had come down in price, but the companies were still making some very high-end radios. E.H. Scott and McMurdo Silver had some of the most expensive.

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

Easily answered, radios were a hot item for entertainment value and this would be considered the equivalent of a fair sized LCD or plazma TV today. Your inflation calculator probably isn't too far off. The more options you got in a radio, (such as higher tube count) the higher the price would be.
Only thing is, back then you got more value out of a radio purchase - at least the airwaves were free to listen to, which is not the case when you want to watch a high definition broadcast on a TV today...

My Victor RE-57 was $397.50 (Cdn) when it was introduced in September of 1930, can't imagine anyone but the very well off buying one of those right after the stock market crash.
For example, the RE-57 I own was purchased in 1930 by one of the three owners of a massive Dairy Company based in Toronto. Many dairies did very well during the depression because milk was deemed a nessessary product that all people should consume in that day.

After the great depression set in, much of the general public bought used radios or last year's model that had come down in price, but the companies were still making some very high-end radios. E.H. Scott and McMurdo Silver had some of the most expensive.

Thank you! Very helpful. I never thought of them as being such a luxury item. You mentioned a higher tube count; what counts as high? There are four light bulb-looking things in a line in the bottom, and six in a half-circle formation in the top.
I know, I know-worthlesswithoutpics - my camera won't cooperate.:rage:

 

[RetroToday]

Those lightbulb things are vacuum tubes, most bring in and amplify the radio waves (simplified) to tune in the stations, but the ones in the bottom of your radio are to amplify the sound for the speaker. In the 1930s a low tube count would be around 4, high would be about 18.

If you want photos for this post, you can see a couple of mine for now.... Here's my Victor model RE-57 and a couple related pics....

My Victor RE-57 with all doors open.

James George Cornell, the guy who originally purchased my RE-57 in 1930.

1930 magazine advertisement.

Rudy Vallee promotes the RE-57 in a 1931 Victor sales brochure.

 

[dhermann1]

There are four light bulb-looking things in a line in the bottom, and six in a half-circle formation in the top.

I suddenly feel very old . . . . . .

 

[RetroToday]

I suddenly feel very old . . . . . .

lol Everybody gets there someday, no matter how hard you try to avoid it. Even the young whippersnappers will one day feel old!

It's very possible not many kids from today's generations will not know what AM radio, A Vinyl Record, or even what a CD is!
Don't even want to think of asking them if they know what an Acetate, Cassette or 8track are.

Actually, that's not completely true, there'll always be people here at the Lounge that know and love that old stuff.

 

[ScionPI2005]

It's very possible not many kids from today's generations will not know what AM radio, A Vinyl Record, or even what a CD is!
Don't even want to think of asking them if they know what an Acetate, Cassette or 8track are.

Actually, that's not completely true, there'll always be people here at the Lounge that know and love that old stuff.

Yes, I'd say that is true. I think all the young people at the Lounge (myself included) are probably not the norm as far as these vintage things are concerned.

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

I suddenly feel very old . . . . . .

Aww.. not my intent!
If it makes you feel any better, it's not my youth that is the cause of my radio ignorance, it's just... radio ignorance.

 

[dhermann1]

Tubes are to radios as sails are to ships, a total anachronism and museum piece. But they still work! Not at all surprising that a person under 30, heck maybe even under 35 or 40, would have no idea what they are.