Modest livery, impressive performance

[electra225]

There is a topic on the big forum about electronics that look impressive, but their performance is disappointing. The OP, with whom I generally disagree did mention Magnavox in general and Concert Grand specifically as being high on his list. I still disagree with him, nothing's changed in that department.

I thought perhaps it would be interesting to discuss items we possess that perform better than they should. Maybe they are a parts set, maybe they were rescued from the dump, perhaps they have minimum components, but they perform fantastically.

I will start by nominating my old Stromberg-Carlson 1121 as a likely candidate. Not miniscule in specifications in the least, the issue with mine is that the chassis has had a hard life. It spent 30 years in a chicken coop, housing several families of mice. So much mouse urine in the original cabinet the platter on the record player was rusted thru. The chassis should probably have been tossed, it is so nasty. The speaker is solid rust. The cabinet was almost totally eaten by termites. I had to toss the original cabinet. I went thru the chassis like I expected it to work properly when I was done. I am always amazed at this set every time I turn it on. There is no reason it should work at all. This thing should be a poster child for Stromberg-Carlson.

[TC Chris]

Over on that other forum, I posted praise for the little Philco 39-6CL that I restored a couple winters back. Hook up an antenna (there's no built-in loop) and on an evening you'll get a station at every slot on the dial, cleanly separated. All that with 5 tubes. OK, there's no thundering bass to rattle your windows, but the audio is clean and acceptable.

The "CL"designation showed that it was the most modest model. The cabinet was not veneered--it was painted ivory. A subsequent owner painted it light blue and did a good enough job that I did not replace it.

You can see and hear the little radio on a YouTube video I made here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfhuXcA8Hlk&t=270s

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

It was your comment, Chris, that made me think of this topic. Instead of berating something, why not give a positive nod to something that wasn't necessarily designed to be excellent.

My old S-C 1121 has eleven tubes and has both broadcast bands plus shortwave. I use a metal filing cabinet for an antenna. It has a built-in FM antenna. I believe this old radio is a better boatanchor than the SX-110 that I use for a bench radio.

[19&41]

I nominate my Magnavox 153B. I found it a few years ago in a Craigslist ad and it piqued my interest because it was nearby, it appeared to have a cathode ray tuning indicator and it was cheap. Seeing it in person made it seem a daunting prospect, being more of a habitrail than the high fidelity radio and amp it once was. With a cleaning, replacement of old, out of spec and P'd components, and repair of one of it's field coil speakers, it has clear, window shaking sound and a sensitive receiver, in both AM and SW. It has FM with rich clear audio and silence where there is none. It even has the tuning indicator I wanted, the one in it from Ebay, and a spare from Greg.

[Motorola minion]

I found this GE model T155 Musaphonic, AA6 1960 model in rural a trash dump in the mid 70s. No back cover and a broken plastic cabinet plus obvious water damage made it seem hopeless. But, for S's and G's, I plugged it in and was truly amazed.

It always sounded great for AM-only using a 6" round speaker and just a 50C5 output tube. I built the cabinet from English walnut a few years ago when I discovered something even better about it: It picks out every single station available, with few talk-overs.

This radio with an internal ferrite bar antenna, seems almost immune to interference, VERY selective and will consistently bring in the few stations at night I even want to listen to: 650 WSM and 740 CFZM. Its in the basement shop, using an old loop antenna next to the ferrite to close-couple my outdoor wire antenna without making an actual connection.

The craziest thing is, I never recapped it. It plays hum-free on the original "firecracker" paper electrolytic.

[electra225]

I have a little Emerson model 522 that my grandpa bought me in 1955. I wanted to mess with grandma's Grunow and kept getting into trouble for that. An inquisitive little kid at that age, grandpa gave $5 for the little Emerson, that, according to legend, was stolen at one point. Grandpa got it from a man "at the shop" who didn't want it anymore. It is pristine, I've always had it in the house somewhere rather than in storage. I've spend many an hour listening to WJJD out of Chicago on the little radio. It has all original Emerson-branded, RCA sourced tubes still in it. The cabinet has a bakelite back, which does nothing to enhance cabinet ventilation. The thing gets nice and toasty when it's run awhile. Just an AA5, nothing special. But it is a boatanchor when it comes to sensitivity and selectivity over the entire band. IT has a 4" speaker, but it sounds pretty good for what it is. I have a model 518 that I acquired later, has the same chassis with a slightly different design bakelite cabinet. Equally as good of a performer.

[TC Chris]

T156 Musiphonic.jpg

I found this GE model T155 Musaphonic, AA6 1960 model in rural a trash dump in the mid 70s. No back cover and a broken plastic cabinet plus obvious water damage made it seem hopeless. But, for S's and G's, I plugged it in and was truly amazed.

It always sounded great for AM-only using a 6" round speaker and just a 50C5 output tube. I built the cabinet from English walnut a few years ago when I discovered something even better about it: It picks out every single station available, with few talk-overs.

This radio with an internal ferrite bar antenna, seems almost immune to interference, VERY selective and will consistently bring in the few stations at night I even want to listen to: 650 WSM and 740 CFZM. Its in the basement shop, using an old loop antenna next to the ferrite to close-couple my outdoor wire antenna without making an actual connection.

The craziest thing is, I never recapped it. It plays hum-free on the original "firecracker" paper electrolytic.

GE made two versions of that radio, the "Musaphonic" and the "Long Distance." They look the same and appear to have the same innards--6 tubes, tuned RF amp. I've got one of each. Mine are plastic cabinet models, and I was thinking that your must have been some sort of upscale model until I got to the part about the home-built cabinet.

I have not examined schematics for the 2 models. Perhaps one was designed for broader-band audio, and the other for a more narrow IF tuning for selectivity? Or maybe they are the same device with labels to appeal to different markets at the time.

My Dad happened upon a yard sale once with a "radio collection" offered cheap. He bought the batch for me. I expressed gratitude but privately was thinking "They''re almost all cheap plastic series-string cheapos." More recently I have discovered that some of those little radios are miracle worker, punching way above their weight.

Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

Dave that's a very handsome cabinet you built!

I guess the small Zenith console amp/preamp combo that Dave just re-furbed for me qualifies, a freebie with a very modest cabinet needing much help, but with quite decent speakers and a Cobramatic, he has all those now. The amp performs much better than expected, now I need to find a CD unit for it and permanently install it as a built-in on a bookshelf in my office. Shown at the bottom, pictured in the wizard's lab, I'm going to visit there next week!:

[Dr. Radio]

T156 Musiphonic.jpg

I found this GE model T155 Musaphonic, AA6 1960 model in rural a trash dump in the mid 70s. No back cover and a broken plastic cabinet plus obvious water damage made it seem hopeless. But, for S's and G's, I plugged it in and was truly amazed.

It always sounded great for AM-only using a 6" round speaker and just a 50C5 output tube. I built the cabinet from English walnut a few years ago when I discovered something even better about it: It picks out every single station available, with few talk-overs.

This radio with an internal ferrite bar antenna, seems almost immune to interference, VERY selective and will consistently bring in the few stations at night I even want to listen to: 650 WSM and 740 CFZM. Its in the basement shop, using an old loop antenna next to the ferrite to close-couple my outdoor wire antenna without making an actual connection.

The craziest thing is, I never recapped it. It plays hum-free on the original "firecracker" paper electrolytic.

GE made two versions of that radio, the "Musaphonic" and the "Long Distance." They look the same and appear to have the same innards--6 tubes, tuned RF amp. I've got one of each. Mine are plastic cabinet models, and I was thinking that your must have been some sort of upscale model until I got to the part about the home-built cabinet.

I have not examined schematics for the 2 models. Perhaps one was designed for broader-band audio, and the other for a more narrow IF tuning for selectivity? Or maybe they are the same device with labels to appeal to different markets at the time.

My Dad happened upon a yard sale once with a "radio collection" offered cheap. He bought the batch for me. I expressed gratitude but privately was thinking "They''re almost all cheap plastic series-string cheapos." More recently I have discovered that some of those little radios are miracle worker, punching way above their weight.

Chris Campbell

Chris,

I'm a big collector of GE plastic radios. I have the "Musaphonic" in question buried in the to-do-pile. Yes, these were GREAT peformers, but as with all GE stuff, they suffered from their own cost-cutting.

If/when I ever get to rebuilding mine, like all other GE's, I will rebuild the IF transformers. GE made their own, and it's not IF, it's WHEN they fail. The "Golden" era of GE IF transformers with Silver Mica Disease was 1951-1966. In 1965, they started importing Japanese built, full-size IF transformers. These had discrete sealed capacitors. No more mica wafer garbage.

Chances are, they are the exact same radio. (RE, "musaphonic" vs. "long range".) GE was notorious for recycling cabinets and circuit boards into "later, newer editions", when in actuality, they were the same thing with minor cosmetic changes to reflect the new trends in interior design.

GE built some darn good performers, even into the late 1960s when solid state was obviously here to stay. You just have to get used to working on crumbling plastic, cheap circuit board solder joints, SMD plagued IF transformers, crumbling miniature tube sockets, plasticizer leaking wires, etc. etc

But, again, if it is GE and says "Long Range", you can bet a steak dinner it will be a fantastic performer (once restored properly).

In regards to Musaphonic. According to early GE advertisements (the term goes back to the 1940s and was used up until the late '60s), it was reflecting a product in which speaker and cabinet were carefully "accoustically engineered" for better sound reproduction.

[TC Chris]

The names made me wonder if they had done some minor circuit optimization for sound vs sensitivity, music vs range.

My uncle had a 1940s GE "Musaphonic" console that he felt sounded better than his component hi-fi system.

Were the improved IF transformers transplantable?

Chris Campbell

[Dr. Radio]

The names made me wonder if they had done some minor circuit optimization for sound vs sensitivity, music vs range.

My uncle had a 1940s GE "Musaphonic" console that he felt sounded better than his component hi-fi system.

Were the improved IF transformers transplantable?

Chris Campbell

Chris, I've attached an original ad.

As far as the IF transformers go, to be honest, I've never tried doing a direct swap. I bet they would probably work just fine with little or no tweaking. In fact, I have some 1966 calendar year radios that used one of each, the old in-house-design destined for failure and the new imported style with the actual discrete caps in them.

I can do the "surgery" on the IF cans, so I usually go that way to keep it "stock" under the "hood".

[Firedome]

Geez I didn't know they had a Hi-Fi in Versailles!

[Dr. Radio]

Geez I didn't know they had a Hi-Fi in Versailles!

Hi-Fi in Versailles.

Hey that rhymes.

Sounds like a song title....

[TC Chris]

Try again here. Translating the ad-speak. "Electronic reproducer" is maybe an early VR cartridge? "Equi-tonal volume control" means tapped for loudness compensation? And the clear message is, buy this device and your life will be changed forever, the old consumerist fantasy that one more purchase will solve problems. The wife will lounge about in an exclusive gown; the house will have crystal chandeliers. I've been there/done that. We don't buy big V-8s just so we can burn more gas, do we?

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I have a GE "Long Distance" radio, I believe with the same chassis as the one Dave rescued, that actually has a nearly complete plastic cabinet inside a wooden one from the factory. I have it buried at the moment. As soon as I can rescue it, I'll take a picture and share it with you guys.