Old Radios....

[greenhomeelectronics]

I collect old radios, mainly novelty ones but i have quite a few antique valve ones as well. The best one sound wise is a little Danish set, it has an amazing sound with so much character. I also have a very rare Spanish one which I believe is the smallest valve set ever at about 2 1/2 inches long and about 2 inches high. It still works and picks up well, it runs off 110Volts. The Roberts portable radios have always been a popular choice and work quite well but there are many other similar offerings that sound just as good and can be had for very little money. I rarely pay more than a couple of quid for radios and have acquired some very interesting sets over the years. Every now and again prices for a particular set go crazy (eg Bush DAC90's fetched a couple of hundred quid at one time) the prices soon come back down and bargains can be had.
Dave.

[camtwister]

I spend many hours listening to radio. I began my sound engineering exploits as a trainee studio manager at a hospital station, twenty five years ago. I have several tuners, my favourites being a Rogers T100 and my Leak Trough Line 3 with Mullard innards.

I’m approaching double figures for wireless sets. I get inappropriately excited about valve table-top units. British pre-war superiority in valve radio manufacturing was overtaken by the end of the 1950s by German, Dutch and Swedish manufacturers who persevered with new thermionic designs. The Nordmende Tannhauser, Telefunken Opus, Saba Freiburg and Grundig 5050 models are as sexy as wooden cased radios get. They utilised multiple speaker arrangements and the handsome cabinets housed fifteen or so valves. The Dutch Philips and German Blaupunkt ranges also included some wonderfully maverick and good sounding sets. These radios are now fetching upwards of £300 for working examples, especially those with oil bath caps replaced and wiring made safe(r). My personal favourite British valve wireless from this period is the Pye Fenman II.

For £40, or thereabouts, you can indulge in the premium British and German trannys from the mid 1960s. (There must be a joke hiding in that sentence.) The Grundig “Boy” series and the Telefunken Short Wave sets are excellent but my hard earned gets spent on Hackers.

Here are some soggy snaps of the radios sitting next to me as I type. My Hacker Sovereign II (RP25A model), Hacker Herald (RP37A) and 1974 Super Sovereign trounce, on sonic terms and sensitivity, any modern radio I’ve heard and they’re better looking. You can't go wrong with tidy leatherette, a one Watt battery powered amp and a six by four inch Celestion driver...Well, perhaps you can, but keeping your leatherette tidy is advice worth respecting. The brown unit is a Dynatron Nomad from 1959 and was designed by the Hacker brothers before they left to form their eponymous company. The Decca is typical of the cheaper plastic models aimed at the youth market in the rock’n’roll age.

There is a busy Hacker community of enthusiasts with its own Yahoo group. Those keen to peruse old radios and their habiliments over a Sunday afternoon may be interested in the National Vintage Communications Fair held in Warwickshire on May 15th.