Mom's 1947 Admiral all American 5

[goraman]

I n America during the 40"s everyone was buying radios but money was tight so radio manufactures had to make them affordable .
This one is a great example of what was called an all American 5 tube. These radio's had No Transformer! Huh?
The filament voltage of all five tubes wired in series with the dial light had to equal 121 volts. The rectifier tube has a leg that ties to the dial light so if the dial light bulb goes out you must turn off the radio or you will prematurely burn up the rectifier tube.

I grew up with this radio it is very simple just 5 tubes 12SA7, 12SK7,14B6,50A5 and 35Y4.
The 14B6 is the detector . The 50A5 is a 1/2 watt output power tube.
The 35Y4 is the rectifier tube.
I don't know what the 12SA7 or 12SK7 dose?

It has been recapped, cleaned and re-tubed.
I found a Brimmar detector 14B6 on ebay still new in the box ,tested awesome.
And a new in box RCA output 50A5.
The rectifier is a green label Sylvania tested new in mil spec box.
The 12SA7 new in box Tung Sol.
The 12SK7 is a rare Los Gatos tube made here in California new in box .
When I say new,I mean never used old stock that tests new.

I used this radio as a kid to fall asleep and it is still going strong but it is getting harder to find tubes for it now .
There is no new production that I know of for these old radios.
Where any of these tubes used in the U.K.?
I am very happy with the tone of the Brimmar.

[Firebottle]

Hi Jeff, really nice condition that radio.
You can get all the tubes from VacuumTubes.Net

The 12SA7 performs the mixer and oscillator function, the 12SK7 is the intermediate frequency (IF) amplifier.

[Lawrence001]

How lovely to see something so old still in regular use. I'm fed up with the throwaway tat made these days. It's up to dedicated enthusiasts like you to keep these things going, we can also educate the young about old technology. I'm also convinced the knowledge of analogue technology lost in everything going digital will still be needed in the future..

Sent from my BLN-L21 using Tapatalk

[goraman]

Alan,
Thank you for explaining that to me, The U.K. seller still has a few Brimmars , I love this tube and want to have a couple more in reserve. They last for years but Conner my son will get this some day and I want to leave some valves behind for him too.

Also Lawrence the radio is playing as I am typing.

[goraman]

Dose anyone know what tube is the signal tube?

[Firebottle]

The 14B6 is the audio amplifier as well as the detector, includes a high gain triode.

[goraman]

Thank you Alan, it explains 2 things why the new Brimmar made such a huge difference both in sensitivity, selectively and tone.

[Macca]

It really is a wonderful old thing. And not a mark on it, that I can see anyway.

[struth]

Yup a lovely old radio. Knew how to make things