Getting a New Toy

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Transistorized

Transistorized

Member (SA)
Decided I wanted to put a little more emphasis on the word OLD in old-school. Decided to take an interest and test the waters in the Collectible Tube Radio section. While I don't plan to make this a habit, I wanted at least one fully and professionally restored Minty tube radio just to say I had one.

Ended up purchasing a 1957 Telefunken Allegro 5083w. All original finish with no cracks or scratches (piano finish). Fully restored with bridge rectifier, new modern caps, rebuilt audio output stage and all tubes tested with any marginal or weak tubes replaced. New "Magic Eye" Tuning tube which is nice and bright :-) AM / FM Hi-Fi Stereo "Sound" SW1 / SW2 - 3 Speaker with 8 Tubes.

I don't have it yet but hopefully tomorrow if all goes well. Providing a Photo.
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J

jimmyjimmy19702010

Member (SA)
Beautiful looking machine! It would certainly have been an expensive piece of kit back in the day.

Buying a 'turn key' fully restored example is definately the way to go.

Congrats,

James..... :-)
 
Northerner

Northerner

Boomus Fidelis
Love 50's stuff including radios unsurprisingly...I have 3 or 4, none of them have been restored tho sadly. This one is a corker :-)
 
T-STER

T-STER

Member (SA)
Yup same, love these older radio's. Have recently acquired a few Hacker radio's and love these to. Possibly the best sounding radio i ever heard.

This is a beautiful piece and the fact its fully restored is awesome.
 
SLO

SLO

Member (SA)
I too love these vintage pieces. They just ooze class. And the build quality is so cool, real wood! :w00t:
 
MyOhMy

MyOhMy

Member (SA)
I bought an old tube radio in the eighties as I've always liked them and, in a surreal way, it seemed a bit odd listening to a 50's radio emitting 80's music. :blink: :-D :lol:
 
toshik

toshik

Member (SA)
I took the same approach, Telefunken Opus 5550MX radio with amp and then H-K A230 and A260 standalone amps. They do not have integrated speakers so I use Telefunken SB86s.
BUT restoring them myself is the best part! No one else would do it as good as you! Had to buy and restore tube tester as well. Replacing vacuum tube rectifier with semiconductor bridge rectifier is not a good idea.
 
Transistorized

Transistorized

Member (SA)
I'm glad to see so much interest in these older radios. It came in today while I was at work. Apparently there was supposed to be a signature but after the FedEx guy hefted it down to the house from the street he decided to waive the signature...hahaha. Left it with a note at my side door...lol
redbenjoe said:
nice - let us know how it sounds
Click to expand...
It has a unique sound as I expected. My ears have been accustomed to Solid State lately so I have to get used to how the sound is delivered. All I can say is the sound has warmth to it. The bass isn't punchy like solid state. What it lacks in the thump department it makes up for with its smooth low frequency that reverberates off the walls in the house and just sounds warm. I can't really explain it. But I like it :-). The highs are very crisp for it's age. It's very clear and even though it doesn't have a multiple channel amp it truly sounds like stereo in FM mode.
I did look around inside before plugging it in. I did see a fair amount of new caps and resistors but I also saw quite a few old wax capacitors still inside. I would've thought they would've been removed even if they tested good just because they're 50 years old. There is not hum and the unit sounds good so I guess I'm not going to worry about it.
Snapped a picture of the stereo with its Magic Eye tuning tube shining through the front glass. So far so good. It has line in as well for iPod etc.
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