Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

All instruments that aren't guitars (or bass guitars).
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invisible man
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Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by invisible man » Sat Oct 10, 2020 3:30 pm

My family is going through my grandparents and great-grandparents stuff in preparation to sell their house, and sending me pics of stuff I could take if I want. I am being offered these vintage home audio components (40s, 50s?). I don’t have much time, space or resources to keep and restore these, which I would like to do if limitations weren’t what they are. I am leaning towards keeping the small phonograph and the cool speaker cabinet with swooping lines (Karlson according to eBay search, size and speaker unknown). The Motorola radio/shortwave/phonograph/speaker cab/maybe record storage is enormous. If I had room I would store it but I just can’t, though it would be a cool restoration or repurpose project. Any value here? What should I do?

https://imgur.com/gallery/UGKmLfP
Last edited by invisible man on Sat Oct 10, 2020 6:30 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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invisible man
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Re: Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by invisible man » Sat Oct 10, 2020 4:09 pm

This eBay listing appears to be a rehousing of a similar radio/shortwave unit. The tube amp is shown in the pics, along with tube chart. Would this part be worth salvaging? I know some people make guitar amps from such things, but I’ve heard others say home stereo amp and guitar amp design principles are nearly opposite, and these are best left to the radio collectors. I visited the Bellingham Radio Museum and loved their collection of all this kind of old radio gear.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/353229050280
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Re: Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by spacelordmother » Mon Oct 12, 2020 7:11 am

Not sure how the enclosure would affect the sound, but wow those are cool as hell.

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mgeek
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Re: Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by mgeek » Mon Oct 12, 2020 11:56 am

Does the monarch amplifier work? Could be worth a go... not got any experience of that model in particular but tube hifi amps often sound amazing

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Re: Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Mon Oct 12, 2020 10:45 pm

I think it would be cool to get some old radio parts and try to convert them to guitar amplifier. Kinda like the way Racing does. Last weekend, I went with my girlfriend to a photoshoot at an old abandoned mental hospital (haunted, too) and in the basement where some pictures were being taken, I was walking around and found a huge pile of old intercom speakers (like school wall-mounted intercoms). They were in these really old-school looking cabinets with weird hole patterns for the baffles, and all still had the speakers. We were instructed in no uncertain terms not to mess with or take anything, but I should've asked if I could've bought one.
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http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=104282&p=1438384#p1438384

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invisible man
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Re: Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by invisible man » Tue Oct 13, 2020 6:38 am

I have a small wooden wall mount speaker enclosure like that, bought at a swap meet. 6in speaker. Project never started, but could be cool for a champ clone.
Last edited by invisible man on Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by DeathJag » Tue Oct 13, 2020 7:32 am

That cabinet is great. But it is, ah, very... um, suggestive of certain female parts! It’s not even subtle. It’s like the cabinet is giving birth to the sound.

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Re: Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by spacelordmother » Tue Oct 13, 2020 8:52 am

DeathJag wrote:
Tue Oct 13, 2020 7:32 am
That cabinet is great. But it is, ah, very... um, suggestive of certain female parts! It’s not even subtle. It’s like the cabinet is giving birth to the sound.
Must be like a Rorschach test cos, uh... I didn't think of that at all. lol
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invisible man
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Re: Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by invisible man » Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:07 pm

Settle down boys. I found this cool thread on an audio forum about the Karlson speakers. Apparently a ported design, some report the “tapers” as they are designed here produce a weird midrange, but great bass or mid-bass, and have even been used for bass guitar by some, or loaded with subwoofers by others. Very interesting, as I’ve been thinking of getting a bass amp to try to run dual bass and guitar amps for the Squier Bass VI. Maybe even try to rewire for Ric-O-Sound pickup split between the amps. However my limits in space, time, energy, resources, mental health remain.

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.ph ... rs.733964/
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invisible man
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Re: Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by invisible man » Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:15 pm

Shadoweclipse13 wrote:
Mon Oct 12, 2020 10:45 pm
I think it would be cool to get some old radio parts and try to convert them to guitar amplifier. Kinda like the way Racing does. Last weekend, I went with my girlfriend to a photoshoot at an old abandoned mental hospital (haunted, too) and in the basement where some pictures were being taken, I was walking around and found a huge pile of old intercom speakers (like school wall-mounted intercoms). They were in these really old-school looking cabinets with weird hole patterns for the baffles, and all still had the speakers. We were instructed in no uncertain terms not to mess with or take anything, but I should've asked if I could've bought one.
Is Racing a company, OSG member, or other? I’d like to look into it.
https://soundcloud.com/billy-gashade

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Re: Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Tue Oct 13, 2020 5:11 pm

invisible man wrote:
Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:15 pm
Is Racing a company, OSG member, or other? I’d like to look into it.
OSG member! He does some really great builds. Look for them here in the amp section (I'd post one, but I'm elbows deep into making dinner right now).
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http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=104282&p=1438384#p1438384

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invisible man
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Re: Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by invisible man » Wed Oct 14, 2020 10:22 am

According to the reference materials I’ve seen online Karlson made enclosures for 8, 12, & 15 inch speakers. Using the 2x4s on the unfinished wall behind the speaker cabinet, this looks to be 12 or 15, which is awesome. Hard to tell which due to the angle it is leaning up against the wall, and the top of the cabinet not being visible. Looks like maybe another cabinet to the right of a different sort, maybe handmade?
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Re: Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by invisible man » Sat Oct 24, 2020 5:27 pm

I found this thread on a bass forum about using these Karlson speaker cabs for bass. Seems like they do lows really well but need to be coupled with a separate cab or different arrangement of some kind for mids and highs.

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/karlso ... 022/page-2
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Re: Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by mackerelmint » Sat Oct 24, 2020 5:44 pm

Here's a purely emotional suggestion: any among them that have any particular smell, which you might find brings back good memories you might have, hang on to those.
This is an excellent rectangle

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Re: Vintage radio, shortwave, phonographs, speakers

Post by invisible man » Sun Oct 25, 2020 6:03 pm

mackerelmint wrote:
Sat Oct 24, 2020 5:44 pm
Here's a purely emotional suggestion: any among them that have any particular smell, which you might find brings back good memories you might have, hang on to those.
I am primarily into this stuff for the connection to family, and secondly trying to see what I could make of it for my current use.
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