Garage Gazette

General Category => PHOTOS OF GENERAL INTEREST (NOT TOOLS OR SHOP RELATED) => Topic started by: stokester on October 08, 2019, 01:13:41 PM

Title: When Radios Were Furniture
Post by: stokester on October 08, 2019, 01:13:41 PM: and cost a bunch too!
Title: Re: When Radios Were Furniture
Post by: m_fumich on October 08, 2019, 01:15:28 PM: I would sell my mother for a Philco Radio Bar with original glassware.

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Title: Re: When Radios Were Furniture
Post by: goodfellow on October 08, 2019, 01:20:31 PM: Radios were beautifully crafted back then. They were big and heavy and the rectifiers were often a thing of beauty.
Title: Re: When Radios Were Furniture
Post by: stokester on October 08, 2019, 02:29:36 PM: Quote from: m_fumich on October 08, 2019, 01:15:28 PM
I would sell my mother for a Philco Radio Bar with original glassware.

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There is one on eBay for $19,000!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Philco-Radio-Bar-Original-Glassware-1937-/401279441053 (https://www.ebay.com/itm/Philco-Radio-Bar-Original-Glassware-1937-/401279441053)
Title: Re: When Radios Were Furniture
Post by: J.A.F.E. on October 08, 2019, 02:37:07 PM: They were big and very expensive and represented the most high tech thing people owned until TV's came out. They were all hand made and wired and soldered by hand. Tubes were hand made as well (and the ones still made still are for the most part). If you've ever looked at or taken apart a tuner dial it is pretty complicated and was all done by human hands (same with the actual tuner).

You bought one and a technician came out to the house to set it up for you if you can imagine.

Before super-heterodyne tuning came out each stage had to be tuned individually so selecting a station could take quite a while. But all the IF stages that made tuning so easy added complexity and a lot of cost.

No wonder they were so expensive.
Title: When Radios Were Furniture
Post by: m_fumich on October 08, 2019, 08:40:52 PM: I’m aware of what they cost. I just need to find someone that needs an 82 year old woman to sit on their couch and say “Well, that’s just stupid.” and will pay $20,000 to have one.

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Title: Re: When Radios Were Furniture
Post by: john k on October 08, 2019, 08:45:28 PM: Got a dozen radios in the house, one is a coffee table, another is a bookcase, think i like the art deco ones the most. Remember listening to the folks big Zenith before the bought a television.
Title: Re: When Radios Were Furniture
Post by: daves_not_here on October 08, 2019, 10:27:34 PM: Let's just say that I have 'several' radios large & small, newer & older. My '50s Zenith TransOceanic is the jewel of my collection.

One of my friends has the one on the lower left in the ad - it sat in a shed for decades.

He refinished the cabinet, and my electronics genius buddy restored the radio to working order. It is beautiful.