Without stating your age: How old are you?

Oh, Bob, I remember all of that! "Hi-fi"s, TVs, console and table radios, even car radios (pre-1955ish? anybody?) used vacuum tubes. And guitar amplifiers (the best ones still do). Tubes are still being manufactured in many different places/countries. A tester like the one you pictured is GOLD! to anyone who "tinkers" with the vacuum tube alchemy.
 
Oh, Bob, I remember all of that! "Hi-fi"s, TVs, console and table radios, even car radios (pre-1955ish? anybody?) used vacuum tubes. And guitar amplifiers (the best ones still do). Tubes are still being manufactured in many different places/countries. A tester like the one you pictured is GOLD! to anyone who "tinkers" with the vacuum tube alchemy.

Yeah, I was surprised recently to find that tube type stereos are making a comeback with hobbyists , they put the tubes on the outside , so you can see them glowing. They’re pretty cool actually.
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Very cool. And they have a sound that is so analog, so organic, so alive, that you just don't get from digital. New isn't always better. That's why some people swear vinyl records "sound" better. It's the "clicks" and "pops" that give it its warmth. And electric guitars (with the right pickups) through tube amplifiers just have "that" sound of classic rock you can't get any other way.
 
Well if we are going to be talking old sound equipment here is what I have hopes of getting working again someday if I ever get up the ambition.
As I recall it was a birthday present to my Mom's mother from her kids, guessing sometime in the 1940's. I remember listening to it as a kid and playing the 78's on it which are stored in the light colored albums on either side, yea Mom decided to use fake wood shelf liner to patch them up years ago!
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From what I have learned on the internet the main problem with old radios of this vintage is the capacitors dry out and go bad.

I was able to locate and save a schematic for it online.

Two problems with working on them are, first the chassis is used as the ground so as they came with a plug end that will fit the wall socket either way the chassis can be hot depending on how you plug it in. And second is they were not fused so if there is a short from say a bad capacitor they can go up in smoke pretty fast!
 
Well if we are going to be talking old sound equipment here is what I have hopes of getting working again someday if I ever get up the ambition.
As I recall it was a birthday present to my Mom's mother from her kids, guessing sometime in the 1940's. I remember listening to it as a kid and playing the 78's on it which are stored in the light colored albums on either side, yea Mom decided to use fake wood shelf liner to patch them up years ago!
View attachment 169959 View attachment 169960

From what I have learned on the internet the main problem with old radios of this vintage is the capacitors dry out and go bad.

I was able to locate and save a schematic for it online.

Two problems with working on them are, first the chassis is used as the ground so as they came with a plug end that will fit the wall socket either way the chassis can be hot depending on how you plug it in. And second is they were not fused so if there is a short from say a bad capacitor they can go up in smoke pretty fast!

That looks like it would be a fun project to get lost in for a while, and an interesting technical challenge.

When I was a kid in the early sixties, I remember my dad , buying this very cool, modern stereo system. It was a mid century modern styled piece of furniture. Low slung , all wood cabinetry, speaker grills at each end. Lift up the lids and there was a radio tuner and a turntable and it had sliding doors in the middle to stand your albums up in.
On the weekends our house would be filled with music and the sound was really very good and state of the art back then. It was similar to this.
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My Father had bought a home stereo piece of furniture too..It sat in the living room..I dont recall the brand but i do recall it said "High Fidelity" It had the record player and AM/FM radio.. Analog sound is far superior to digital..this also is true for my hearing aids...This would have been in the early 1960s
 
Thinking back, I remember everybody’s house having some sort of stereo console in their living room. Always in a wood cabinet, it was part of your furniture. And somewhere in the living room was usually one of these glass grapes decorations, it seemed everyone had one. :laugh:
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Got to going through this tread and say downeaster's post about the Hubley model car and I just had to dig out this old one. Believe it's a Duesenberg.
A bit rough but still around! Not sure of what scale it is but if he was doing another of these dioramas and wanted something to park in a barn he could have it with all the authentic dust included! If I dig around might even find the other spare tire and the trunk for the back!
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Remember these? I had a Lionel trainset..similar to this...And when i was growing up in my hometown of Huntington LI NY ..In downtown there was this Hamburger resstaurant called the Hamburger Choo Choo..It was themed all trians and they actually had a working set of trains with tracks mounted on their walls to deliver food to each table in there..plus a track up front at the counter where you could also sit and eat...Wow My Daddy always took us there..it was always Cheeseburger French fries and a Chocolate malt!
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Got to going through this tread and say downeaster's post about the Hubley model car and I just had to dig out this old one. Believe it's a Duesenberg.
A bit rough but still around! Not sure of what scale it is but if he was doing another of these dioramas and wanted something to park in a barn he could have it with all the authentic dust included! If I dig around might even find the other spare tire and the trunk for the back!View attachment 169967
A Duesenberg had a V12. Your car has a straight 8. Maybe it's a lesser Packard.
 
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.....and that other band is short wave! That's the same as what I had from a hi-fi we got from an aunt/uncle that were going to throw it out! I begged my dad to save it and with my brother's (the electronics engineering student) help we would get it working or die trying. A few tubes and parts later, and work it did! German craftsmanship at its finest! It was a "Telefunken", sounded superb, and I could get signals from all over the world (especially at night, when I could get "the skip"). I may have to look for another one. Wait, I better not. I have too many projects already. She'd kill me....
 
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