Looking for vintage radio sound

[Gobble]

Greetings folks

After spending upto $2000 on a budget mid-fi, I am still craving for that sound (and feel) I grew up with - a Bush or Murphy radio (forget the make) that was purchased in 1970's in India by my Pa and sold for the same price ($5) a decade back.

I basically want to sit at my desk (or bedside with a book), under the warm glow of an incandescent bulb softened by a lamp shade (no florescent), dial the knob on a tabletop radio tuner and recreate the vintage sound using a DIY low watt mono tube power amp section and a 4" speaker for that slightly over-driven sound with a crunchy and aggressive midrange.

Are any modern AM/FM/SW tuners available with a dial knob and slider? I am searching locally for old parts but would prefer the newer AM/FM/SW tuners (that dont drift, and have good sensitivity). Or, is it possible to electronically pair a digital tuner with a knob and slider and get rid of the button controls? (I only know to solder but the electronics expertise for old valve radios is available locally).

For example if my Hitachi KH-WS1 (WorldSpace Radios) can be re housed in a box having a slider and knob. I can find expertise to do it for me if this is feasible.

The other part of the challenged posed is - what DIY tube amp kit do you recommend for that over-driven sound with a crunchy and aggressive midrange and a chunky bass? Less than 10W is ok.

Lastly, I am not a DIY'er, I only know how to hold a solder gun (assembled a Grounded Grid preamp clone without knowing a thing about electronics). A fool with a gun if you like. Hence pardon my naive questions if any. I expect to find help locally to implement this, but need your experience and advice on what is feasible.

TIA

[Richard Ellis]

"Gobble"
It really sounds like you should go "Old radio hunting".
Fortunately, there are still old tube desktop radios to be had. You will find them at the so-called garage sales, flea markets and 'finds' in attics and garages.
Here in Argentina there is a local professional welder (Really knows his stuff) with a collection of old tube sets.........not in working order. I really have to grind on him to let me have one to get up & going!
Modifying a modern desktop version as you indicate would be difficult to say the least as old sets had Air vane style rotary capacitors for channel tuning.
These 'tuners' are a beautiful piece of engineering...so intricate..a lost art, as everything now is micro-sized onto a silicon chip **SIGH**
They have tried to imitate the linear, analog feel of the old tuners..but its not the same.
Perhaps you could find an old tube radio...update it with all new parts...create your own work of art for a case.....wood, aluminum or ??
Or just use it as is?

[Wavebourn]

I have one restored and well working chassis. And some parts of the body (probably left) that dried out and fell apart.
I can sell it cheap, for the price of a power transformer only: I still want it, but don't dare to cannibalize the thing.

Edit: I mean this one: http://wavebourn.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=468

[bob91343]

I have a Meissner Radio-Phono-Recorder that sounds just like what you probably are seeking. It has a lovely tone but nowhere near hi fi.

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by Gobble

Greetings folks

After spending upto $2000 on a budget mid-fi, I am still craving for that sound (and feel) I grew up with - a Bush or Murphy radio (forget the make) that was purchased in 1970's in India by my Pa and sold for the same price ($5) a decade back.

I basically want to sit at my desk (or bedside with a book), under the warm glow of an incandescent bulb softened by a lamp shade (no florescent), dial the knob on a tabletop radio tuner and recreate the vintage sound using a DIY low watt mono tube power amp section and a 4" speaker for that slightly over-driven sound with a crunchy and aggressive midrange.

Are any modern AM/FM/SW tuners available with a dial knob and slider? I am searching locally for old parts but would prefer the newer AM/FM/SW tuners (that dont drift, and have good sensitivity). Or, is it possible to electronically pair a digital tuner with a knob and slider and get rid of the button controls? (I only know to solder but the electronics expertise for old valve radios is available locally).

As a DIY project AM and SW is daed easy. FM is much harder to do with tubes. The easiest way to go is to restore an antique radio. There are a lot of them around.

If you want to learn about anything "radio" the best source are outlets and website that catter to "ham radio". not HiFi audio.

You can almost build an AM radio by accident, any kind of a tuned front and, a rectifier, narrow band filter and them some kind of amp. All of those stages can be very, very primitive.

[TheGimp]

I wonder if some of that "Old Radio" sound wasn't so much the radio as the studio in the days of live broadcasts.

I'm just old enough to remember live shows on radio, and the sound of the studio had a lot to do with what one heard.

I doubt that other than recordings of old programs, you will be hard pressed to reproduce the feel with modern programming.

[Wavebourn]

Or search for "regenerative receiver". One tube may give you excellent sensitivity and selectivity, also sound quality much better than any superheterodyne can give.





http://www.cqham.ru/forum/attachment...3&d=1167069551

One more: grid detector radio, uses 6E1P magic eye tube:

[DF96]

I think there were several contributors to the old radio sound. One is the restricted bandwidth of AM - probably 6-8kHz then but more like 4-5kHz now. Then there would be some distortion on modulation peaks, especially downward peaks which an envelope detector struggles to follow correctly. The single-ended output stage would add some low-order distortion too. Then a speaker with a paper cone is bound to sound different from a modern plastic or composition cone.

As others have said, your best bet is to find and, if necessary, renovate a radio from that era. Then it will look correct too!

[wakibaki]

I have a pair of old Wharfedale 'Dalesman' speakers here, I'm listening to them at the moment. They were introduced in 1965. They're being driven by a modern solid state amplifier, and the source at the moment is the TV satellite receiver. Everyone who hears them is reminded of the sound of early integrated stereo/radios or 'gramophones' as they were known. These were often large pieces of furniture with room for record storage built in and speakers at either end.

These speakers are 6.1 inches in thickness with a frontal area of 20 * 25 inches. The tweeter is a 5" driver of some description and the LF is 12" from what I can feel through the grille. The construction is massive and the speakers are heavy for their dimensions. Although they are superficially scarred I expect them to continue functioning more-or-less for ever.

I actually have the eq set to minimise the somewhat excessive bass response, but I'm not about to rush out to buy a pair of modern speakers to replace them with.

These speakers do appear from time to time on the secondhand market and generally at quite reasonable prices. If you could find a pair they would probably go a long way towards satisfying your desire for that nostalgic sound but still allow you to run them with your existing equipment.

w

[jmsent]

Why not just buy an old radio on Ebay? There are tons of auctions for them and the variety is huge. If you want my recommendation, go for a nice Grundig or Telefunken set from the late 50's or early 60's. Something like a Telefunken Opus 6 or 7. These have great retro sound with excellent reception when restored. These Opus radios use push pull EL84 outputs and a 6 speaker sound system that includes 2 electrostatic tweeters.