08-05-2012, 11:19 PM
You'll find that this is a very nice set. I see that someone has refinished the cabinet, but not a horrible job.
When the pickup is back in good shape, the output of this set on phono is very good. While this set is similar to the RCA Radiola 86, they put a hotter coil in the pickup than was in the Radiola 86. Both the VICTOR (The RCA name was not on the RE-57; just Victor) RE-57 and the Radiola 86 were sold as parallel product lines in the stores.
There should be a single button carbon microphone, and a pickup head weight with the set for home recording (which can't be done today, anyhow). There is a position on the selector switch on the motor board for "Public Address" if one cared to blab over the radio with the mike.
As on most of the RCA amplifiers of that day, and considerably later, the interstage transformer will have open windings. There might be a replacement on yours.
When the pickup is back in good shape, the output of this set on phono is very good. While this set is similar to the RCA Radiola 86, they put a hotter coil in the pickup than was in the Radiola 86. Both the VICTOR (The RCA name was not on the RE-57; just Victor) RE-57 and the Radiola 86 were sold as parallel product lines in the stores.
There should be a single button carbon microphone, and a pickup head weight with the set for home recording (which can't be done today, anyhow). There is a position on the selector switch on the motor board for "Public Address" if one cared to blab over the radio with the mike.
As on most of the RCA amplifiers of that day, and considerably later, the interstage transformer will have open windings. There might be a replacement on yours.
