Posts: 82
Threads: 14
Joined: Mar 2014
City: Philadelphia, PA
Hey guys,
I am working on my 4th set now. Just got a nice Philco 511. Speaker is almost mint condition.. even the original cloth looks great. I'm just wondering before I start gutting it.... Is it worth restoring electronically?..or is the neutralization and alignment nearly impossible for an amateur? I'm not too intimidated but any helpful input on this project would be great. Also, are all the specs correct on the schematic? Do any of these 211 speakers actually still work?.. I was told it does but am skeptical. Thanks-
Mark
Posts: 411
Threads: 42
Joined: Sep 2008
City: Ironton Ohio
My original speaker worked for about a year then it started cutting out so I replaced it with a modern pm.
If you can align a tube radio, you can neutralize this one, after disabling the tube filament you adjust each section to the weakest signal rather than strongest as in alignment.
Posts: 4,686
Threads: 51
Joined: Sep 2008
City: Sandwick, BC, CA
Are you asking about the 511 chassis being worth restoring or the matching speaker?, I would say that both are worth restoring if they are clean and in nice shape. That being said it will take some work, like cleaning out the original guts from the block condenser can and replacing the old caps with modern film capacitors, and possibly repairing an RF coil, and maybe replacing an audio interstage transformer. These sets are fairly simple electrically once you understand how they go together, the alignment and neutralization part is much easier then most superheterodyne sets of the early 1930s, basically they are like a TRF battery radio with the power supply built in.
The speaker is a high impedance magnetic type like an old horn or set of earphones, to use a more modern dynamic with this radio would involve finding an output transformer to match it. It's easy to test though, place a 9 volt battery across the leads, you should get a loud click, if not the coil may still be good but the cable is not, so it's best to go directly to the back of the speaker with the 9 volt if the prior test doesn't work. Even if the coil is shot there are lots of early cone speakers out there for use with early AC sets that you can use with the 511.
Regards
Arran
Posts: 7,283
Threads: 268
Joined: Dec 2009
City: Roslyn Pa
Hey Mark
Invite me over and will have a radio fixin' party!!! Am single now so my time is my own.
Terry
Posts: 2,572
Threads: 337
Joined: Jun 2013
City: lawrenceville nj
terry if your a bachelor shouldn`t you be having the party at your house
Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this justice as a gift
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