[Kbric]

OHappy to find this site! I am considering purchasing a 1959 Philco radio/record player that comes with an additional speaker unit. The seller says the record player works, but I haven't seen it in person yet to try playing a record on it. 

Granted the electronics are 60 years old, do you recommend restoring it completely (even if it happens to work)? How difficult do you think it might be? Just trying to gauge what I might be getting myself into!

Thanks for the help!

[mikethedruid]

Welcome to the site. That looks like an interesting unit. It is quite large, especially with the second speaker cabinet. If you like it, and have the room for it, I'd say, "go for it," as long as the price is right. It appears to have been well cared for. If it works, as the owner told you, that's a plus. It will need to have some basic things done no matter what, filter caps in the power supply replaced at a minimum just to be safe, the originals are not going to be reliable at their age, and you don't want them to fail and ruin something else. The turntable may need some basic servicing also to work as it should, rubber parts replaced, that sort of thing. There are folks here who have a lot of experience in that sort of thing, much more than I have. I'm sure they will coach you through any work you need to do. Good luck with it !

[Radioroslyn]

Hi and welcome,

Well it's hard to say till you get it open. General sets built in the late 50's probably are going to use disc ceramic caps so that won't be a big issue. Will probably use twist loc electrolytic filter caps which should be replaced or rebuilt. May need some of the controls replaced from wear. Be advised that this set is not stereo as most are accustom to it has a mono amp and mixes the output of the stereo cartridge together to produce a mono output. Pretty sure that the fm tuner is mono too.

It may just depend on your skill set as to how difficult it is to service.

[klondike98]

Welcome to the Phorum!