[Gene Pederson]

OK, I really didn't need another console...........BUT...........I have never seen a Midwest anything in person around here. So this showed up on CL this weekend and I went today and bought it.

I could not find a model # on it but it has 2 speakers, a woofer and a tweeter. the phono I believe is the type that throws the record into a box to the left of the player. So far the best I can come up with it is from 1935 or '36 based on what the dial setup looks like.

Forgot to bring my camera, and didn't get a tube count. Will be going back to pick it up with a p/u truck. Will post pics when I get that puppy here. This is the one I have for now.
[Image: http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z345...18daee.jpg]

Here is a link to RM. It is a model FF18
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/midwest_ff_...8_36a.html

Gene

[Radioroslyn]

Congrat! All the one's I've seen have very nice sets!!!
Terry

[Gene Pederson]

Thanks Terry! It has a lot of photofinish on the cabinet. It is marked up some, but I think it can be made to look pretty good. If you notice, the left bottom, the "foot" is missing. I don't think that will be to hard to replicate. Those Midwest dials are really Deco!

Gene

[Eliot Ness]

Congrats Gene! Looking forward to some pictures.

[jerryhawthorne]

More pictures Gene, love to see the dial on the radio. From the picture it looks very low and wide. Indicates 18 tubes and quad outputs? That must be much bigger than it looks in the picture? Should be a lot of fun. Great radio! That should keep you busy.
Jerry

[Gene Pederson]

Jerry,
Now that you mention it, I have been thinking about the dial. I think there may be a part missing. If I remember it correctly there was nothing in the center of the dial. I know it did not move when I tried turning the knob.
I also think the brown has been redone because the RM scan makes it look like the trim is shiny. Luckily there is a piece of the grille cloth still attached on the lower right inside the cabinet, so I hopefully can get a decent match.

I was going to remove the chassis, but the top left screw was going to be a problem as it is mounted on an angle and I couldn't reach all the way up to where the nut was on the back side.

As for the record player, from the underside it looked to be the same age as the rest of the components, so I think it is the original. Even if it isn't I don't mind. I just really like the looks of the set. And with two speakers and the 18 tube chassis it should sound really good.

The lady gave me her home phone as they are closed Tues & Wed. I think my friend with the p/u truck will be back in town tomorrow and we will go get it then. we discussed trying to put it in the back seat of my Caddy, but I am just getting over a bad back problem from a week ago, so didn't want to take a chance on messing it up again trying to wrestle that into the car. She said just call her and she would come down to the store and meet us.

Oh, I also got an Ohmite Little Devils resistor 5 drawer cabinet for $5 and she gave me an old clock for parts.

Gene

Gen

[jerryhawthorne]

Gene, Midwest had some of the nicest dials, looking forward to pictures. Yes, I got tired of putting consoles on the back seat of my wife's Camary so sold my Saturn and bought a VW sport wagon. Great car with 45MPG on it's diesel. Low opening on the back, consoles just slide in nicely.
Looking forward to a trip to LV next week and pick up a Fada console. Best of luck on your Midwest, certainly looks like a unique radio.
Regards, Jerry

[y2kbruce]

This may have a beam of lite dial or a tune a lite, where the dial dims as the station is tuned in. IMO Midwest sets are great players and actually use all those tubes. I have my CC-18 on right now and it has 4-6F6 outputs and both a 12" woofer on a pedestal and a small tweeter just like Zenith used on their high end sets. A very natural sound like they are in my living room talking to me.

[Arran]

I've heard of Midwest radios being referred to as the poor man's Scott, there was probably a certain amount of tube stuffing but many manufacturer's were guilty of that. The most common one I encounter is the use of a 6H6 and a 6F5/6J5 where a 6Q7/6R7 would have done the job.
There were plenty of ways to cut costs in radios without affecting the performance, one that Midwest used, along with using cheaper cabinets, was to use a thinner gauge of steel in the chassis. They could also be using cheaper brands of resistors, using resistors of a lower wattage, and cheaper capacitors, and tube sockets. Other then the tubes sockets none of this really matters if the set is going to be electrically restored anyhow. Hopefully they did not pull a brand Z and use power transformers that were just so for handling the wattage.
Regards
Arran

[TA Forbes]

Neat set!! Four 6N6 output tubes is the same as having eight single-triode output tubes!!!

[Gene Pederson]

TA,
My chassis is NOT the 18-36A. It is the 18-36 which uses the 6F6's for output tubes. So this does not match what RM has posted as the chassis for this model. And the record player isn't the original. It is a Webster Chicago model 55-1 from about 1946/47. I found the paper tag in the bottom of the set.

Anyway here are some pics before I started to get this cleaned up. Love the deco dial!
[Image: http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z345...605aca.jpg]
[Image: http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z345...0c3025.jpg]
[Image: http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z345...fa740b.jpg]
[Image: http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z345...dd0437.jpg]
[Image: http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z345...43609b.jpg]
[Image: http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z345...ec87ea.jpg]
[Image: http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z345...a376cd.jpg]

More to be added later.
Gene

[sam]

dial is great looking pearl inlays ? and relay like the shield look lot of tubes though
can`t wait to see finish

[BrendaAnnD]

Are those multiple piezo tweeters (or electrostatic)?

[Gene Pederson]

Brenda,
There is a 12" woofer and a 5" tweeter. The tweeter has a cone like the large speaker. It is not electrostatic. I actually have the tag that was on it. It was in the bottom of the case. That little speaker was only held in by one screw. I am lucky it didn't rip out on the journey home. Here are the speakers and record player.
[Image: http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z345...f5c9cf.jpg]

Gene

[Electrothaumaturgist]

I really like the looks of that monster chassis! Dial is nifty, too! Was that faceplate with the red (or orange) continents originally that color?