Hello my friends. This is a repeat of a post I wrote on the Scott Forum, where to many have read it. I figured our more lively people here would better appreciate it, so here goes: I'm here to tell you about my Crosley WLW, which after a full year has finally been totally restored by my man Chuck Azzalina, who did an outstanding job. Believe me when I tell you that this is the finest console radio I have ever heard bar none. It has power to spare for one thing. The bass is quite full, and the midrange is excellent. But what will really impress is those three tweeters that go up to 14,000 cycles. They will blow you away with sound like a modern high fidelity system. Of course the imposing case is the first thing that "hits" you when you see it standing and turned off. Once it is on and that huge glass dial lights up with its multiple colors and you see the "lightning bolt" signal strength meter going, it's a bit of heaven. Chuck made me an iPhone input device so I have enjoyed modern music coming out of it too. I would like to hear a phono as well but so far don't have one that will match up properly. If you don't know, this "beast" weights 475 pounds!. It was never sold to the public and only ten were ever made. As far as we know only two got out and I have the only one that is fully original and complete. Considering my financial state, I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep it. Chuck has a buyer with a top collection who is interested, so we will have to see. I think the Zenith Stratosphere, which was the main cause for the WLW to be produced has a more interesting style but when they are standing side by side, you know who is boss! I put a Crosley "Pup" atop the WLW so the contrast between their smallest and largest radio can be appreciated.
Incidentally, I'm still sitting with my Zenith Stratosphere and I don't understand why. I started it on ebay at 60K, went to 50, then 40, and stopped at 30 and withdrew it because I would lose about 20K if I had sold it at that level.
Outside of that my wife Anna and I have been selling radios and related gear like there is no tomorrow. We have enjoyed our best sales ever the past few months and that has very much helped us to keep our bills at bay and even have something left over for a few nights of enjoyment. Surprisingly, the "hottest" items have all been vintage hi-fi gear including receivers, amps, cassette decks, speakers, and turntables. Wish I had more of those to sell!!![/size]
That's about all for now. Best wishes to everyone here from Sam Samuelian.
PS. Oh, by the way, I still have my Scott Buckingham that has the best chrome I have ever seen. It is an older restoration that works well. It does have some veneer problems and it is missing the metal escutcheons. It, too, will have to be put up for sale in the near future. There are other top sets like my museum quality Philco 38-690 and Sparton Triolian console. And two novelty radio pianos, one made by Sparton and the other by Atwater Kent. And of course many, many table radios of all sizes and shapes.
Would you mind editing your first post and removing the bit about the McMurdo Silver, and start a new, separate thread on that radio? Since these are two quite different radios, it would help promote discussion on both without having things become confusing. Thanks.
Would you mind editing your first post and removing the bit about the McMurdo Silver, and start a new, separate thread on that radio? Since these are two quite different radios, it would help promote discussion on both without having things become confusing. Thanks.
Hi Ron,
I agree and just started a new post. Photos of my WLW I would be very happy to send, but first have to figure out how to do it! I have a great one on my iPhone right now.
Sam said, "It was never sold to the public and only ten were ever made. As far as we know only two got out and I have the only one that is fully original and complete"
Beautiful monster radio Sam. How did you happen to get posession of it?
I bought it at an Estes auction over a year ago. I remember the seller being very disappointed with the price it brought but his wife insisted he sell it. I had to cash a lot of my bonds to get it and then had to pay thousands to have it BEAUTIFULLY RESTORED. IT was hand delivered to me and took four people to bring it in as it weighed so much. Thank goodness it was on four wheels. It sat a full year and now it's restored and ready to be enjoyed.
The other infer on this set is very interesting and a good history lesson. Crosely made it strictly to compete with the Zenith Stratosphere. But the Strat was only half the price. Despite that only 50 exist today. But as I said in my article the WLW runs circles around it sound wise. Too bad there aren't more out there. But of course you need a lot of room to set one in a room. It stands taller than the average man. And if you stretch you arms out all the way you have an idea of the width. The two doors on each side open. The left contains three levels of tone controls and the one on the right has a built in microphone to sing along with and it's own volume control. It contains four chrome chassis. One very heavy amp chassis, a heavy power supply chassis, a heavy radio chassis, and a small chassis to control lights and other items. The wood knobs are very attractive and the speaker grille is unique with its wrap around design that spreads the sound in all directions. This is especially effective for the three tweeters. There are two twelve inch woofer/midrange speakers, and one huge eighteen inch sub woofer that hangs upside down. And there are myriads of cables that connect all the chassis and speakers together. It also has its own AC power strip built in. Hope all that paints a fuller picture of this set!
I believe another fellow that often visits here located another WLW a couple of months ago. This is the same guy that has found a Zenith Strat, a 12A57, 12A58, a 12S232 Walton, a Philco 38-690 (which I now have), and a Hallicrafters SX28A, which I also now have.
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