[SRv2]

A few years back I purchased a nice looking Philco radio on eBay, and the day of arrival via USPS the box was beat up beyond belief.  I opened it and inside was a Telefunken radio, not the Philco.  At the time in my vintage radio life, I was a Philco only guy, so I was perturbed with this German radio arriving.  Contacting the seller, seems they sold both units at the same time and the boxes got switched when labeling them.  Apparently the person who received my Philco was also upset, but also the Philco was destroyed in shipping due to poor packaging.  As poorly packed as the Telefunken was, it didn't have hardly a scratch on it.  I returned it and got a refund on the Philco.  But there are times when I wish I had kept the Telefunken and added a German radio to my army.  I can't think of a Sgt Schultz joke, but there must be one in this story somewhere.

[RadioSvit]

Hi George, since you mentioned Telefunken, I can't ignore my desire to show you two premium models from this company. It's possible that you received one of them by mistake in the mail. )These are the Telefunken T7001WK from 1937, and the Telefunken T898WK from 1938. They have a very unusual design for a European radio. The first model uses 11 valves, and the second uses 8. But the third model from this company had a very traditional design for German table radios of the late 30s. This is the Telefunken T776GWK

   
   
   

[SRv2]

Peter,

Those Telefunken units look fun, I imagine typical German engineering behind those.  The unit I received inadvertently looked like this one:
   

Maybe I should have kept it after all, although it wasn't this clean and restored.
George

[Arran]

George;
I have a Telefunken Jubilate 56, which is a sibling of that Gavotte, but it only has two bands, AM broadcast, and FM. The Jubilate has a transformer, but it's an autotransformer, and has a hot chassis, which I'm not happy about given the high B+, and I'm also not impressed with the mount of the dial lamp, they mounted it through a hole punched in cardboard. I think the Gavotte sets were a mid range model.
Regards
Arran

[MrFixr55]

Peter, one of the sets that I thought was beautiful was the Philco 39-116. There is one of these in the Vanderbilt Museum, near me. William Vanderbilt was the grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, president of the New York Central railroad and owner of the estate in Centerport, NY. It is now a museum. This is a man who could have anything, a Scott Philharmonic, Zenith Stratosphere, etc, and he chose this one. He had the mystery dial, of course.

The RCA 128 was another. That Art Deco "Skyscraper" look. The multiband Zenith "black dials" were also neat. Many of the 1937 Zenith "Tombstones" were beautiful but I am not a big fan of the cabinet style referred to as "The Waltons" (called so because it appeared in a TV show from the 1970s by that name).

[Joe Rossi]

Peter,  Silvertone used the same dial and knobs on their models 4664 and 4764, but this one is their model 4763.  It is a very handsome radio.  Joe

[MrFixr55]

I have a Telefunken 5183. I have not restored it other than cleaning it and regluing the broken glass dial. I bought it from a St. Vincent DePaul thrift store for $40.00 about 15 years ago. It may have been in a classroom in the local Catholic elementary school I attended as a kid; I remember one just like this. The StVDP thrift store is in that parish.

It says Stereo in big letters, but the only stereo in it is a second amplifier (with less power and a smaller transformer than the main amp) an ECC83 as a stereo preamp for phono and jacks for an external speaker for the 2nd amp. one metric equivalent of a 6X9 speaker, 2 midrange / tweeters. Not evenly placed. FM is mono, no multiplex, no FM A AM B, but I don't know if that was in any German radio. It was common in US sets in the late 1950s as experiments in Stereo radio were beginning.

Neat looking radio, but inside, I was surprised at the willy-nilly wiring. Sounds nice, typical German push buttons and bass / treble controls with F and G Clefs.

[RadioSvit]

It says Stereo in big letters, but the only stereo in it is a second amplifier (with less power and a smaller transformer than the main amp) an ECC83 as a stereo preamp for phono and jacks for an external speaker for the 2nd amp. one metric equivalent of a 6X9 speaker, 2 midrange / tweeters. Not evenly placed. FM is mono, no multiplex, no FM A AM B, but I don't know if that was in any German radio.

MrFixr55. This configuration was widespread in Europe in the early 60s. Stereo decoders were installed in service centers for a fee if there was stereo broadcasts on local stations. I have never seen such a tube decoder even in fully stereo German tube radios of the late 60s.
This stereo NORDmende already has completely identical stereo channels and acoustics and uses a stereo cartridge stylus, but ... there is no stereo decoder either ...

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQlEA9Ic...W&index=29]

[RadioSvit]

Here is another video about the same radio.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOCJAL5B...W&index=27]

MrFixr55. I also really like the rectangular design of the Philco 39-116 and the cathedral of the RCA 128. And as for Zeniths, I love my desktop 9S-324bt and Zenith 5S-29. Their design is masterpiece!

   

   

[RadioSvit]

Hello everyone. Let's continue the topic about the most beautiful radios. Today I made the second part of the video series "The Best Radios in the World". I found a lot of archival materials about another Italian radio bar - Allochio Bacchini B316. which I restored 10 years ago and this was enough to create another video. And also changed the program of artificial intelligence voice acting, - it seems to me that now it is much better. Rate the quality of translation and voice acting, please

"The most beabutiful radio on the world. Part 2. Allocchio Bacchini B316"

"This video takes us back in time, exploring the world of vintage turntables and radios. Admire the details of these engineering marvels, from vinyl records to their internal mechanisms, and discover the history of how people interacted with vintage electronics. Restoring these devices allows us to appreciate the hi-fi quality they once offered.

In the first series of our series about the most beautiful radios in the world, we admired the Italian Radiomarelli radio bar from 1948. But today we will go even further.
Imagine Italy in the first ten years after the Second World War. Italy in ruins. Humanitarian catastrophe, hyperinflation, queues for bread. It would seem that the country is not up to luxury. But it is at this moment that it appears in the world - a masterpiece from Allocchio Bacchini, model B316.
Why were objects of incredible beauty born in times of greatest poverty, and where did this magic disappear when prosperity came? Let's figure it out..."

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnF0K1omnTg]

[Eliot Ness]

Yes, there were some beautiful radios made on both sides of the pond. I think the little Zenith tombstone 5-S-29 is a very beautiful design and the beginning of the Black Dial for Zenith. I really like the 1938 line of Zeniths, especially the 9-S-262 (my first robot dial), the 12-S-265, the 15-U-269, and probably no discussion like this could leave out the 1000Z (sorry, no chassis in that pic):

   

   

   

[RadioSvit]

Hello John. Yes, Stratosphere is beyond competition. I don't know what other radio can compete with it on equal terms, not only technologically, but also aesthetically. Maybe only the Crosley WLW

[RadioSvit]

I made a new video on the topic of the most beautiful radios in the world. I'm getting closer and closer to the most beautiful American radio, but I can't make a choice. Well, for now I'll consider all the European contenders worthy of choice, today I stopped at the Swedish DUX V-1259. The video is voiced in English

"The most beautiful radios in the world. Part 3. Swedish version - DUX V-1259"
[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmMmrCMM...OW&index=1]

[morzh]

American radios are different design than the european ones.
So it is a matter of preference.

I am not sure which one i'd prefer, but given the choice between 1000Z and the European ones, I'd go for the Zenith.

[RadioSvit]

Michael, you know, I would also choose Zenith Stratosphere, - but no one offers it to me at a price for which I could buy it. Well, I have to admire cheap Europeans. And in general, I find it very strange that radio consoles are not appreciated at all in Europe