[Jayce]

I found this radio at an antique store last week and was a bit dubious of the $65 price tag, but it was too odd to pass up. Especially when I found out that the cabinet is all metal except the bottom! The rest is sheet metal painted with a wood grain finish with chrome strips. Mine is in good shape, except missing the back and one small chrome strip for the grill. It's just a five tube ac/dc set up with a rather small, PM speaker in it, but I guess these radios are worth some money now. It's not a bad performer now that it is going and I like the colorful dial.[attachment=1][attachment=0]

[TA Forbes]

Neat! The wood repli finish looks to be in nice shape. AA5 set??

[Jayce]

Neat! The wood repli finish looks to be in nice shape. AA5 set??

Yep, it's an AA5 set. I was surprised it just has a PM speaker in it and not a dynamic. Almost looks like a battery set the way it is built, but it is AC.

[Texasrocker]

Thats a cool Radio for the AA5 type ac/dc sets Jayce! I restored one for a customer several yrs ago. The real "truetone" sound however, can be found in their late 30's sets with a power transformer, such as the D-723 (tulip grill wood table cabinets) and D-724,25 models. Push pull outputs with great tone indeed! And most of those old sets would allow swapping chassis', same mounting bolts and shafts patterns into the Truetone wood cabinets in those yrs. The round style D-723 dials assemblies on the chassis' could also be changed with the later square Truetone type dials radios, or vise versa, to allow proper fitting among all the Truetone wood type cabinet styles for a few years. Those were ALL Beautiful sets, and had nice large illuminated dial faces indeed with a Airplane type pointer and also had shortwave band.

[Jayce]

I have tried to find one of the earlier Trutone consoles, but have had no real luck. When I do find them they are totally trashed around here from bad storage. This table radio was a bit of an impulse buy.

[exray]

Another unique tidbit is that this radio uses an inductance tuner rather than a variable capacitor.

[Arran]

It's and interesting set but the missing grille bar and back would have made me pass on it with a $65 price tag, even if the Dienoc finish wasn't too bad. The back isn't as big a deal but try finding a chrome grille bar if you need one. I stopped buying incomplete sets like that long ago unless they are really cheap, I got tired of having too many open ended projects.
Regards
Arran

[Texasrocker]

Good impulse buy Jayce. Keep looking for the older wood cabinet D-723 or D-724 sets with a power transformer and push-pull outputs. Many parts interchange and you can eventually combine a great receiver in a very attractive wood tabletop cabinet with a beautiful lighted dial! The parts interchange easily. Great sounding Radios indeed with that old "jukebox" sound quality, and easy to restore. Both models show up on ebay from time to time in different states of dis-repairs. If you ever own one, you will keep it!!

[Texasrocker]

Exray, Thank You for reminding me these particular Truetone ac/dc sets like Jayce purchased, had the slug tuning like old car & truck radios had. You are correct indeed! Those chassis' also came in the smaller bakelite cabinets as well that were popular with collectors a few years ago. And if the dial cord was broken, it was a real test of human patience to get them re-strung properly. Jayce probably dodged a bullet here on his recent purchase, but a nice find indeed, and those radios don't show up often these days! You Go Jayce!!
Exray,... You are a great tech, and have a much better memory of all these old sets than I do! Cudo's my friend!!

[TA Forbes]

Several of the Silvertone "green dial" sets from 1935/36 used an inductive volume control and on the 1905/55/65 sets an inductive tone control.

[Jayce]

I will definitely keep an eye open for the wood cabinet models. I would especially like to eventually find a mid to late 30's Truetone console to go with the Silvertone and Airline consoles I have from that era. That would cover the 'big three' catalog and department store brands around here. Right now I have to save for dental work on my cat and am making a trip soon to visit a friend and perhaps do a little radio trading. Might be coming back with a Stromberg-Carlson 12A in tow.

[TA Forbes]

Don't forget Spiegel. Their brand names included Air Castle and Continental. I am currently restoring a Continental 925 (16R chassis), a real oddball.

Hope you get the Stromberg. I have seen only a few of the Strombergs with the tuning meter, they are neat radios with nice cabinetry.

[Jayce]

Shoot, I had a small Air Castle tombstone I let go in a trade a few years ago. It was a rather plain looking radio. Oddly, I do have a Spiegel garden tractor put away.
If I can get that Stromberg off my buddy, that would make only the second one from that era I have seen complete. I currently have working Stromberg 642A, but it is missing the knobs and the dial es...esc... can't spell it right now. The thing around the dial.

Don't forget Spiegel. Their brand names included Air Castle and Continental. I am currently restoring a Continental 925 (16R chassis), a real oddball.

Hope you get the Stromberg. I have seen only a few of the Strombergs with the tuning meter, they are neat radios with nice cabinetry.

[Texasrocker]

Hi Jayce, if you see this post in time, there is a real nice Truetone D-723 tulip grill (restored) on epay right now. The knobs aren't correct, but look nice. The original knobs were wood types with setscrew. It is however a really nice looking radio and you can see what a "shined up" D-723 looks like with the lighted dial! Think its up to about $300. now, the photos look great! Mine looks similar, not as nice original finish, but these Radios are Great daily drivers for sure! There are a couple D-723's on epay now, one needs LOTS of work and is missing cabinet trim etc. ,.. Bad cabinet but could be restored. Find the fully restored one if you look there.

[Jayce]

I thank you, but I quit doing ePay a good while back when they went paypal only. Got tired of high prices and the paypal bit just finished chasing me away. I just got in from an over 200 mile trip out to see a friend and toted home a Stromberg-Carlson 12A in the process. One thing, never try to handle the chassis from one of those alone! Ow! Ow! Ow! Medic!