[DaleHCook]

Does anyone have a Victor R-35 / R-39 / RE-57 that you can easily look at or which you have restored? I am creating new speaker cables for my Universal Shop Speaker and Dummy Field Coil. My R-39, which is awaiting restoration, is in storage and not easy to access. I have looked at the illo of the R-35 / R-39 / RE-57 terminal board in the 1929-1930 Red Book. Are those speaker cable leads attached with spade lugs or some other terminal held by machine screws? If so, what type of terminal and what size machine screw?

[MrFixr55]

  Hi Dale,

No, I have not repaired one of these but since the speaker on this unit is attached to the amplifier chassis, I would suspect that the leads are soldered to the terminals, and those terminals are likely only for the voice coil. The earlier models R32, R52, etc. used what looks like a 4 pin Jones connector., as these speakers were not connected to the amp chassis.  My GE S-22A (RCA R7A) has a rather similar speaker.

I think that these radios were designed and built just before the acquisition of Victor by RCA. The amplifier is rather similar in layout and circuit to the Radiola 80, which (I believe) is the first RCA radio built in the Camden, NJ Victor plant instead of being built by GE or Westinghouse.

Attached below are pictorials of the Victor R-35 and the Radiola 80, bearing out the likelihood that the speaker connection is soldered at 2 terminals on a strip for the voice coil and the field coil leads being pigtails directly from the coil.  

   

   

From what I can discern, the only difference between the Radiola 80 and the Victor R35Amp Chassis are the method of connecting the radio chassis and the fact that the Field coil is in the B return side on the Radiola 80 as opposed to being on the B+ side on the Victor.

In my book, this is a cool radio, as it was Victor's entry into building their own radios (they previously bought Radiola 16s, 17s or 18s from RCA.

[JimSirt]

Hi Dale,

I don't know if this will help you. I have a Victor RE-45 which in appearance looks quite similar to the models you identified. The first photo below shows the speaker wiring at the speaker end soldered directly to terminals on the speaker. Next photo is the other end of the speaker cable and has a 4 pin plug with a round pin position locator and the third photo of the receptacle mounted on the PS/Amp chassis. The radio is accessible in my garage and I can send other photos if needed.

Jim

[DaleHCook]

Next photo is the other end of the speaker cable and has a 4 pin plug with a round pin position locator and the third photo of the receptacle mounted on the PS/Amp chassis.

That is a pre-WWII plug and socket made by Howard B. Jones, which was later part of Cinch-Jones. I know it is pre-WWII because of the round cap on the plug. By 1942 Jones was using only rectangular caps (at least, that is all I have seen in catalogs). They were still making the same 4-pin plugs and sockets with the polarizing pin in 1942. Also, MrFixr55 discussed the use of the Jones plugs on earlier Victor models.

I have good illos of the R-35 / R-39 / RE-57 speaker chassis in the 1929-1930 Red Book (all three models used the same chassis), along with a full parts list. The R-39 chassis did not use a Jones plug (which is shown in the 1929-1930 Red Book for the RE-45).

As far as I can tell the speaker chassis in the R-35 / R-39 / RE-57 is unique. I am leaning toward the suggestion of MrFixr55 that the cable was soldered to lugs. I will probably have to wait until I have the chance to get at my R-39 in storage to find out.

[MrFixr55]

Hi Jim,

Your RE45 radio with Electrola (electric Victrola with magnetic pickup) was based on the earlier R-32, which (I believe) is the first radio that Victor manufactured. Your speaker has a plug, likely because the speaker is cabinet mounted, and appears to be the GE Kellog-Rice speaker that all electrodynamic (and PM Dynamic) speakers are based on. The R 35, 39, Radiola 80 and R7 Suprette speakers are similar but with a different frame. The wires on the 80 and R7 Suprette are confirmed by pics to be soldered. If the Radiola 80 are soldered, it is likely that the R35, R39 and RE57 (similar amp chassis to the Radiola 80) are also soldered. Flr the R35, 39 and Radiola 80, the pigtail from the radio chassis connects to the amp / PS Chassis via screw connectors, as opposed to the Jones connector that yours uses.. BTW, I think that the RE45 is a cool radio. How does the Phono sound? The cartridge is no GE RPX let alone a Pickering, Shure, Otofon, etc., but it IS magnetic! (If I bought one of these, Ms. Fixr would fix my wagon but good!

[JimSirt]

Thank you Dale and MrFixr55 for the great info. I bought the RE-45 last year but I haven't had a chance to check it over, so no idea yet about the phono. The entire unit is in amazing condition, never been barn or garage stored. Weigh's a ton. I'll probably get to the restoration this winter.

Jim