1928 RCA Radiola 60

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(God, I love this set!) The year was 1928. When the Radiola 60 hit the market, it created a sensation, as it was one of, if not the first, AC Superheterodyne set to become available to the general public. The set still had a 0-100 scale for the tuning, which meant that once you found your station, you had better go and mark it in a logbook! ("Hmmm...KNX is about 53 and a half, I think...")

It took three wrecks to come up with enough parts to make one good unit. This was partly due to the fact that the power supplies on these early AC sets were horrible; for some bizzare reason, the windings were encased in a tarry, black pitch that had a high sulphur content...which, over time, ate into the windings on the transformer! All three cabinets were a mess, so we just picked the best one and went to town on it. Broken pieces (many) were glued back on, and missing parts were recast using molds I made myself. But the resulting ebony and mahogany dream you see here was worth every month it took.

The speaker you see is an RCA model 103, one of the first to have a wooden (instead of metal) frame. The wooden frame is a relative of "Repwood", wood particles mixed with a resin and cast in a mold. The grill cloth is hand-embroidered, and the back of the speaker is covered with a silk dustboot that closes with little green tassles. The horse shoe magnet-and-paper-cone audio is less impressive than the appearance!
General Specifications
Design Type Tuning Range Number of Tubes Weight Power Consumption Original Selling Price Permanent Collection
Superhet .535-1500 Khz Nine 35 Pounds 60 Watts (approx) $147 Yes

Tube Complement and Types (all Balloon)
Rectifier RF Stage Mixer Oscillator IF Amps Audio Stages Other Tubes
280 227 227 227 227 (2) 171A 227 (1) 1st AF+DET
227 (1) "Input Coupler"

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