1939 Silvertone AC-DC Model 6107

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This little fellow has audio that belie it's looks and size, owing to the fact that, despite it's era, it's a TRF with very wide bandwidth! One of the first AC-DC sets, it uses a resistance cord to drop the AC 120 VAC down to about half that before it gets to the tube chain. This means that the power cord, being made of insulated resistance wire, got rather warm to the touch! And you know what happens to rubber+heat over time! Right, the rubber get brittle quickly, cracks, shorts and...zzzzzzzzzzt! Hence the name, "suicide cord". This sort of design didn't last long, and AC-DC sets that had tube strings that added up to 117 volts came in soon after.

Still, there's no telling how many people were sent to their afterlife reward by those brittle, sparking cords....!

Some report "poor performance" with this set, but this must be in regard to it's ability as a receiver of anything but local stations...which is all it was designed for. The wide TRF design, though, made sure that the stations that DID come through, did so with audio that's really quite good for the set's size.

The set was available in brown or black Bakelite or a number of colors in Plaskon.
General Specifications
Design Type Tuning Range Number of Tubes Weight Power Consumption Original Selling Price Permanent Collection
TRF (really!) .540-1600 Khz Four 3 Pounds 25 Watts (approx) $9.95 Yes

Tube Complement and Types (All Metal)
Rectifier RF Stage Detector Audio Stage
25Z6 6K7 6F5 25L6

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