Goodness gracious £2.5k, and £1.2k for a virtually empty cabinet. I bet the sellers were ecstatic! I doubt that whoever bought it - apart from yourself Robert, and maybe two or three others - would be able to make anything of it unless they have all of the bits that were missing. A while back I was going to bid on a 'barebones' A22 - in working order, with everything there except the cabinet, dial, back and knobs, intending to make a cabinet by either layers of thin ply, steamed, rolled and glued, fitted to a front turned on the lathe, or from rings of 25 mm MDF glued together and turned on the lathe. In the end, I hadn't put it on my watch list, didn't bid, and later found that it had sold for just £67.00. It soon became clear who'd bought it as he issued a wanted request on another forum for all the missing bits! Don't know if he had any success, but at £67.00 it was a gift. (No-one on here BTW).
I've reached a stage in life at which if I really wanted to spend £2.5k on a radio I could do, but for me - however intrinsically appealing the set is - the high price tag causes them to lose their appeal, because I don't covet things as a collector for their rarity value - I just like restoring old radios as best I'm able - not as an investment or speculative venture, but as a hobby. I've long since passed the stage at which I allow nostalgia to triumph over common sense, and have learnt to temper my enthusiasm with discretion. Buy in haste - repent at leisure! In marketing terms, it's known as 'cognitive dissonance' - an uncomfortable post-purchase feeling that you've been 'had'.
Unfortunately, sets often fall into the hands of so called 'restorers' who have delusions of adequacy. The Ekco AC86 isn't at the top end of the classic Ekcos price-wise, but it's a set worth restoring competently and for it to be in a better shape then when one acquired it. The older a set is, arguably the more we should try to conserve what's there, and when we have to replace components, to try to do so in a tidy fashion. Consider then, the work completed on this AC86 featured below, which I became aware of. Haven't got the right value resistor? No probs - string nine together in a daisy chain - sorted! Note the 'smoothers' in pic 4. It ought to be a crime - 'cruelty to radios' or some such thing.
I've reached a stage in life at which if I really wanted to spend £2.5k on a radio I could do, but for me - however intrinsically appealing the set is - the high price tag causes them to lose their appeal, because I don't covet things as a collector for their rarity value - I just like restoring old radios as best I'm able - not as an investment or speculative venture, but as a hobby. I've long since passed the stage at which I allow nostalgia to triumph over common sense, and have learnt to temper my enthusiasm with discretion. Buy in haste - repent at leisure! In marketing terms, it's known as 'cognitive dissonance' - an uncomfortable post-purchase feeling that you've been 'had'.
Unfortunately, sets often fall into the hands of so called 'restorers' who have delusions of adequacy. The Ekco AC86 isn't at the top end of the classic Ekcos price-wise, but it's a set worth restoring competently and for it to be in a better shape then when one acquired it. The older a set is, arguably the more we should try to conserve what's there, and when we have to replace components, to try to do so in a tidy fashion. Consider then, the work completed on this AC86 featured below, which I became aware of. Haven't got the right value resistor? No probs - string nine together in a daisy chain - sorted! Note the 'smoothers' in pic 4. It ought to be a crime - 'cruelty to radios' or some such thing.
Regards, David.
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
