Grundig KS 715GB Radiogram

[Tedzed1]

Well, I could not resist it, just up the road from me, and I was the only bidder so got it for the grand price of £9.99.

And it is full of them nasty thingies I believe they are called TRANSISTORS.
so this is going to be a completely new entity for me, (apart from a couple of portables that needed no work to get them going)

Has anyone any knowledge of these radiograms, the main reason I brought it was because it has a proper stereo decoder on FM, are they any easy fix if they have problems, (not sure what transistors are fitted to them, Radiomuseum lists 15 of the little blighters.

At least it has a nice cabinet

Now the hardest part, how to tell SWMBO I have brought another radiogram, (even I am not sure where I am going to put it)

[Steve_P]

Off hand I don't know about Transistors, but there is every chance that they are OK. The things that go wrong with these are the tuning jams (Hair Dryer will loosen it, then it's a clean) and the record deck may be jammed, as all record decks tend to be.

These are good machines and also very sensitive. Sometimes go under the name 'Mandello'

Have fun telling the wife!

Cheers,

Steve P.

[Yorkie]

Bargain!

It just goes to show how fashions change over time. I dare say that when that was new it was a desirable and expensive bit of kit - L,M,S,FM, gram, stereo. At least in transistor gear you don't have the high voltages and heat that often affects valve radios, or the drop off in performance associated with valves on their way out. The fun starts when the sound stops of course, and I think most of us feel happier around valved equipment - I certainly do. In the early stages of transistor radios they had poor quality SRBP PCBs on which the slightest heat will lift the track from the substrate - sets such as Roberts R200s and those ghastly Mullard modules. There's the added problem that it's often not easy to tell which pad on the underside tracks belongs to which component on the upperside of the PCB. Not really designed and manufactured with repairs in mind - if it dies, bury it in landfill seemed to be the motto. Nothing changes - each trip to the tip reveals piles of plasma tellies and the like.

Hopefully the gram will give a very good account of itself Paul.

How tragic that the stripdown value of much of this stuff is worth more than the whole. I often wonder how much a ubiquitous Bush DAC90A would fetch if dismantled and sold as spares - dial, cabinet, speaker, OPT, IFTs, wavechange switch, frame aerial, dropper, knobs, back panel, valves, nasty mains plug (well it's a socket actually - the male plug is on the chassis rear apron). Hardly worth the effort unless someone has time on their hands of course, so it's a rhetorical question.

Have fun!

[Joe]

Even I am not sure where I am going to put it.

I know the feeling: I've just bought a sewing machine in a treadle stand.

- Joe

[Steve_P]

It's simple. If there's carpet visible then there's room for one more!

Cheers,

Steve P.

[AlanBeckett]

Joe,
Get treddling
Alan

           

[Joe]

That was in my mind! I don't think the Pool's will fit though.

- Joe

[AlanBeckett]

Joe,
I made it as a bit of fun, but in all honesty it would be better with a Sewing Machine motor. I've still got it, although with Super Adepts selling for silly money at the moment I'm tempted to get shot.
Alan

[Joe]

Would they have enough power? I can stall mine with thick cloth.

- Joe

[AlanBeckett]

I think so. After all you're not trying to hack of big chunks of steel.
Alan