Tag Archives: seattle vintage radio repair

Bose 901 Series II Active Equalizer #67402 Repair

This equalizer got a full overhaul with new 1% precision resistors, electrolytic capacitors, audiophile-grade output capacitors, transistors, gold-plated RCA jacks, 4% silver solder for all connections, a thorough switch cleaning, and computerized frequency response testing and a listening burn-in to verify proper operation. It sounds just fantastic with a very dynamic and life-like presence that really draws you into the experience of the source material, just like the Bose 901 should.

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1930s Vintage Detrola 335 Radio Repair

Repairing this Detrola 335 was a major detective project with only a partial schematic after it was hacked on was a major project, but this radio cleaned up nicely and came back to life after tracking down all the faults, including replaced components, undocumented modifications, and a failed thermal switch. After adding an eye tube per the owner’s request, this fantastic art deco style tabletop radio is going to play beautiful music for many years to come. Click through for many more photos and schematic snips of the repair process!

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1936 FADA 270T Vintage Table Radio Repair

This FADA 270T radio which came through the shop lately was a beautiful, very high end radio back in 1936. It has a huge airplane dial with dual-speed tuning and a magic eye indicator, and a beautifully organized under-chassis layout. Repair was pretty straightforward with a few surprises at the very end, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. Click through to read more – there’s dozens of detailed, colorful photos of antique resistors and the magic tuning eye.

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1959 Zenith C845M High Fidelity AM/FM Radio

This radio repair is cross-posted from Rain City Audio

This classic 1959 Zenith C845M radio came into the shop for a full repair after sitting unused for some time. It has the classic late ’50s styling, and a dual speaker high-fidelity design.

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It’s an 8-tube radio with a 35C5 output tube good for maybe 3W of maximum output, but it has great sound quality.

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Inside, it’ Continue reading

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1937 Westinghouse WR 226 Vintage Radio Repair

This 1937 Westinghouse radio was the second highest in their tabletop line-up for ’37 and featured 7 tubes and a large, eye-catching dial for easy tuning. After a full overhaul including capacitors, resistors, an eye tube socket rebuild, new power cord, dial cord re-string, line input addition, and a full alignment it sounds great and pulls in stations across the dial. This model had the alignment trimmers all on the underside which was annoying, but peaked up nicely nonetheless. Read more for photos of the rebuild!

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1969 GE Model C2504B Transistor Clock-Radio Repair

This iconic late ’60s GE clock radio came to the shop with loud, low humming when turned on and no radio reception. That’s a familiar problem! Time for new capacitors. This particular used a 100 uF main filter and several 200-400 uF secondary filter capacitors around the boards, along with three electrolytic coupling capacitors in the signal chain. They were very tired and as shown by the hum had started to short out; if the radio continued to be run with the loud hum it could have been badly damaged so it came in just in time. Some new components later, she’s good as new and sounds surprisingly good for such a small radio. There’s a mystery switch inside, too – do you know what it might control? Read more for more photos of the repair.

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1935 Silvertone 1827 Antique Radio Repair

This Silvertone 1827 with an artistic finish came to the shop for an overhaul. It had been kept running for about two decades by its original owner before being put aside, and ended up getting all new capacitors and a new #85 tube which had shorted out. It had been well loved as the quality of the historical repairs was very high, and it had all Silvertone brand tubes, so could even have been dealer-maintained at Sears its whole life. After component replacement and an alignment, it really sings and has spot-on dial tracking and even pulled in a shortwave station. Read more for details and more repair photos of this Silvertone 1827 vintage radio.

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1959 Magnavox AM-80 Companion Transistor Radio

This little 1959 companion transistor radio came through the shop for a tune-up. It, like most of the others, was in good shape except for the capacitors being dried out and no longer performing their functions. One was badly cracked, even, but the radio still worked after a fashion. With new parts installed it’s good as new. Keep reading for detailed photos of the tear-down and replacement parts.

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1962 Coronet 6 Transistor Shirt-Pocket Radio TRN-6

This rare early shirt-pocket transistor radio, the Coronet TRN-6, needed a few new capacitors to sound its best. It delivers surprising performance from such a small package! Plenty of tear-down photos in this article.

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1936 Zenith 5-S-29 Electrical Restoration and Alignment

This 1936 Zenith 5-S-29 was in the shop for a complete overhaul with all new resistors and capacitors, a new dial lamp socket, tube testing and alignment. After all that service, it looks and sounds fantastic and is going to last for a long time to come in a local collection.

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