Ok so I bought this vintage Crosley cabinet for $50, and I have no idea what year or model it is. I'm hoping someone can help me out. I would also like your input on how I can best retro fit this bad boy into a badass jazz machine. I have it for an apartment size living room, but I want to be able to play LPs, radio, or even MP3, and by using a mix of old school and modern technology. I am planning on breakin it all down and refurbishing and reupholstering the cabinet. And then gutting nearly everything else. However I would really like to be able to require the radio face and switches to be functional with modern equipment. I really like the look of the face, and with some work this thing is going to be beautiful. I just need help knowing what the hell it is, and how I can make the smell of back alley cigarettes come out of the right speaker(s). The right underside is where the original speaker sits, and I am not opposed to turning te other side into a speaker box as well. Give me your input. I want to know what the best way to do this is. I don't want to spend 100k on it, but I want a real decent machine, and I want it built soley to play jazz the right way with. Hope the links to the photos work, let me know if they don't.

http://m1241.photobucket.com/albumview/ ... 2&newest=1
http://m1241.photobucket.com/albumview/ ... 4&newest=1
http://m1241.photobucket.com/albumview/ ... 2&newest=1
http://m1241.photobucket.com/albumview/ ... 2&newest=1

Not to be unkind but you probably won't get a lot of help from this site since most members here are all about restoring to original and preserving the tube audio sound and not "gutting" and converting to something else.

Frank

?????....................Maybe plug it into 220 instead of 110?

Seriously, Super*---I really have no clue what you want to do. Also, your pictures tell almost nothing---3 are the same, and the fourth one has no detail. Get a real camera--not a cell phone--and take/post pictures that are a minimum of 640X480, and are correctly exposed.

When I first read this post I was in complete agreement with the first reply. Then I looked at the pictures and thought, "Oh. It's one of those". Hey, even most of us can't be bothered to take in postwar crap like that. If your project doesn't work out you can always add it to the burn pile at Kutztown otherwise, have at it.

Actually its a decent looking console it doesnt deserve to be hacked about and turned into
modern garbage.
Leave it alone and sell it on, then buy some wood and make your own cabinet.

Ok I get it, most people would prefere that I leave it be or basically restore it to its original condition. The fact is, this thing does not perform the functions that I want. I want something that plays my 33s, and I want something that isn't playing through a 60 year old speaker that hasn't been taken care of. I KNOW that there are modern speakers, that produce a sound that is conducive to what I am trying to accomplish. I KNOW that there are modern turntables, that will play my records. And I KNOW that attaching an RCA from the back to play from an iPod is not going to ruin the look. I'm not trying to destroy the thing people, just make it look good again, and make it do what I'm sure the original manufacturer desired, play good music so someone can enjoy it. Still no one has been able to tell me what it is, which is what I mostly need/want to know. If it were yours, you could do whatever with it. But it's mine, and this is what I'm doing. It's not that I don't appreciate it, I just want to give it a makeover.... And stop calling it "it", I want to know the name.

Your asking for advise from the wrong group people. When it comes to vintage and historical radios, members here at ARF, are predominantly preservationists, not hot rodders. As much as I dislike those side-by-side radio/phono combos, I shudder in reading what diabolical plans you've got cooked up for this poor little radio, although, I suppose it'd be better to sacrifice this radio, to the hacker gods, if only it meant saving a more classic set such as a Scott 800B, Capehart, or a top of the line Magnavox, from the same horrible fate.

"What Am I Looking At?"...you asked...

Basically, a computer screen with a bunch of us ARF'ers telling you this is the wrong group of people to be asking about the hacking of an antique radio. I agree!

If you want to play your 33's, Mp3's, jazz, or whatever...go get one of those large solid state consoles from the late 60's or 70's, and hack that one up! Light up a bunch of cigarettes on top of it above the right speaker (burn marks just add to the character of the console, anyway ). Not many people here would complain about hacking up one of those, I don't think. Hell, you might as well get one of those hunk o' crap modern day Crosley consoles, and have at it!

Sorry guys...I'm done now.

LOL actually id take offense to him hacking up a solid state console, i collect them, i think your
second suggestion is good.
Go buy a repro crosley record deck play your jazz on that, unfortunately your not going to get any more advice here.

Funny thing is, I'd have a whole lot more respect for this group of enthusiast's point of view if anyone could even tell me what it is. So far I've just gotten a bunch of people telling me what to do with something that they can't even identify.

As requested if you gave a better photo i might be able to narrow down what model it is.
Judging by the style id say late 1940s early 1950s (1948-1953) but a few models used that cabinet its hard to say.

It was common in the early 1950s for an old 78-rpm only changer to be swapped out for a 3-speed changer so that an existing console could play new 33 and 45 rpm records. You could do that. You could get a modern turntable with good quality magnetic cartridge and small external preamp, and install it into the old console without hacking it up so that it would be reversible in case someone wanted to re-install the original changer. It would then play all your records, albeit in mono, and would handle them gently.

You might like the sound through the existing speaker. A lot of these consoles had a big, boomy bass that a lot of people like. If not, you could change the speaker, but now you run the risk that the old tube-type amplifier might not have enough power for a new, less-efficient speaker. So now you would have to change the amplifier.

You can see that this is a slippery slope.

There is no way to re-purpose the original controls and dial to work with new electronics. That can be done with car radios, but not with radio-phono consoles. If you end up just using the cabinet to house modern electronics, remove the old electronics carefully without destroying the mounting panels so they could be re-installed if desired. Then install your new electronics in their place. Build an external speaker enclosure for your second new speaker -- if you try to place both speakers in the cabinet you will have no stereo separation.

Just keep the changes reversible.

-David

+1
there are a variety of things that will help us ID the set:
1. good photos, using a real camera, adequate resolution, properly exposed, etc.

2. pictures from different angles, including the back

3. pictures of any labels, numbers stamped on the chassis, etc.

4. the tube lineup--number and types

Ok here is the best I can do. I'm using an iPhone so I know it's not a bad quality picture, by I uploaded them in the larger size photo bucket would give me this time.

http://m1241.photobucket.com/profile/supersuit17

Anything with numbers on it you should see now. There are no other numbers that I can see.

Since you're planning to disembowel and repurpose "it" - what difference does it make what "it" is??? It seems a moot point mainly intended to stir up a hornet's nest.

Here's how you "play jazz the right way"...

Can YOU see numbers in those pictures??---I certainly cannot.

What is the max resolution of the iphone pictures? If Photobucket won't take them, then scale them as required and post the directly here. (but only the ones that are well-exposed)

How about telling us the tube types?

Ok so I added pictures of the tubes, there are three, a Crosley, a Philco, and an RCA. And FYI, I'm doing the best I can getting this all done from a damn phone OK? I don't have a different camera, I don't know much about antique radios, and I don't know much about this forum. I don't need your condescending comments, and I don't need you to make an unhelpful comment. I really don't care about your opinion unless you can help me out. For those of you trying to help, thank you, I appreciate it.

Well you have an amplifier using 6V6GT output tubes but thats no help, there are more tubes in that set than 3.
I have searched for you for Crosley units like that but i need more info.
Does the unit have a card back present ? if so serial nos and model nos should be on here
On the control panel does it say anything but crosley?
last is the turntablew 78 only or has it been replaced ?

OK super, I'll try to help.

What you have here is a medium to low level Crosley console made probably just after WW2. There is no practical way to make it do what you want using the exsisting components. Your best bet is to gut it and put different components in it, probably seventies stuff as it is high quality and there is plenty of it around. As far as making the original controls work on something else, it would be way more work than practical, if it was even possible, which is unlikely.

The guys are right, we are into preserving original stuff, not hot rodding or repurposing, but it is yours, do as you like. Gutting it will distroy the value to a collector but it really doesn't have any anyway so no great loss. This set was far from hi-fi when it was new, the turntable tracks at about 5 lbs. weight, and the radio may or may not even have FM. So, if you want to wire new components into this cabinet, have at it. Like a previous poster noted, if it saves a higher end set from distruction, then it was worth it.