Please scroll to the bottom for the "finished" photos.

This showed-up at the SCARS auction yesterday. It has a small remote at the end of an approximately 18 foot long cable, and a tombstone cabinet (perhaps with a missing floor stand). As far as i can tell, the images which follow are the only ones of this model on the Internet (and I will put them on Radiomuseum). Page 564 of the March, 1934 issue of Radio News mentions that this model has recently been announced (along with the fancier Model S-10). That issues also has an interesting article on the 500,000 watt WLW transmitter. Pages 166 - 167 of the August 1934 Issue of Radio News have a feature article on the S-10 version of this radio. Radios News is on American Radio History:
http://americanradiohistory.com

As found. Note the darker toned lacquer is over-sprayed, an effect I will try to duplicate when refinishing the cabinet.


The speaker and power supply cabinet with the wood back removed, as found.


The chassis label


The bottom of the power supply and final audio chassis as found


The cabinet maker's label


Closeup of the remote, as found


The remote chassis as found


The bottom of the remote chassis as found


A 0.01 capacitor which was hidden in a coil can


The radio playing on my work table


The bottoms of the chassis after the electronic refurbishment work

There's one of those tuner boxes in an antique store in Denver's Antique Row on S. Broadway. It's been there for 15+ years because nobody knows what is. Now I do.

Fairly uncommon and interesting to see. The last one we looked at ( I remember a member was selling his) S-10 but fairly similar

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=240478

I bet yours will be a beaut when finished. Its amazing that any have survived intact.

Stephen,

I remember this being auctioned off and I'm glad you got it. It's going to look really nice when you're done.

Tom

The remote is so tightly built, I wonder if it was related to a Motorola car radio chassis?

From the schematic, it looks like it would be easy to build the base chassis and put it in a spare cabinet, if you have the remote.
Schematic http://www.nostalgiaair.org/pagesbymode ... 006870.pdf

That's an interesting piece for sure. I am guessing not many survived. The "remote" is almost the same size as another radio. But I suppose it was a novelty to sit back and tune the radio in your chair.

SPARK Museum in Bellingham has one, I've liked it since the first time I saw it. Very nice acquisition, Stephen!

I have one of the tuner units that's similar but includes the Tune-a-lite to the right of the tuning indicator. However, the actual tune-a-lite tube is missing. Not sure how good the odds are of ever finding the tube AND the other half. Very interesting stuff, though.

Bob

Perhaps these are relatively rare because the parts get separated?

I took a few more photos:

The speaker and power supply cabinet outdoors to show the toned lacquer over-spray shading


The back of the speaker and power supply cabinet


The RMA medallion


The bottom of the speaker and power supply cabinet


Detail of the bottom of the speaker and power supply cabinet, with no signs of any holes for feet of any sort, strongly suggesting that it sat on the base shown in the photos of the S-10 version

That set is an excellent example of art-deco. Very chic design.

How do they run all the audio out to the remote and back to the radio, without doing a bunch of elaborate shielding?
I thought we have to keep the signal wires short and free of interference for good lead dress. What are they doing different?

The audio only goes one way - from the remote to the chassis containing the speaker, power supply, and audio output tube.

Many years ago, I almost bought the same radio at an antique mall. However, it was in very poor condition, and they would not budge on the price. Someone must have wanted the set, as it wasn't there the next time I went in.

Tim, do you remember if the one you saw had a base (legs)?

The one that I saw did not have a base or legs.

The audio is fed through a shielded wire inside the connecting cable. But speaking of interference, I found it interesting that this set is a transformerless AC/DC design and that the mains power runs adjacent to an unshielded antenna wire for 18 feet! I wonder how well this will work with today's noisy power line environment?



Dave

Thanks, Dave, for posting that schematic. I probably should have put it in the original post. I have played it and it seems to work fine, but I need to do more experimenting. Since I've got the chassis finished, except for polishing and alignment, I guess I need to move the cabinet up in priority and get it done. The weather is nice today, so I'll probably strip it.

I had one base unit and two remotes. The base had short legs -- however, I feel like there were two styles, so your unit may not be missing the legs. I sold mine at an Estes auction a couple years ago.

Peter

Also interesting is that the volume control actually controls the RF and IF gain, with the audio stages running "wide open".

I noticed that unusual volume control arrangement, reminiscent of the approach used on old TRF radios.