I got off my lazy behind today and started re-organizing my console displays.

I moved this 14 tube 4688 from its old room and decided to take some photos of it and take it for a test drive, the 1st time I have ever tried it in the 4 years since I acquired it. The other recent thread on a similar Silvertone got me interested in mine.

Surprisingly, its a real good player and sounds great. The code indicates it was actually made by Stewart Warner (code 100) when I used to think it was a Colonial (code 101) before.

Uses a 55" dial string to the tuning knob (the bottom right knob), lit up push buttons when turned to the motorized setting and uses an odd speaker seen below. It looks to be either cast aluminum or possibly deep-drawn like a pressure cooker pot.

I had tried to buy this back in 2004 from a local collector (he wanted $650 at the time) but it needed a recap and some detail work (since done). I ended up getting it later when I got about 100 radios from him in a package deal.

Interestingly, there is a 'secret' knob BEHIND the regular tuner knob to help set the push buttons. The Riders is about 10 pages and lots of fun reading. Puts out a thumping 10 watts undistorted via PP 6V6's.

I hope you enjoy the photos. I think this is a pretty rare one but similar to some other lower tube count models that year.




The lite switched on to read the push buttons:







Speaker in interesting aluminum frame

Beautiful radio, I was hoping you'd post some more pics of that 14-tube beast! The dial and pushbuttons look phenomenal all lit up!

Just wondering....how big is the speaker in your 4688?

An internet search told me that my 4787 was a code 101 (Colonial) as well - I suppose I will have to take a gander at the diagram and verify that info.

The OD of the aluminum ring is 13" but I suspect its got a 12" cone inside it. The opening behind the grill cloth seems to be 10", consistent with a 12" speaker.

PS-I just confirmed via schematics its a 12" speaker but some of the smaller sets used a 10" instead.

Nice looking set. The glimpse of the schematic seems to indicate it ought to be one heck of a performer. Pretty stout audio section and it looks like the front end is none to shabby either. Is that an AM/FM set? I see "discriminator" marked on the schematic.

It's a very attractive and interesting set, it's about 1938 vintage I guess? I see that like many other Silvertone sets of that era your radio is missing the plastic dial bezel, even though it doesn't look like it needs one. I don't know why they ever used plastic bezels, the inside portion is bronze and they could have used the same on the outside or even made due without them. I had a Silvertone for a time with teledial style automatic tuning, the bezel was largely broken up but it appeared to be attached through a sandwich affair from the inside so there were no screws visible and no holes in the cabinet. You were quite right not pay the $650 for it unrestored for that reason alone.
With regard to the speaker have you taken it out to examine it? Is that actually the frame or some sort of baffle? Some of the bargain brand sets used to add a metal baffle behind the speaker frame to make it look like the set had a larger speaker then it actually had, like putting a 12 or 15 inch baffle behind a ten inch speaker. I have a 1934 G.E M61 tombstone where they did this to make a 6 inch speaker look like an 8 inch! Some added a metal extension on the front, visually it looks larger to the untrained eye but isn't as much of a lie as the baffle trick.
I'm surprised that this set would have a speaker with an aluminum frame, there would have to be some iron in it obviously since it's an electrodynamic. Well there is one way to know for certain, a magnet won't stick to it if it is indeed aluminum.
Best Regards
Arran

I haven't seen an FM set older then around 1940, and that was on a Scott radio. F.M debut on Philco for 1942, 1940 for Scott, Zenith and a few others. Why an AM set would have a discriminator I don't know, Sears sets used funny terms for otherwise ordinary parts. Perhaps the set has an automatic frequency control?
Best Regards
Arran

Hi-That's a good question I never thought about. No FM but several SW bands, one called "Intermediate" and one called "foreign".

Yes it does have AFC so maybe thats the need for a "Discriminator" tube .

Its like a rolling pin style dial. Here's a few close-up views of the dial in shortwave and BC mode:

A number of sets from the 1937 - 1938 era had automatic frequency control on AM. And this is the one type of feature I am looking for to complete my army of consoles! Frequency modulation had just been invented in 1936 and many manufacturers used the idea to stabilize tuning so there would be no warmup drift.

Very nice set!

The AFC was used on sets with automatic tuning, to "home in" the oscillator, after the automatic tuning got the variable capacitor to about the right place. If there was any tuning error, and if the station was strong enough, the AFC would pull the oscillator right in.

Most top-of-the-line sets from around 1937-38 had it; Philco 37/38-116 and 37/38-690, RCA 816K, etc.

Neither of the two motorized dial sets that I own have an AFC, the only thing to set the stations was a set of spring loaded contacts hitting an insulated portion of an disk between two sheet metal covered halves. I knew about the interrelation between an AFC circuit and the "magnetic" tuning on some of the higher end Philcos, haven't heard of it on an RCA but it wouldn't surprise me. there were a number of AFC featured sets that had no automatic tuning feature at all, some of the Scotts had it, a Canadian Marconi model or two, and some Northern Electrics dating back to around 1936-37.
Best Regards
Arran
Best Regards
Arran

RCA's automatic tuning on their 816K used the disc method. The theory of the AFC circuit, and the various automatic tuning methods at the time, are thoroughly explained in the 1938 Mallory-Yaxley Encyclopedia; it's fascinating reading.

Of course, the use of an AFC circuit added a few tubes to the count, in those days of many-tubed sets.

My Sparton 1268 has AFC and it has electronic pushbuttons, not mechanical ! The 1068 and 1568 models should be the same. 1938.

That Silvertone is one cool looking console, Bruce! I like that they left the plastic bezel frame off the 14 tube sets, as its a real problem on the others that use it.

Mark Oppat
www.oldradioparts.net

I wasn't aware of this "speaker deception" of which Arran speaks, very interesting. I believe my 12-tube 1937 Silvertone 4787 also has an AFC circuit. Certainly it is not as nice as Bruce's beautiful 4688 but they share the same rolling pin dial. Here is a pic...

When I look at these Silvertone photos it just about makes me sick!! I was in an antique store and ran across one that looked like airgrabbers and it had a $100 price on it. I went to the cashier to let her know I was going to buy it and she told me it had been sold earlier in the day. The radio was going to a lady that had told her she was going to take the guts out of it and turn it into some stupid thing I can't remember what It was a nice set too

as we all know here, its nearly impossible to turn any of these "modern" cabinets into anything but what they are.

Funny how many people I have met that say the same thing... "Oh, I am going to turn that into a bookcase" Yeah, right.

The 1928-1932 era highboys and lowboys, sure, they have doors and are easily converted to some other use. Most of the Sparton 301's and similar sets have had the guts pulled out, and it was done many years ago because those sets are hard to work on and HEAVY.

Mark Oppat
www.oldradioparts.net

Thats a very nice looking set Bruce, and thanks for taking the nice photos. I see the BC band stations are listed by city instead of call letters. AFC is used on some higher end sets to help with the automatic tuning. I have a GE model E-155 that has AFC, but no automatic tuning. It has the dial lamps that change color from red to green when tuned in.

She likely hasn't done anything with the radio, 10 to 1 odds it's probably still sitting in her basement or garage collecting dust. She may have got as far as taking the chassis out then quickly realized it was a little more then a two hour project to turn it into a bookcase or whatever.
Best Regards
Arran

It's always nice when you can "discover" a nice radio that is already in your collection. It's like when I was a kid and had change stored in various places in my room. It was always a pleasant surprise to come across some cash I didn't know I had.

-dave