Please help me identify this lovely radio

[marceljack]

Originally Posted by Boulevardier

Is the magic-eye a noval? Was there ever a noval-based indicator designed to be viewed from its top as this one is mounted? Wouldn't it have to be an octal GT type?

Mikel

Of course I was talking about the tubes located on the chassis ! It's clear that the magic eye is an octal, EM34 or 6AF7 or equivalent.

[atjblack]

Thanks so much for all your ideas, everyone. I have removed the wicker grilles and exposed what I presume to be the original grille.

The magic eye is an octal EM34. The remaining valves are the ECH42 with the rimlock (which, unfortunately, I can't test), and 6AQ5, 6AV6, 6BA6, 6X4 novals (from left to right in the photo) with very loose bases.

I think Nick the dentist is right - I removed what appears to be two strips of cane added by a previous owner to reveal a greenish metal grille underneath. I have included a picture of the front now. Maybe that will help?

The cabinet is certainly well-built, with nice inlays. There are no maker's marks anywhere on the cabinet or chassis.

Andrew

[atjblack]

Paul is correct about the EM34 location, on the right looking at the front of the radio. It is obscured by the band markings and the band pointer (broken string) is right in front of it. Boulevardier, you are correct about the speaker - it is mounted directly behind the dial glass.

Nick, it is very similar to the Reela Bayard 53 in Radiomuseum. Very similar chassis layout, but with a 6BE6 in place of the ECH42 in my radio. Can cap is in a different location, as is the magic eye. Very close, though - although no schematic on Radiomuseum, unfortunately.

Thanks to all. This is an interesting thread.

Andrew

[marceljack]

Originally Posted by atjblack

The remaining valves are the ECH42 with the rimlock (which, unfortunately, I can't test), and 6AQ5, 6AV6, 6BA6, 6X4 novals (from left to right in the photo) with very loose bases.

In fact these tubes are not Noval types (9 pins) but miniature (7 pins).
What is surprising is that the first tube (mixer-oscillator) is a Rimlock type (ECH42) and not a miniatiure type (6BE6).
But at the beginning of the 50s the availability of electronic products was still limited and you had to do with what you could find ...

[Boulevardier]

Originally Posted by atjblack

Boulevardier, you are correct about the speaker - it is mounted directly behind the dial glass.
Andrew

I still find it incredible that a designer/manufacturer would locate a speaker behind and right up against a sheet of perpex!
Though perhaps this was the result of the re-boxing of the chassis by a later owner ...


Mike

[Paul_RK]

I'd expect it to make very little difference to the sound coming out: looks like an 8" speaker behind a tuning scale plate that's only about 3" high.

Paul

[Nickthedentist]

I agree with Paul. It's an AM radio with not much in the way of high frequencies to be reproduced anyway.

My very tatty but all-original Reela Bayard is exactly as Mike describes - except that the scale is chunky bit of mirrored glass, and, I think, there's a 1/2" gap between the grille and the scale.

[Paul_RK]

Here's my only French valve table set - make and model unknown, any suggestions welcome. In this case the tuning scale is directly in front of the lower half of the speaker. Interesting that as with Andrew's radio the scale plate isn't designed to give the magic eye any prominence, it's just there at one end behind the waveband designations.

Paul

[Nickthedentist]

Ha ha, mine lives in the loft too, Paul!

[Paul_RK]

The front loft is about 45' long by 20' wide with a stairway up to it - probably servants' quarters once - so quite a lot of things live up there...

[atjblack]

Thanks to your suggestions and some time spent on Dutch and French sites, I was able to track down very similar (Cristal-Grandin Farandole, Etoile, Junior etc) radios, but with 6BE6 rather than ECH42 valves and 6AF7 instead of EM34 magic eye, but otherwise identical tube sets. If I use the ECH42 portion of the Ora schematic and the remainder of the schematic and alignment instructions from the others, perhaps I can cobble something together. Marcel, thanks for catching my valve error, they are 7 pins, of course.

Paul, I notice the printing on the inputs is exactly the same as on mine, as are the knobs. Could it be a Cristal-Grandin? Lots of pictures at Radiomuseum. (Though Doctsf and the Dutch site were better for schematics.) I like the way the indices indicate the number of valves.

Again, thanks all of you for your time and assistance.

Andrew

[marceljack]

I would agree that the chassis is a Grandin or Cristal Grandin as there are many models of this brand of the early 50s with this tube set and a similar button disposition.
https://www.doctsf.com/grandlivre/pr...on.php?ln_pg=1

[atjblack]

Hello Everyone,

After much research on DOCTSF, I think I may have identified the radio itself or a very close relative. Unfortunately there is only one picture I could find - and no other documentation - but I think my radio very closely resembles an ECR (Entreprise de Constructions Radio-Electriques) 752. Thank goodness for the website's search functionality that permits searching by the tube set. (This radio has a 6AF7 in place of the EM34, but is otherwise identical. This one might have two 6BA6 valves, though.

https://www.doctsf.com/e-c-r-752/f14186/o=y

Unfortunately, this radio seems quite rare.

The grille seems to match the metal grille I found when I removed the wicker and the right hand side where the bands are written looks very similar. The dial looks very similar if not identical. I think that the previous owner must have moved the magic eye to its peculiar position by drilling a hole in the fibreboard backing.

Searching the net has so far not produced much of interest or use.

Andrew

[Nickthedentist]

French (Parisian) manufacturers from this immediate post-WW2 period are a mystery to me.

My set is apparently made by Compagnie Franco-Américaine de Radio; Paris:
https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/comp_franc_bayard_51.html

Yet, whilst there are loads of other sets pictured online which have an identical chassis, knobs and similar dial/grille presentation, Radiomuseum claim that this is the only model attributed to this manufacturer.

On the other hand, there are lots of other "Bayard" radios, but these were allegedly made by Reela.

And yours is so similar that it must surely be related... but it's made by ECR!

I wonder whether we non-French collectors have got the wrong end of the stick somewhere? A bit like newbies will often say they have a "record player made by Bush Monarch" (record player by Bush with a BSR changer) or "Harrods radio" (Roberts radio sold by Harrods), or a "Cellgrave radio" (an old radio whose dial was screenprinted by Cellgrave) etc.

Or were sets rebranded for different dealers (like Pye/Philips/Cossor/Stella for example)?

Maybe one of our French members could set the record straight.

[atjblack]

As I create a circuit diagram to help the restoration, I am finding the radio is very different from the Cristal-Grandins it seemed to resemble so closely. And many of the caps seem to be labelled as 1500V!

A learning experience indeed!

Andrew

[marceljack]

It might rather be the ECR 652, similar but with 6 tubes only:
https://www.doctsf.com/e-c-r-652-1950/f26260/o=y

The magic eye is an EM34 on this one, but it's not so important if it's a 6AF7 or an EM34 as they are pin compatible (I remember when I was young to have replaced the 6AF7G of my father's Grammont of the '40s by an EM34, which is a more recent version with the european Pro Electron numbering system).

[atjblack]

Thanks, Marcel. The radio seems to be almost a hybrid of the two, with the number of tubes of the 652 (with a slightly different layout) but the ECH42 and the dial resembling the 752. I sure wish I could track down a schematic for either. I have another thread going on the Radar can capacitor, which I thought I would try to replace first, but is oddly labelled and seems to have leads for three caps rather than the two the label indicates. Riddles wrapped in enigmas...

Andrew