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Vintage Radio (domestic) Domestic vintage radio (wireless) receivers only. |
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25th Aug 2019, 9:51 pm | #1 |
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Regentone 115 Radio (Actually a Regentone 155).
I’m a Gramophone man really, but could not resist this radio. The elderly owner claimed it was his parents and he had been using it in his shed for a number of years. £15 bought it. Fairly nice cabinet, just needs some spit and polish. I’m assuming this is a set from 1954-57?
It’s fitted with a newish main cable. Not wanting to plug it in before it was checked out, I plugged it in and switched it on!! I did use a circuit breaker. Within a minute or so it came to life, fm, mw, lw, sw all ok. Nice rich tone, very surprised at the quality. Being a Gramophone man, I noticed this set has a ‘gram’ input. How practical would it me to use on of those 78rpm add on turntables with this radio? HMV produced some along with others. Not so sure that it would sound as good as my HMV 102 or 193. It does have external speaker output, assume this would need a 15ohm speaker? Apologies for so many questions, vintage valve radio very new to me! Roger
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25th Aug 2019, 10:22 pm | #2 |
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Re: Regentone 115 Radio
Hi Roger
Did you mean 115 a model I am not familiar with or 155? https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/regentone_a155a_15.html Most Valve radios tended to use 3 Ohm extension speaker and if its an A155 Thats what I would expect. Cheers Mike T
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26th Aug 2019, 1:23 am | #3 |
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Re: Regentone 115 Radio
Yes Mike, my mistake it’s a 155. I have tried to upload pictures twice but does not seem to work!
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26th Aug 2019, 1:29 am | #4 |
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Re: Regentone 115 Radio
Try to upload the pictures again. Ok got it!
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26th Aug 2019, 8:32 am | #5 |
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Re: Regentone 115 Radio
It should sound very nice especially if an extension speaker is employed for gram reproduction.
The HMV/Marconi/Plus O Gram turntable units would be fine but it is getting difficult to find a decent EMI one. Either the 'Monkey Metal' turntable is distorted or the pickup coil is O/C. The damping rubbers will also need replacing. A high resistance coil is essential or you will have to employ a matching transformer, again not easy to locate and often O/C. May be worth looking out for a 50's autochanger such as the BSR UA8 but here again you may find it expensive to source a pick up cartridge but if you only wish to play 78's a pick up cartridge might be easier to locate. John. |
26th Aug 2019, 12:05 pm | #6 |
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Re: Regentone 115 Radio
That looks a decent sized enough internal speaker. It's from 1955 - 1957.
This chassis was designed to be used with a medium-output, mono crystal cartridge, giving c.250/300 mV output - so not quite so sure how well they would perform with a 78rpm only MC pick up.
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Edward. |
27th Aug 2019, 10:39 pm | #7 |
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Re: Regentone 115 Radio (Actually a Regentone 155).
I don’t think I will bother trying to connect a turntable. I have looked at Plus-a-Gram turntables but they are all a bit long in the tooth now especially when it comes to the cartridges. Any way 78rpm records sound their best on an acoustic Gramophone.
The radio polished up really well and pulls in FM stations better than I would have thought. Even LW and MW sounds fine, particularly Radio 3 and 4.
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28th Aug 2019, 2:14 pm | #8 |
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Re: Regentone 115 Radio (Actually a Regentone 155).
Regentone made some good sets in the 1950s .Just be aware that if the capacitors are original there are some that need to be changed or the set may not last long. Lots of threads about that on here together with the sticky above headed "That capacitor"
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Paul |
28th Aug 2019, 6:22 pm | #9 |
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Re: Regentone 115 Radio (Actually a Regentone 155).
Thanks for the advice Paul. I am aware that these do need replacing after nearly 70 years. I am ok with the acoustic gramophones and phonographs, but not the radios. I would need to get someone with more skill and knowledge than myself. My limit is making and soldering din and phono audio cables!
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28th Aug 2019, 6:53 pm | #10 |
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Re: Regentone 115 Radio (Actually a Regentone 155).
If you can do that I am sure that you can replace capacitors!
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Paul |