Latest find- Philips PH4212 (Cossor CR4212)

[Cathode Ray]

Picked this up locally going cheap, seems to be in excellent condition.
Case isnt damaged anywhere and the inside looks very very clean!
FM band goes to 104 and two good speakers but I doubt it's actually stereo.
EL84 looks gone to air though, another one , I shudda order two last time !
Mains trafo looks beefy, this could have powerful audio!

Havn't powered up yet, plan to do regular checks first.
But seller claims it was working except on FM.

I didnt like it at first, its a bit of an ugly duck. But its growing on me now I have it on the shelf.

What ya think folks?
Will she fly and sound good?

Cheers
Ray

[orbanp1]

Nice radio!

Looks like this one is similar to it, though no guaranties:
https://elektrotanya.com/siera_arist.../download.html

But at least the magic eye is different, it is an EM84.

Regards, Peter

[Cathode Ray]

Thanks Peter, nice one.
Acually that service doc looks exact, everything matches.
Happy days, great to have a service doc with alignment procedure.

Cheers for that
Ray

[Edward Huggins]

This looks like the quite rare Bi-Amped model. Those 5.25" speakers have a very good compliance and have tweeter cones.

[Vintage_RC]

Internals look very clean and tidy

[Cathode Ray]

Originally Posted by Edward Huggins

This looks like the quite rare Bi-Amped model. Those 5.25" speakers have a very good compliance and have tweeter cones.

I've checked the diagram and can only see one amp , the speakers are wired in parallel. So it may not be quite so rare Edward... Unfortunately!

Ray

[Cathode Ray]

Opened it up today.
The original owner never removed the transit bolts, they were still in place with red labels instructing removal !

It not a straightforward chassis removal:
Both speakers needs to be unsoldered.
LHS speaker (when viewed from rear) needs to be removed
Tone Switch board needs to be unscrewed from case
Front aluminum grill needs to be unscrewed from case.
Ground wires to bottom shield need to be unscrewed.

Inside chassis looks clean, but fairly dense component assembly.
Tuning cables are all in place (thankfully) but a bit stiff, some light oil/grease should help.
The main SW MW dial indicator has broken but is repairable.

it uses inductor tuning on VFH, two plunge rods with very delicate wires, all in working order!

Some resistors look a bit baked, may need to change a few.
And I can only see a couple of Black Tar caps which no doubt will need changing.

In general would the yellow dip caps be ok ?

Cheers
Ray

[linescan87]

Hi Ray,

Those "yellow dipped" caps are also known as Mullard mustards and are 100% reliable, so no worries there.

John Joe.

[Sideband]

The chassis looks VERY similar to a Stella radio I have even down to the tone control buttons. That also has all the original mustard caps which are perfect. You will need to change the two black tar 'roadblock' caps around the output transformer as they will be very leaky by now. Other than that it should be good to go (unless it does need a new output valve of course).

It should sound very good....

[Cathode Ray]

Thanks lads, seems like it won't need much work then.

I've not started measuring components yet, just spent some time sorting out the tuning dial mechanism with a touch of oil. Running nice and smooth now.

More to come.
And I'll check out the Stella connection, could be a relative !

Cheers
Ray

[Cobaltblue]

The Stella connection is a simple one. By this date the Cossor and Stella radio and tv brands were owned by Philips.

Inside they are Philips sets with some cabinet tweeks to appeal to different demographics.

Simples

Cheers

Mike T

[Cathode Ray]

Cheers Mike, that was simple alright.
By any chance do you have a component list on Crossor model?
I've got a schematic and location drawing, but no comment list.

Im having to read values from the diagram which is a bit scratchy in parts.

Thanks
Ray

[Cobaltblue]

I'm not sure I don't tend to have much interest in Philips made Cossor sets. Although I have 2 examples of this model neither restored as they both work well.

All my circuit info is in Poole and I won't be back there for a few days.

If you need it in a hurry Paul has the manufacturers manual here

https://www.service-data.com/section.php/1468/1/m11002

Cheers

Mike T

[G6Tanuki]

Looks a nice, and unusual, radio - Definitely replace the two big black "Tar bomb" capacitors adjacent to the transformer - those are known to have 'issues' and can take-out an output-transformer if they go short-circuit.

Also I see one capacitor that has a translucent yellow encapsulation with red text - it looks non-original and I _suspect_ it may be one of the RIFA/WIMA resin-encapsulated type that are also known to have 'issues' because with age the resin cracks and allows air/moisture in. Do not trust these!

[stitch1]

Hi Ray,
I have the Cossor version, very reliable radio and mine is in regular use. I didn't need to do much to it and I used the manufactures Service Notes available here:
https://www.service-data.com/section.php/1468/1/cr4212a

There's no separate component list but they're all shown with values on the diagrams.

Good luck with it.

John

[Cathode Ray]

Originally Posted by Cobaltblue

I'm not sure I don't tend to have much interest in Philips made Cossor sets. Although I have 2 examples of this model neither restored as they both work well.

All my circuit info is in Poole and I won't be back there for a few days.

If you need it in a hurry Paul has the manufacturers manual here

https://www.service-data.com/section.php/1468/1/m11002

Cheers

Mike T

Thanks Mike,
be great if you could check when you have time.
I downloaded the service sheet from service-data.com but still no component list is provided.

Perhaps it was never issued, anyway be good to know for sure.

Thanks
Ray

[Cathode Ray]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

Looks a nice, and unusual, radio - Definitely replace the two big black "Tar bomb" capacitors adjacent to the transformer - those are known to have 'issues' and can take-out an output-transformer if they go short-circuit.

Also I see one capacitor that has a translucent yellow encapsulation with red text - it looks non-original and I _suspect_ it may be one of the RIFA/WIMA resin-encapsulated type that are also known to have 'issues' because with age the resin cracks and allows air/moisture in. Do not trust these!

Rodger that!
I'll be sure to swap it out, thanks for the tip.

Ray

[Cathode Ray]

Originally Posted by stitch1

Hi Ray,
I have the Cossor version, very reliable radio and mine is in regular use. I didn't need to do much to it and I used the manufactures Service Notes available here:
https://www.service-data.com/section.php/1468/1/cr4212a

There's no separate component list but they're all shown with values on the diagrams.

Good luck with it.

John

Thanks John,
Yours looks identical and in great condition!
Yes it seems to need very little by way of restoration, hopefully it will be shack radio as it fits nicely on my top shelf.
I suspect component lists were not issued for this model, and like you say it's got the values on the schematic, my version is just a bit fussy but I can make out 90% of them.

Cheers
Ray

[Maarten]

Very interesting set. Philips did this on the continent sometimes as well: release a sub-brand set under their own name when there was seen a commercial need for it. Though, I''v never seen them use the letters PH for it. Usually just SA (Aristona/Siera). Is PH4212 the full model number? What letters are in front of the serial number? PL? If PL, that would indicate made in Leuven, Belgium, as most of the plano design sets were.

[Cathode Ray]

Hi Maatren,
The serial has faded but the prefix is PL as you mentioned.


Ray