Decca Decola information please?

[Mark Barber]

Hi all, I'm Mark from Bristol.
30 years ago I bought a Decca Decola from an auction in Dorset - it's a beautiful piece of furniture and has been stood at the top of the stairs for over 20 years. It was always my intention to get it going (but life got in the way) and after so many years I'm a bit scared to plug it in, just in case it blows up.
I've been told that these were great machines in their day - does anyone know much about them?
I shall try and post a picture

[RojDW48]

Hello Mark and welcome. The old Decola is one of the more desirable radiograms of the era - some would argue the best of its type ever! If it hasn't worked for a long time it will need to be warmed up slowly to allow the smoothing and reservoir capacitors the chance to re-form. Do you have a variac? If not - I might be able to help as I am also in Bristol

[Mark Barber]

Hi, no I don't even know what that is! I'm out of my depth to be honest - which is how I probably felt all those years ago and why I didn't ever do anything with it then. Coincidence that you're in Bristol - what part? I'm in Totterdown.

[Edward Huggins]

That looks stunning. Whilst I'm quite familar with this model, there are Members here that will know far more. Can we see more pics please! Does it still have its original Garrard autochanger?

[RojDW48]

Originally Posted by Mark Barber

Hi, no I don't even know what that is!

It's a sort of volume control for voltage. If those capacitors are suddenly asked to work after many years they can go 'pop' and make an awful mess inside. I used to live in Totterdown - now in Whitchurch Village. I'll send you a PM (private message) with my telephone number and let's see if we can get together and 'warm it up' gently. As Edward suggests - please add more pics - this will interest a lot of members.

[Mark Barber]

OK thanks - here are some pics.

[Mark Barber]

and a couple more...

[GrimJosef]

Wow !

Please take very great care with that.

Cheers,

GJ

[music-centre]

What a fantastic thing - I wish you could still find items like that in auctions now!

[RojDW48]

All there and original - what a beauty!

[Edward Huggins]

I wonder if the Garrard RC75 (c.1951) is a later replacement for the original unit?

[Techman]

The RC75 is likely to be a later replacement for the original 78rpm only deck, also the RC75 is the poor man's version of the RC80 which Decca would have been more likely to have used in this up market model rather than the lesser RC75.

[Edward Huggins]

Even with the "newer" 3 speed autochanger later substituted, this is a superb piece.

[Mark Barber]

Wow, it sounds like it's a good one! It certainly has been looked after in that it has barely been touched in 30 years and kept indoors - but kept just for aethetic reasons. I'm really not sure what to do with it though as it should be used properly and it is probably too much of a 'project' for me...

[Tractorfan]

Hi,
That's a beautiful bit of kit, and probably cost £££££s back in the day.
Have a good read of the 'Stickies' at the top of this section, particularly about 'Reviving your old record player'.
After such a long time in hibernation, there will be components that will need to be changed. These are capacitors that transfer the audio signal from one stage of the amplifier to the next. If these are electrically 'leaking' and passing DC current as well, expensive damage could be done to the two output valves and the output transformer.
Do research, ask questions on here, and proceed with caution.
Good luck!
Cheers, Pete.

[PJL]

Mine is still in bits but it also came with an RC75. It came from Harrods and had a label attached to the deck so it was probably the recommended upgrade. The RC80 was a few years later.

Get expert help. The valves should be tested. The big PX25's are worth £1000+ if in good order so you might want to consider using KT66's with an adaptor. The reservoir and smoothing capacitors need to be reformed independently and before any attempt is made to turn the set on - a lamp limiter may not be enough to protect the choke. It will need the paper capacitors replaced and there are some small value capacitors that had fallen apart on mine.

[Techman]

Originally Posted by PJL

The big PX25's are worth £1000+

Please, please, please, can we stop this. Do we really want someone to break this gram up and sell off the amp and valves?

I agree with the comment regarding the RC75 which I do think was a possible 'dealer upgrade' when new, or perhaps more probably a year or two later by the supplying dealer as I tend to think that the gram dates from the late fourties with that valve line up and the RC75 dates from the very early 50s. I think that this is likely to be a supplying dealer upgrade due to the deck having the correct Decca pickup head. The gloss finished and all chrome and brass decorated RC80 version I believe followed very shortly after, probably less than a year.

[Radio Wrangler]

For the benefit of the original poster, I think some explanation is due.

The amplifier design in your Decca is rather old-school. It uses a pair of large triode valves which was the way powerful audio was done in the 1930s and a few makers stuck with them into the fifties. In the late thirties a new type of valve was patented, the 'Beam Tetrode' which made audio power a lot easier to achieve and gave better gain. Other valve manufacturers moved in on the idea, but called it different things to avoid having to pay royalties 'Kinkless Tetrode' and 'Power Pentode' There's still debate over this period of history. The set makers seeing how much easier the new valve types made things moved over to using them fairly quickly, with just a few pieces of equipment left with the old type of design until the valves stopped being made.

There are some people interested in what they call 'High End' hifi and the more extreme faction have decided that the old power triodes sound much better than anything else. Other people either can't hear much difference, or else can't be sure which is better. It's become like a religion. The purists feel they have to have these things. None are being made except for a tiny quantity from boutique manufacturers, but the purists will have none of that. Only originals for them! In a free market this means the prices they pay for these things are ridiculous.

People search charity shops for old radio and radiogram models known to have used them, buy the cheaply, pull the magic valve and dump the rest. This really upsets the sort of people on this forum. We see it like someone buying Bugattis to take the headlamps and crush the rest. The valves usually turn up on auction sites and real ones go for silly prices, far beyond their real worth. Think of tiger bones and rhinoceros horn. We like live tigers and rhinoceros and think no fate is too bad for poachers.

Now, that is YOUR Decola. They are YOUR valves. This is a free country and you are free to do what you wish with them.

Unfortunately, the valve type number has been mentioned and this forum is regularly indexed by search engine crawlers, so the people desperate for these things, and those people looking for a quick profit will soon spot this thread.

Fortunately the moderators are pretty good at removing email addresses and phone numbers from the open forum, and I don't think you've posted any, so you get a layer of protection from being identified and pestered with offers crafted to look like a lot of money to anyone who hasn't checked auction prices.

Alternative valve types fitted via adaptors and modifications to the heater feeds are what people do to get these things going if they come across one which has already been raided, or if they have a valve fail.

You have the opportunity to get the real thing going. It should sound rather good.

I'm against breaking these things up. I'm against inciting people to do so, but I have qualms about the ethics of keeping them in the dark over the issue to try to stop them doing so.

David

[Techman]

Hi David, I don't know if you've been following this thread over the last few days, but the Moderators have already had to delete one post that went on about the supposed value of these valves and also edit another (that I know of). I have a strong feeling that they'll be editing/removing at least one more. They must shudder when they see a thread like this started and although we mean well in what we're saying right now, there's a part of me that is thinking that perhaps we are just perpetuating a discussion that would be better left to fall away off the bottom of the page, although with all the opinions on this subject, somehow I don't think it will. The other side of the coin is that perhaps we should just talk about this subject out in the open. I suppose that if we don't discuss it here, then there'll always be someone else discussing it somewhere - it's just human nature, but a shame for the vintage radiograms in question. BTW, I'm the owner of one myself, but not the Decca version.

[GrimJosef]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

... but I have qualms about the ethics of keeping them in the dark over the issue to try to stop them doing so.

Don't have qualms David. I've met the kind of people who deal in vintage valves. They don't (only) track fora like this one with bots. They visit in person. They know that Decca Decolas have desirable valves in them so they look out for posts on that subject too, and on all the other sets that might turn up such valuables. The only way to keep these things in the dark would be to keep them completely and utterly in the dark i.e. to forbid the discussion of them at all. Without the sort of information that you've helpfully posted for the OP other owners might put the set into their local auction room or (worse still) house clearer and the goodies will be on the open market just as sure as eggs are eggs. At least this way the owner can make his mind up and avoid getting fleeced.

Cheers,

GJ