Which is your favourite radio cabinet design? - Page 2 - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

MurphyNut · 25th Jun 2018, 2:37 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by electrogram

Just a personal opinion of course, but of all prewar Murphy sets I have to say i always thought the a26 table set the worst looking of all, not quite sure why, just looks a bit ungainly and not much thought put into it somehow. Repaired one of the console versions once, very impressed how well it worked. I think the a24 much better looking.

In defence of the A26.
This radio is finished in quite a dark veneer and a set with a un-restored cabinet viewed in poor lighting will look extremely uninspiring.
Address these issues and it's in fact a very stylish and purposeful looking radio.
I love mine and I could look and listen to it all day, the quality of it is amazing!

Brigham · 27th Jun 2018, 10:52 am

It inspires me to think "they cut the middle out and turned it sideways".
Henry Ford making car floorboards out of the packing crates comes to mind.
The most amazing set I have ever met was a Co-op product seemingly aimed up-market, which must surely be an odd concept. It was more like architecture than furniture.
A Defiant, of course. Can anyone supply a picture?

MurphyNut · 27th Jun 2018, 11:19 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brigham

A Defiant, of course. Can anyone supply a picture?

It must be this one surly!

Paul_RK · 27th Jun 2018, 7:42 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brigham

The most amazing set I have ever met was a Co-op product seemingly aimed up-market, which must surely be an odd concept. It was more like architecture than furniture.

The M900 was hardly aimed up-market, though: I expect it will have been cheaper than most if not all of their wooden-cased mains table models. It's a fairly simple radio, and complex and striking design in a bakelite case wouldn't have added much at all to its cost. Not that the Co-Op were averse to going up-market, but when they did they made things more like the MSH957,

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...8&d=1270432086 -

motorised tuning and waechange, and push-pull AC4PENs.

Paul

rontech · 28th Jun 2018, 12:29 pm

Re; MurphyNut pic of radio. Is that a Murphy Radio? The grille fabric looks identical to that on my father's radiogram back in the 1940's.

I think the cabinet dated from the early thirties but my father had upgraded it with an RGD chassis and a Garrard RC4 autochanger.

I have no idea which was the original make of the radiogram and would love to know.

Paul_RK · 28th Jun 2018, 12:50 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by rontech

Re; MurphyNut pic of radio. Is that a Murphy Radio? The grille fabric looks identical to that on my father's radiogram back in the 1940's.

Which one? Top of the page is a Murphy A26, then two posts down there's a Defiant M900. The Murphy's grille cloth was I'm fairly sure exclusive to Murphy, and they only used it for two or three years: the Defiant's is a stiff and resilient sort of woven string used by many manufacturers from the mid '30s well into the 1940s.

If the radiogram was a 1930s Murphy it's probably included in the cabinet design e-book available at

http://www.murphy-radio.co.uk/intro.html .

Paul

MurphyNut · 28th Jun 2018, 3:11 pm

I'd love to discover something very similar to that diagonal cross line fabric that Murphy used on their sets between 1935 and 1937. I've not found anything remotely close to replace the ones in my collection with totally destroyed original cloths.

Paul_RK · 28th Jun 2018, 3:54 pm

Looks as though Corrien Maas can produce a superb reproduction of it, but it's expensive as a bespoke product is bound to be: Euros 14.85 per 10 cm. length of 40 cm. width.

http://www.corrienmaas.nl/

Top left of Page 2 of the Radio section:

http://www.corrienmaas.nl/afbeelding...50/R030319.JPG

Paul

jeremy_pdx · 28th Jun 2018, 6:28 pm

For me, the most beautiful cabinet is between the RCA 19K
https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/rca_19...s_rc_512a.html
and the Philco 40-190
https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/philco_40_190.html

I used to own both of them, and every day I wish I hadn’t sold them. They were really something, even if the wiring on the 1940 Philco did look like it was done by an intoxicated chimp.

rontech · 29th Jun 2018, 9:30 am

Re MurphyNut posting

Got confused, the grille cloth to which I referred was the the Bakelite cabinet one.

The Defiant. I downloaded the Murphy cabinet book. Wonderful!! Superb examples of understated Art Deco cabinet work.

27th Jun 2018, 10:52 am	#22
Brigham Octode Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Co. Durham, UK. Posts: 1,116	Re: Which is your favourite radio cabinet design? It inspires me to think "they cut the middle out and turned it sideways". Henry Ford making car floorboards out of the packing crates comes to mind. The most amazing set I have ever met was a Co-op product seemingly aimed up-market, which must surely be an odd concept. It was more like architecture than furniture. A Defiant, of course. Can anyone supply a picture?

28th Jun 2018, 12:29 pm	#25
rontech Heptode Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Southport, Merseyside, UK. Posts: 646	Re: Which is your favourite radio cabinet design? Re; MurphyNut pic of radio. Is that a Murphy Radio? The grille fabric looks identical to that on my father's radiogram back in the 1940's. I think the cabinet dated from the early thirties but my father had upgraded it with an RGD chassis and a Garrard RC4 autochanger. I have no idea which was the original make of the radiogram and would love to know.

28th Jun 2018, 3:11 pm	#27
MurphyNut Heptode Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, UK. Posts: 979	Re: Which is your favourite radio cabinet design? I'd love to discover something very similar to that diagonal cross line fabric that Murphy used on their sets between 1935 and 1937. I've not found anything remotely close to replace the ones in my collection with totally destroyed original cloths. __________________ Clive Last edited by MurphyNut; 28th Jun 2018 at 3:36 pm.

28th Jun 2018, 3:54 pm	#28
Paul_RK Dekatron Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Fakenham, Norfolk, UK. Posts: 4,255	Re: Which is your favourite radio cabinet design? Looks as though Corrien Maas can produce a superb reproduction of it, but it's expensive as a bespoke product is bound to be: Euros 14.85 per 10 cm. length of 40 cm. width. http://www.corrienmaas.nl/ Top left of Page 2 of the Radio section: http://www.corrienmaas.nl/afbeelding...50/R030319.JPG Paul

28th Jun 2018, 6:28 pm	#29
jeremy_pdx Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Dover, Kent, UK. Posts: 12	Re: Which is your favourite radio cabinet design? For me, the most beautiful cabinet is between the RCA 19K https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/rca_19...s_rc_512a.html and the Philco 40-190 https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/philco_40_190.html I used to own both of them, and every day I wish I hadn’t sold them. They were really something, even if the wiring on the 1940 Philco did look like it was done by an intoxicated chimp.

29th Jun 2018, 9:30 am	#30
rontech Heptode Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Southport, Merseyside, UK. Posts: 646	Re: Which is your favourite radio cabinet design? Re MurphyNut posting Got confused, the grille cloth to which I referred was the the Bakelite cabinet one. The Defiant. I downloaded the Murphy cabinet book. Wonderful!! Superb examples of understated Art Deco cabinet work.