Vintage "Stereo" Radios

[don200002]

I don't know if anyone else has noticed but on some auction sites there has been a spate of large 50s radios advertised as "Stereo" just because they have more than one loudspeaker, I find this very annoying and extremely misleading to the general public. I have contacted some of the sellers to advise of this misleading description but most are not interested and are completely oblivious of the difference between stereo and mono. Don.

[Sideband]

Yes you are always going to find this. People are used to two speakers meaning 'stereo' and a lot of people are quite ignorant (in a non-derogatory way) and completely non-technical. In fairness, it's not helped by the fact that some of these radios have a 'stereo' socket on the back. All it means of course is that it can be used as one channel of a stereo system.

I have a Stella radio with two speakers. It's mono of course with both speakers in parallel but has a 'stereo' socket at the back. It can be used as the second channel for a record player suitably equipped with similar socket.

[Mr Moose]

Hello,
To be fair to some sellers there are some radios etc, like the Pye VHF3D ( http://joefreeman.weebly.com/uploads...1/vhf3d_ii.pdf ), that have "STEREOPHONIC" (or Stereo) badges on them but are not true stereo radios but just have a stereo output stage for connection to a stereo record deck or tape recorder.
Yours, Richard

[paulsherwin]

Lots of people have no idea what 'stereo' actually means.

[don200002]

Perhaps I'm just turning into a grumpy old man but here is part of my collection none of which are stereo.
https://www.radiomuseum.org/collection/don_lewis.html

[Cobaltblue]

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

Lots of people have no idea what 'stereo' actually means.

I suppose we should be tolerent of peoples lack of knowledge, any big old radio is often described as a Radiogram despite the lack of the gramophone part.

I suppose this lack of knowledge has always been there just varies thoughout time this was the 70's take on it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXDK3x5lAYI
Cheers

Mike T

[Herald1360]

I guess my Siemens M57 must be quadraphonic, then

[MotorBikeLes]

Many of these were used in conjunction with a gram chassis, when they were correctly described as stereo, but of course only in context of record play.
I bought a NordMende "Bornholm" stereogram in about 1967. I later purchased the optional stereo decoder making it full true stereo. A later similar. chassis was used in a number of products, such as the "Phonosuper", where is was an almost-portable true stereogram, as the decoder was a standard fitment. That chassis was also used in both a full sized stereogram and a stereo radio.
I had a (1963 year) Tannhauser with the socket ready for decoder, which I later fitted from a scrapped Phonosuper, and I still have a Parsifal (1967 chassis) with standard fitment decoder. All fully valved chassis.
Quite common with many German setmakers, who of course had stereo radio transmissions about 5 years before UK.
Les.

[dave walsh]

Hello Mike et al. I'm vey much always tolerant of a lack of knowledge but it's a bit different perhaps if they don't even "ac" knowledge it, make much effort to find things out and [sometimes] even seem disinterested in trying/listening. Ironically, there has never been such a vast amount of info available by comparison with a few decades ago-it used to be so hard digging out info.
Now there is no need to not know-if you see what i mean. That might not be anything like "instant" though.

It seems to me that a lot of enquirers don't actually know enough to appreciate the question-never mind the answer and I don't have any extensive technical background myself. Perhaps that is a bit harsh I suppose it's all about attitude really! Mine is generally cautious

Dave W

[camtechman]

I have a few fully working radios and one record player that are "No-No Phonic" (ie, no speakers!) and designed that way !!

And several cassette players too !

[camtechman]

Obviously the radios are a mixture of "Personal" types, no built in speaker, earphone use only. A few are the toy type Japanese crystal sets and the cassettes players are headphone only listening.

BUT I do have a Sharp "Mini Sterephone" (sic) BXG370 radio/record player combo. The single built in speaker is for the MW/SW bands but the stereo crystal cartridge record player plays stereo through 2x 3.5mm panel mounted sockets, marked L&R, into which you plug the 2 supplied separate crystal earpieces.

But it's a bit of a faff to set it all up, but still great fun. See pics below:

[Dillen_de]

Just as anything capable of copying a piece paper is a "Xerox" no matter the actual make
in the states, anything capable of sound reproduction is known as the "stereo".
I suppose it could've spread from there.

Annoying nevertheless.

Martin

[Miguel Lopez]

I think I can go a step forward.

Some years ago (I was not an UKVRRR-er yet) a jobmate brought me his "stereo" radio-cassette player for repair. My skills repairing radios were very primitive by that time but anyway I accepted the challenge.

The device was a SANKEY, Made in China (don't remember the model) with wooden-like cabinet. Once I openned it, instantly I noticed that both speakers were connected in parallel, despite the "Stereo" marking on the front of the radio. It even had FM-stereo tuning indicator in the dial. But it doesn't end there: the head for the cassette player was mono too.

The repairing was easy as it was some detail in the PSU that I do not remember well right now. My jobmate was very pleased with the result and he kept enjoying his "stereo" radio very happily

[Richard_FM]

I've heard some early stereo TVs had no NICAM, but each speaker was wired to receive stereo through the Scart & other AV connectors.

[TonyDuell]

Possibly they were originally designed for the German analogue stereo TV sound system (which I seem to remember was similar in principle to the FM stereo radio system) and either the decoder was not fitted on models with a 6MHz sound carrier offset (for the UK) or it was there but simply didn't work in the UK.

I certainly have a NordMende-badged JVC video recorder like that. It was used years ago with the Maplin NICAM tuner/decoder kit for stereo recordings.

Getting back on-topic, I have cringed many times about crossword puzzles in the Press that assume that 'Hi Fi' and 'Stereo' have the same meaning. To me they are orthogonal (you can have a High Fidelity monophonic system, equally you can have a stereo system that is certainly not Hi-Fi).

[camtechman]

This one is from my "Box of Curios"

It's a Japanese, standard size, shirt pocket, transistor radio.

Note the claim on the black leather case and then again on the radio's trim: "Stereo Hi Fi".

As if that's enough lies but it's compounded by the number of transistors it claims to have. I've circled the number in red, it says Eight but it only has Six !!

Good Game, Good Game !!

[Sideband]

Originally Posted by TonyDuell

Possibly they were originally designed for the German analogue stereo TV sound system (which I seem to remember was similar in principle to the FM stereo radio system) and either the decoder was not fitted on models with a 6MHz sound carrier offset (for the UK) or it was there but simply didn't work in the UK.

Absolutely right! When I was at Philips, some KT3/30/35 chassis and KT4/40 chassis were fitted with these analogue decoders. They could be switched to give a sort of false stereo. The amplifiers would give stereo sound from an external source via the SCART socket (I used my K35 set via a NICAM VCR for many years). Later sets were fitted with a proper NICAM decoder.

[AC/HL]

Originally Posted by camtechman

I've circled the number in red, it says Eight but it only has Six

They often included transistors used as a diodes in the headline figure, to make it look more impressive to purchasers.

[Edward Huggins]

I too become frustrated at ignorance which can sometimes be very misleading when items are listed on auction sites. There is the generic use of the word "Speakers" to describe anything that may only have even just the one speaker. This may well be as result of younger people using equipment where everything is being housed in one small box (Bose, Sonos et al) even though it reproduces 2 channels.
Also there is the use of "Stereo" to describe any kind of Radiogram, even those from the 1940s! However, when I politely point out such inaccuracies, I have often received abusive replies...
Nowadays I tend not to bother as many Buyers are as ignorant of what they are buying as Sellers are of what they are selling.

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by don200002

...I have contacted some of the sellers to advise of this misleading description but most are not interested and are completely oblivious of the difference between stereo and mono.

I know what you mean. Only a couple of days ago a seller of a hifi receiver posted a photo with an obvious and ugly hump in the middle of the wooden surround at the top. I know this set well, and it's because the wooden case has not been 'hooked' in place along the front top edge of the fascia plate, instead resting on top of it causing the hump. I sent the seller a nice communication explaining all this and so far, no response, and no new 'fixed' photo. I don't think I'll bother trying to help sellers in future. I mean, will it sell better looking 'weird' or looking nice?!