My Ekco A277 from Royal Wooton Bassett

[Nickthedentist]

This is a luxury, FM-only set from 1956(?) with dual speakers. I bought it at RWB in December from a stallholder, just before auction started. I had looked at it earlier but passed it by because it was so big, but I felt sorry for it sitting on the floor and getting bashed around and I succumbed when a lady moved her chair and managed to take a chunk of veneer off with its leg. Inside, it looked to be complete and untouched, with plenty of dust and a 5A, 2-pin plug fitted. On the downside, the cabinet looked very sad, with a very dull and cloudy finish. I paid the asking price of £15.

[Nickthedentist]

CHASSIS

I struggled to remove one of the knobs as they have grub screws threaded directly into the rather thin phenolic plastic without any metal insert. I used some PlusGas to help matters, though one grub screw got slightly mangled. I put some wax on the threads to help prevent future troubles. These sets often seem to have missing or broken knobs, so beware.

The 3-core mains lead OK (old colours but who cares?!) so I fitted a new plug with a 1 fuse, temporarily bridged the o/c mains switch and re-formed the dual smoothing can reformed which responded well (~1.5mA leakage per section in spite of its bulging bung). I replaced the blown dial lamps and changed the Mouldseals around the EL84 (a later Mullard replacement, with the new-style 1970s logo).

Powering-up (initially via the lamp limiter) resulted in some signs life though with low volume and sensitivity and (inevitably) no emission whatsoever from the EM80. Zero volts on the EL84 grid though, which was a relief.

Next I replaced the remaining Mouldseals: they’re all under the chassis, and one’s hidden in the front end but is easily accessed after removing 4 screws. What an improvement! Loud and sensitive, just that way it should be, albeit with loud crackling from the volume and tone pots.

The crackly pots were opened very easily simply by spreading 4 aluminium tabs. A good squirt of Servisol Super 10 was applied to both the pots and the failed mains switch, and the controls exercised vigourously. The result was no more noises, and a mains switch that worked perfectly. The valveholders' contacts were also cleaned, this time using Deoxit on blue dental “TePe” brush, which completely resolved the tendency for loud cracks to be heard as the valves were rocked in their sockets.

[Nickthedentist]

CHASSIS (continued)

Finally, the speaker leads were fitted with push-on tabs to make future chassis removal easier, a NOS Russian EM80-equivalent tuning indicator was fitted (thanks for the tip, David), and the dial cord pulleys and permeability tuner etc. lubricated with some light oil. Interestingly, this set uses a braided wire rope instead the usual cord, and an arrangement of tabbed washers to limit the number of turns the tuning contol can be rotated (presumably to avoid damaging the wire). I’ve never seen this anywhere else.

It worked so well on a soak test that the three electrolytics (discriminator reservoir and the ropey-looking dual can) were left in place. The latter remains stone cold, which is reassuring as I don’t like big bangs.

[Nickthedentist]

CABINET

The dial glass removed and cleaned with foaming cleaner on front, and merely a soft brush plus some barely damp cotton wool on the back.

I took the speakers out, vacuumed the apertures and grille cloth, then cleaned it with foaming cleanser and a paintbrush to remove the “shadows” as recommended by Paul Sherwin.

Some of the brass trim is slightly pitted and dull, but I decided it was too thin to remove without damage, so was left as-is.

Fortunately, the blotchy, dull and bloomy finish on the cabinet was nothing more than decades of grime, which came off with more foam cleanser. Some of the veneer proved to be rather friable so great care used to prevent more coming off, but a tiny fragment came off during the cleaning to the bottom left of baffle, never to be seen again. I’m afraid I used nothing more than dark woodstain to disguise this and the other chips. There are a few dark splodges and streaks if you look closely; I suspect somebody used something to cover-up some scratches and scuffs in the dim and distant past. Finally, some Pledge and a soft duster was used to give it a lovely high sheen. It looks better in real life than the pics.


IN USE

The set has been in daily use for 6 months now, and has behaved faultlessly. It doesn’t sound quite as good as my Fenman II or Mayflowers, but comes pretty close. It’s not a spectacularly special set technically, but is a good, honest piece of British engineering which is still doing what it was designed to do 60 years after it was manufactured. My £15 was certainly well spent.

It will soon be treated to a long holiday and another restored set will take its place.

Apologies for the poor pics - photography has never been my strong point and I only have a compact camera. And for the background clutter too - such is life these days.

Nick.

[paulsherwin]

I do like these sets. The styling is rather sombre but exactly typifies that British middle class 'radio as furniture' look of the 1950s. There are absolutely no frills apart from the tuning indicator but they work very well for their intended purpose.

I much prefer the look to the alternative modernist styling of the closely related A274.

[Nickthedentist]

Thanks Paul.

I suppose the only other "frill" is the inclusion of two big Elac speakers (one round, one elliptical) and a big, solid cabinet.

My school headmaster was still running an A274 in the early 1990s. I was most impressed by its performance, but like you, found the styling very utilitarian and frankly, a bit ugly.

There is also the console version (C273) of course.

Any idea what the blocks of wood adjacent to the chassis are for? They look like a home-made afterthought, but are definitely original.

[mark pirate]

Looks good, were there any mods needed to use the Russian magic eye?
I have a rather sorry looking one of these on the roundtuit pile, it does actually work quite well despite having all the old caps in situ.

I restored the console version some years ago, well worth looking out for as it sounds fantastic!

Mark

[Nickthedentist]

Thanks Mark.

Nope, the eye went straight in, though I understand that the envelope diameter is slightly greater which could be a problem in certain applications.

N.

[Hybrid tellies]

Nice write up Nick I always like the 1950's valves sets even if they are not worth a lot. If I could I would save every 1950's radio I could get my hands on. I do like Pye and need to bring some into my collection.

[Tim]

This one and the A274 have exposed mains on the back of the volume control, so something to beware of when servicing.

[Nickthedentist]

Good point.

But I suppose that this is a common enough arrangement that most of us will be aware of the dangers. Bears repeating though.

N.

[Tim]

Thanks Nick,
In most cases though, the back of the volume control is under the chassis. In this case it isn't, so I just thought I'd mention it.

[Nickthedentist]

That's true, hadn't thought of that.

[newlite4]

Good on you Nick for rescuing this poor soul, she looks a lot better now thanks to your care. I'm afraid had it been me I would have bought the set and then promptly kicked the ladies chair to see how she likes it.
Neil

[Nickthedentist]

More on the company that made the cabinet here: https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...8&postcount=14

[Phil G4SPZ]

Nice project Nick, well done.

[Nickthedentist]

Thanks Phil.

In spite of what I said in post 1, it still has pride of place in my study and is in daily use. There's nothing particularly special about it, but it sounds really good and is entirely trouble free; utterly reliable, no tuning drift, no funny quirks. It just works perfectly. It's powered via one of those 433MHz remote-controlled switched sockets, so that I can switch it on and off from my desk and avoid wear on the switched volume pot.

I now have another one stashed away in the loft for a rainy day (thanks Steve!)

N.

[mole42uk]

My A274 is used in the same way. Completely trouble-free once I'd sorted the volume control.

Personally, I prefer the styling of the A274, but that might be because I grew up with it!

[Oldelectronics]

Interesting thread do these VHF sets have their own 'that capacitor'?

[paulsherwin]

They have a normal triode - pentode audio stage (EABC80/EL84 I think) so yes.