Bin find Philips 380

[mark pirate]

Whilst walking my dogs, I spotted this filthy set sitting on top of a bin, having another example in the collection, I knew it was worth saving.

Expecting the same problems mine had, I grabbed my can of switch cleaner, but first I needed to give the set a through cleaning!

It came up better than expected, it is not far off mint
The battery compartment looks like it has never been used, the aerial is nice & straight, the whole set has no scratches or wear.

Time to plug in & test, as expected, the volume control was in dire need of attention, but far more interesting was bad mains hum & very distorted sound.

I whipped the set open and gave the volume pot & wavechange switch a generous dose of Servisol and tried again, still distorted, but the hum had died down a bit.

After being on for a couple of minutes, the hum disappeared and so did the distortion, the set was now working as it should.

I checked the smoothing cap with my ESR meter, it was well in spec, I have never come across a cap that took so long to reform!

I reckon this set has not been used for decades, according to Radiomuseum, the set dates to 1977, hard to believe this set is 45 years old!


Mark

[Sideband]

I seem to recall that they sound pretty good as well.

[newlite4]

Very nice find Mark, looks like it has just come out of the shop! Unbelievable what people throw out, not a mark on it.
Neil

[mark pirate]

I knew from the one in my collection that they are good performers, especially on FM, this one certainly did not disappoint.

It certainly cleaned up extremely well, I think the thick layer of dirt had protected it, my other example had to be completely dismantled for cleaning, it had obviously spent it's life in a very greasy kitchen, but came with it's original instruction manual.

Unbelievable what people throw out, not a mark on it.

Round here, people often leave electrical items out for the bin men, just before Christmas I rescued a mint Toshiba VHS machine, complete with remote & instructions, it works perfectly, no attention needed!


Mark

[Tractionist]

Well done! I bet it was working fine when they binned it!!

[paulsherwin]

A friend of mine had one of those in the early 80s when we shared a flat. I remember it being a good performer. That example has cleaned up very nicely - an excellent find.

[Nickthedentist]

That brings back memories for me too... my aunt and uncle had one too, replaced in about 1981 with a little JVC stereo radio/cassette. I've never seen one again since, until now.

Well done for saving it.

Where was it made, by the way? Europe or the far East?

[mark pirate]

Not sure where it was made, my guess is the far east rather than Europe.
The full model No is: 90 AL 380/15 if anyone can decode it.

It certainly is quite solidly made, I like the simple controls & clear dial.
I will start using it for a daily driver, & give my Roberts R707 a well earned rest.


Mark

[paulsherwin]

I seem to remember that a lot of Philips radios from this era came from an OEM in Malaysia, who also made stuff for other major brands. There are people here who know a lot more about Philips history than I do though, and I could well be wrong.

[Richard_FM]

Quite a good find, a nice touch are the frequencies in metres in red lettering.

[Nickthedentist]

I certainly had a Malaysian Pye radio cassette bought for me in 1982, but it was typical Philips in most respects, certainly not just some other manufacturer’s gear with a Pye badge applied.

[paulsherwin]

No, they were contract built for a specific manufacturer, not just badged generic models.

[Nickthedentist]

But some perhaps were: https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=123097)

[paulsherwin]

I think Pye did go through a period after the Philips acquisition when they were flogging badged generic stuff, before all their models were sourced from Philips. Maybe there was a delayed period of company integration and the models were a stopgap, or maybe the old Pye management had already placed contracts before the takeover.

I'm not aware of any Philips models that weren't built to Philips designs and specs, though the guts inside may have been pretty generic of course.

[Nickthedentist]

That sounds very plausible, thanks.

[lancslaz]

Now looks great, a good job cleaning it and saving it from a bin

[marceljack]

The label on mine (in the battery compartment) indicates "made in Singapore". I think it was a Philips factory.
I's a "global" model (bi-voltage 110/127 or 220/240V 50 or 60 Hz).
The voltage can be changed by reversing a cache of the 3 pins mains connector
The exact model is 90AL380/51.
See label:

[Richard_FM]

There was a version badged Radiola on the Radio Museum, which I presume was for the French market.

[Maarten]

Originally Posted by mark pirate

Not sure where it was made, my guess is the far east rather than Europe.
The full model No is: 90 AL 380/15 if anyone can decode it.

The factory of origin is encoded in the letters in front of the serial number or on a separate date code label, not in the model number. Could be one of several, either a Philips owned factory or a contract manufacturer. The letters Sv on Marceljack's example correspond to Philips' own Singapore factory.

That said, the model number decodes as follows: 90 indicates the cheap and cheerful Far East derived model range in general. AL indicates the portable radio range from 1976-1980. 3 is the luxury class. 8 means model year 1978. 0 is the basic model of that luxury class and model year. /15 means UK destination.

[mark pirate]

The model number decodes as follows: 90 indicates the cheap and cheerful Far East derived model range in general. AL indicates the portable radio range from 1976-1980. 3 is the luxury class. 8 means model year 1978. 0 is the basic model of that luxury class and model year. /15 means UK destination.

Many thanks Maarten, a year newer than I thought, I was just 16 when this set was new, a rather scary thought!

I have been using the set for a couple of days, must say I am impressed by the FM performance, I switched on this morning & got a burst of sound, even though I forgot to plug it in, so the smoothing cap has proved itself to be in good health!


Mark