Видео

Thank you very much Ivan, it does take a lot of patience to work on these radios and it is not something i would have time to do while i was still working, but now that i am retired i have all the time in the world to work on them and i learn something new everyday. I was lucky to get help here on Yoy Tube mostly and even luckier to have found a mentor; David Tipton :-). Have a great day and thank yoy fro leaving a nice comment. If you enjoyed this restoration you might also enjoy my next project; A big Grundig...

Hello Jim, thank you very much for dropping by, subscribing and leaving this nice comment. Yeah, i know about the 2643, in fact the first schematics i found had both chassis drawn on the diagram which confused me a bit at first. But i found the exact schematics a few days later and it was easier to work on the chassis from that point on. Now as far as stereo goes, again this was a bit confusing for me at first; In 58-59 or even 1960 stereo broadcast wasn't a thing yet, but the engineers still designed those German sets to be ''Stereo Capable''. Like you said using the PU output connector it was possible to get somewhat of a stereo output, but to add to the confusion and to get a true stereo effect from what i have read, the user needed to hook up a separate amp/loudspeaker box. The working principle was to use some of the tubes for one side of the signal and other tubes for the other side. I have read on Radio Museum it is possible to achieve this using another radio connected to the ''Main'' radio, but one side will be much weaker although still giving somewhat of the stereo effect. I do not know if i can also do this with my 2540, but it's nice to know the German engineers were thinking ahead when designing those radios. Now about the colours, i do like the colour scheme on my 2540, to me it has a nice Italian vibe to it, but if i'm being honest i prefer darker radios (i like yours more funny hey ?) Mine has a more ''Feminine'' look to it i find. Nothing wrong with that i just prefer darker. So in that respect i'm working on a big Grundig 4055 at the moment and it is darker wood. It will be the subject of my next series, so stay tuned if you want to see the results, it should be interesting, the tone shaping working principle is quite different to say the least... Again thank you Jim P.S. i encourage you to restore your 2643, send me an e-mail if you have problems, maybe i'll be able to help.

@@raymondmenard5444 Thanks. Ray. After reading your reply, I went to Radio Museum and found the post where stereo operation is described. It seems like a lot of trouble, but I guess if you had a stereo phonograph or tape player, and an existing "Hi Fi" amp with a single speaker, then it was pretty neat. I remember when my father bought a stereo receiver in about 1963. He just bought a second speaker that didn't match the existing one - but he had two channels! Maybe that was a common solution at that time. When I tested the radio, I did not hear any FM multiplexing, so I was confused. Then someone told me that stereo was only for input sources. Now it makes sense. Thanks for your offer of help. When I get going on the restoration, I might take you up on that. Jim

@@jimf4492 That is exactly right and you have explained it better than me (being French Canadian, i often struggle to translate my exact thoughts in English :-) ) I might not know how to fix your radio exactly, but we might figure out the issues, if any together, comparing notes you know ?

Thank you for the nice comment Brian, i know it's a long and boring video, but i figured if i put it in a How to playlist it wouldn't bore everybody as much and might even help folks wanting to clean such radio parts. I think it also demonstrate the limits of an Ultrasonic cleaner. Have a great day

Thank you so very much Rob, they might not look very original, but i get so much more performance out of them compared to the original (and dead) ones. I've tried repairing those twice without success. Once the sprayed metallic coating is gone on the polymer membrane, there's not much you can do. I was lucky this time in finding replacements but for my next project i'm going to replace them with proper tweeters, they came in today in fact, can't wait to try them out.

@@raymondmenard5444 I’m looking forward to seeing the end result.

Geez Rob thank you so much, it takes almost as much patience sitting through one of my entire series, with my babbling and French Canadian accent, than it does to restore one of these old radios. I do like to be meticulous, i got that from my previous profession; I was a photographer in a past life and my college teachers really hammered the attention to details into my brains, but i try not to get to ''Anal'' with getting every little part nobody will see 100% original. Sure it's fun when it's possible to re-stuff the original can or find the exact grill cloth, but my priority is always safety, followed by efficiency and aesthetics come after all that. Again thank you, i really appreciate it.. Be well, God bless.

I don’t mind the accent. I live in Florida and half the people here are French Canadian lol. I purchased a pretty rough condition Grundig 2220 on eBay yesterday and will be purchasing a second one locally on Saturday morning. I have only done one radio before and I’m looking forward to trying my hand at another. I will go for a different route than you took. I will make it operational and safe, clean and functional but with some character. Something that says I’m old and well used but still work fantastic. That’s the plan. We shall see. God bless my friend.

@@robbo6460 Yeah, true, you must be getting ready for the snowbirds right about now :-) Really 2 x 2220 hey ?, well i'm curious to see how you're going to restore them, if you. make videos lemme know, i want to see :-)

Thank you very much for the kind words Rob i appreciate it. I just had a look at your channel and oh my gosh you're not too shabby yourself. That's serious work and upgrades you did on Shrek there. Well done and it's funny a mechanic would comment on one of my videos, because the Big ass Grundig i'm working on at the moment is so huge and so sturdy, sometimes working on the chassis it feels like i'm working on a carburetor or something lol. If you liked this one, please subscribe if you haven't already, you might appreciate the next series. Again thank you for dropping by and for the nice comment, be well, God bless.

@@raymondmenard5444 I still drive Shrek and curse like a sailor lol. My wife and I sold our car lot when covid hit. I rekindled my love of electronics and have a very nice bench at home. I absolutely love analog multimeters and VTVM’s. I restored a Zenith M730 radio and it plays 24/7 in my little lab. I was never into radio but I am starting to catch the bug. I just missed a $20 Grundig on FB Marketplace last week or I would have grabbed it. I have subscribed to the channel and look forward to another series. Robb

@@robbo6460 Yes i gathered you sold the car lot on one of your videos. Oh ok i see you already restored a radio, well then it's too late for you now my friend, you've been stung by the radio bug :-) With your background i'm sure you could bring back beautiful German sets back to life. I have nothing against American radios, in fact my 1st project was a big RCA 87-K AM-SW-LG console, but after working on my 1st German radio i was astonished at just how good it sounded (German engineers really took their tone shaping seriously). So now i try to get my hands on as many German radios as i can. Too bad you missed out on one, but if you're really interested you'll find another one, perhaps even better. Problm is, around here at least is getting them at reasonable prices, folks who own them ask for fully restored prices, when in fact they are not working at all or state they are in working condition because they see a pilot lamp come on and hear some sound coming out of the speaker. Believe me all radios from that era need re-capping at the very least, know what i mean ? Have a great day, thanks for the reply.

I wasn't able to identify one single problem with the FM. At first the original ECC85 might have been a little weak, although it was testing fine on my tube tester, but it also went a little crokked in it's socket. I tested everything i could think of, related to the FM circuit and everything was ''Normal''. In the end i just concluded the FM on this model played softer than the AM band. So i need to turn up the colume knob about 20 to 25% more to get the same output, but it tunes just as well as the AM. So i stopped there and am still very happy with the end result. If your question about C50 was because the continuity on the video didn't make sense because i was talking about C56 just before this scene of the chassis. It is simply because my cell phone didn't activate when i started recording the C56 replacement. I didn't have the courage to unsolder and re-solder it just for the camera, sorry.

C50 is a 100pf 125v 10% film capacitor

Thank you very much, i am not very experienced, but i learn something new every day, and to answer your question yes there will be more videos for sure. I am working on another Grundig at the moment but a much, much bigger one. I'm waiting for parts, so it might take a few weeks before i post the next episode. But wow ! If you successfully restored a Saba Freiburg by yourself, then you already know what you're doing. Good work and i agree more people should restore these beauties from the past or get it done by someone who appreciates vintage tub radios :-)

Salut Carl et merci de tes bons mots. Pour répondre à ta question je n'avais absolument aucun baggage en électronique ou électricité avant de débuter cette douce folie. Par contre j'ai toujours été curieux et j'ai toujours aimé réparer mes propres trucs qui ''brisaient'' et ma formation de photographe dans une autre vie crois-le ou non fut une excellente préparation au travail de minutie. J'ai fait mes études en photo du temps où c'était encore pellicule, papier et labo. J'ai appris la majorité de ce que j'avais besoin de savoir à regarder des tutoriels ici, pas mal de lecture aussi pour les tubes et de fil en aiguilles je me suis lié d'amitié avec David qui m'aidait quasi quotidiennement avec les connaissances qu'il me manquait, notamment la lecture et comprehension des diagrammes de circuits (J'apprends encore). Tu peux aussi chercher des clubs de radios dans ta région, beaucoup ont appris ainsi, à ne pas confondre cependant avec les clubs de radio amateurs, pour les communications onde courtes etc. J'espère que tu pourras te joindre à notre communauté grandissante, il ya toujours quelqu'un pour t'aider, pour peu qu'on le demande. Bonne continuation :-)

​@@raymondmenard5444 Super, merci! Je suis manuel, j'ai de bonnes connaissances en circuits DC et AC, et je me débrouille pas mal avec le fer à souder. J'ai installé avec succès un circuit de protection (relais) dans mon vieil ampli Pioneer qui n'en n'avait pas, et quelques petits travaux mineurs. Je regarde avec passion xraytonyb sur RUclips (et d'autres) mais je suis tellement loin de ça haha! Mais ton succès m'encourage sérieusement à m'essayer!! J'ai pas le temps présentement, mais je vais commencer à voir ce qu'il y a dans mon coin (Québec) comme ressources. Merci encore et félicitations!

Might not pan out quickly, still waiting for a confirmation, but i have a plan B, should be interesting as well. Stay tuned Yvon and thanks for dropping by 🙂

Hello Fabian, thank you for your very informative comment, you see at first i couldn't find what was causing to whole radio to be completely dead and it was Dave who pointed me in the right direction (again). I was under the impression though, that this resistor started corroding after it had burned out. It makes more sense it was more a design flaw on the wire wound resistor to begin with. Since i've seen the exact same issue on 2 different 2220 CA, i must conclude it is not a coincidence. Again thank you very much, be well, God bless.

Hey Dave, Yup ! Couldn't have chosen a better hobby for my retirement. To be honest i never thought it would be so soothing for the soul, in my case leaning how to repair/restore radios has helped me so much transitioning back from policing to a more normal civilian life. I make new friends almost everyday, you being on top of the list of course. I'm already preparing for the next restoration and i promise you it won't be something you see everyday... Thanks for dropping by ol friend :-)

Yeah, he sure does, i was lucky chief engineer Tipton was onboard the Entreprise when i needed his advice. I wonder how his lunch issue turned out with Scotty... Thank's for dropping by, i appreciate it.

Hello Dave, yeah, for once the grill cloth was really good, it may seem a bit lighter under all my bench lights, but it is still one of the best i've seen so far. Thank you very much for dropping by. When such masters as Manuel and yourself leave positive comments on my work, i feel i finally have a foot in the big boys' schoolyard. Still so much to learn though, but i welcome it :-)

Why thank you Manuel, coming from you this just makes my day. Thank you for dropping by and commenting i really appreciate it. I'll never be as technical as you, but i am still so eager to learn, what a beautiful satisfying hobby this is proving to be. Be well my friend, God bless.

Hello sincerelyyours, Glad to see you are also interested in those old beauties, hesitate no longer my friend, fixing those sets and making them sing again is so satisfying, especially after a long and hard restoration process. It's a steep learning curve at first but after a while you start to see the similarities between different radios so it gets a little easier. The hunt for test/repair equipment can be daunting at times. at least here in Canada. The biggest challenge though is finding those old radios at reasonable prices, many folks think they have gold mines in their hands, especially with German sets and they ask the price of a fully restored radio, when in fact they are either not working at all or barely light up. But sometimes we get lucky, like i was with this radio and the Blaupunkt before that last month. Anywho i hope you get to restore your inherited Grundig, it's worth it :-) Thanks for dropping by and commenting, i appreciate it.

Hello Manuel, thank you so much for leaving a comment here, i really appreciate it. Along with David you guys are real mentors to me, you have taught me so much already i sometimes can't believe myself how far i've come in the last 2 years or so. I was so afraid of the high voltage at first, i wouldn't touch a plugged in radio without a pair of heavy gardener's gloves (ask David...). I know there are scammers everywhere, particularly with vintage audio equipment, but usually i see guys buying radios for cheap and re selling them for 5x the price the next day. This was different, since the fraudulent seller posted pictures from the inside of the radio which the rightful owner had never seen, it had to be someone close to her and that really pissed me off. Now as for getting hooked, yeah' no kidding you're absolutely right and i completely agree FM sets are more appealing to me, especially the big and beautiful German sets, but man they are not easy to work on at times...

Geez, thank you, i think you mean Vacuum Tube radios here and not transistors. But i completely understand where you coming from. I use my tube radios exactly the same way. I like the ambience they fill the room with, no modern transistor radios can yield the warm deep sound of vacuum tubes, although lately some companies have been producing very competent hybrid amps and receivers to be honest.

@@raymondmenard5444 Yes - my computer not knowing the difference I guess suggested your site after I was browsing for Grundigs and Hackers and I clicked on. You were doing far more complicated things than transistors, but the comment was general. But see what I mean about the uselessness of most people - ie me!

Again thank you, i don't know what to say, thank you for your kind words. I am a beginner at this and i learned mostly watching tutorials here on You Tube combined with a lot of reading. If you really want to see a pro at work, check out my mentor's channel David Tipton, now that's what i call complete restorations 🙂 www.youtube.com/@DavidTipton101

@@raymondmenard5444 All I know is that the more I try to find out about things, the more I know I don't have a clue about much. I do have a clue about the deskilling - am sure that is deliberate. Dumbed down people who can't look after their things themselves are much easier to monetise and control. I was a journalist but they are part of the problem. It is the place we are being taken to that worries me. So when I see skilled people it feels very comforting to know that some minds aren't captured by: "I'll get someone else to fix that. Instead they learn how to fix it themselves. Men are as useless as we women nowadays (sorry - but it is totally true). My father was an engineer so I like to fix things I feel confident about - I learned to service my own oil fired Aga - but that is just a case of getting a piece of wire coat hanger and ramming the thin oil tubes! It is tremendously satisfying to mend things. And it will be so important in our future - if we are to get through it ;)

Thank you Dave, electrostatic tweeters not working you say ? Hmm maybe I'll get them to work after all. Stay tune for part 5 you might be surprised... Again thanks for braving through this whole series, you're my #1 supporter, heck almost the only one lol

Thank's Dave, yeah, i have to agree it's way safer to check before starting to replace all the caps at once, also if i made a mistake it'll be much easier to retrace my steps and trouble shoot problems. I learned that from you :-)

Thank you so much Dave, i was really lucky with this one, for ronce i didn't have to spend weeks on the cabinet. Looking forward to part II of the Time spot :-)

Merci Richard, j'ai vraiment eu beaucoup de chance avec cette radio, pour une fois je n'ai pas eu à passer des semaines à restaurer le cabinet. Merci d'être passé Richard :-)

Hi David, i totally agree, i couldn't grab this one quickly enough, with any luck i should be able to make her sing again. Thanks' for dropping by my mentor

Hmm interesting i hadn't thought of that to be honest, thank's for commenting and subbing, i'll go check you video on the subject. I'll surely have many more such corroded tuners to clean up in the future.

Thank's Dave, coming from you is really encouraging. I've never seen the original belt on the pulley, it had been replace by a simple string at one point. I did find a guy on E-Bay who was selling a ton of those original NOS tuner reinforced rubber belts, but he had no way of cross referencing his inventory, all he had was different lengths and widths from other companies than RCA if i recall. Since i couldn't find an exact match i got 2 rubber belts from Quality radio belts in the U.S.. I'm hoping it will work, i'll send you pictures when i install one on the tuner. Fingers crossed. Thank's for commenting my mentor 🙂

Thank's Rick i really appreciate it, talk to you soon partner 🙂