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Author Topic:  Old Battery Operated Console Radio Speaker
Steve Duke

 

From:
Missouri, USA
Post  Posted 29 May 2017 10:58 am    
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I came across an old radio with speaker the other day. It seems to have been a battery operated model. The name is Coronodo on the dial. A half torn diagram on the back has A and B battery with 45V. Could this be correct? My question was could you use this type speaker as an amp speaker for steel guitar? It looks to be an 8" speaker. thanks
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Michael Butler


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 29 May 2017 2:41 pm    
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8" speaker wouldn't give you much.

also, if it has a transformer on top of the speaker, it probably isn't worth messing with.

you might want to test it to see if it even works. use a 1 1/2 volt battery and connect it to the speaker leads. you should see and hear the cone move in and out.

play music!
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Steve Duke

 

From:
Missouri, USA
Post  Posted 29 May 2017 3:38 pm    
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Thanks Michael for the response. I've converted a old Spanish guitar I got at the pawn shop into a Hawaiian Guitar with a Fishman pickup and was wanting to use the speaker for just home use. It's a console radio and I'm wanting to make an amp out it for home use only. I'm dumber than a pump handle when it comes to electricity.
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Bill Mollenhauer

 

From:
New Jersey, USA
Post  Posted 29 May 2017 6:38 pm    
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It's been a long time so I might not be correct but one battery ran the filaments (low voltage) on the tubes and the other battery was the high voltage for the radio. I seem to recall that the speaker coil was part of the power supply and would therefore be different from todays speaker. You would be better to try and sell the radio as an antique and use the money to buy a regular amp.
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Steve Duke

 

From:
Missouri, USA
Post  Posted 1 Jun 2017 6:16 pm    
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Thanks Bill: I already have 4 amps. I was thinking of an amp head and hooking the speaker to that but didn't know if a speaker operated from a battery was any different than one powered by 120v. It looks like a coil or something attached to the outside of the speaker. I would call it the end of the cone for location of the coil(or something). Almost looks like a low voltage transformer you would see on a door bell.
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Michael Butler


From:
California, USA
Post  Posted 2 Jun 2017 2:15 pm    
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Steve Duke wrote:
Thanks Bill: I already have 4 amps. I was thinking of an amp head and hooking the speaker to that but didn't know if a speaker operated from a battery was any different than one powered by 120v. It looks like a coil or something attached to the outside of the speaker. I would call it the end of the cone for location of the coil(or something). Almost looks like a low voltage transformer you would see on a door bell.


that's basically what it is steve. later on it was taken off the speaker and placed on the chassis.

play music!
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Scott Duckworth


From:
Etowah, TN Western Foothills of the Smokies
Post  Posted 3 Jun 2017 4:07 am    
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There is some info on these pages about the old batteries that powered stuff like that, and how to build power supplies to take their place.

NOTE: HIGH VOLTAGES, BE CAUTIOUS!

https://antiqueradio.org/bsupply.htm

Make a "B" battery...

http://www.techlib.com/electronics/b-battery.htm
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Steve Duke

 

From:
Missouri, USA
Post  Posted 3 Jun 2017 6:50 pm    
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Hey Scott: Thanks for the info on battery radios. Half of the diagram is attached to the inside back of the radio I have and it looks like two batteries 45v each the best I can tell and another battery that is the A battery probably. Can modern tube testing equipment test these old tubes? They look good but who knows. I don't even know anyone in the town I live in that could look at it. Are there services around anymore that can work on these old radios? Thanks again. B safe
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Scott Duckworth


From:
Etowah, TN Western Foothills of the Smokies
Post  Posted 4 Jun 2017 3:47 am    
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A tube tester should test the tubes. Getting someone to work on it might be hard. Look for someone who works on tube guitar amps.
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Steve Duke

 

From:
Missouri, USA
Post  Posted 16 Jun 2017 7:29 pm    
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Hi Scott: I had a Peavey 158 Rage Silver Bar and put the speaker and head in the old radio and made an amp out of it for my converted spanish guitar to a Hawaiian lap steel. Sounds pretty good.8" speaker of the Rage matched the attachment screws of the old speaker perfect. If I figure out how to upload a picture and sound track, I'll do it. Thanks everyone for the help.
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Jim Sliff


From:
Lawndale California, USA
Post  Posted 16 Jun 2017 8:55 pm    
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Quote:
A tube tester should test the tubes. Getting someone to work on it might be hard. Look for someone who works on tube guitar amps.


Tube testers have to be calibrated at regular intervals, which is expensive and rarely happens - so if you find someone with a tester and it's not calibrated it won't be of much use.

It's very, very doubtful the speaker could be used for anything else, and it is unlikely it still works properly. If the radio uses those types of batteries the speaker is probably a field coil - it would be difficult to determine the impedance, which would not be close to an amp circuit requirement anyway.

Most guitar amp techs will not work on that type of radio. They'd have to charge far more than it's worth just to analyze the circuit. An old-style TV repair shop might take a look at it but it is very unlikely it would be worth repairing - if it *could* be repaired. If the speaker is shot that type is very expensive to replace; the tubes will be as well - they are undoubtedly obsolete types that are very hard to find and it's doubtful the originals will still be in good usable shape.
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Blake Hawkins


From:
Florida
Post  Posted 17 Jun 2017 1:30 pm    
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If it is a console radio, in a wooden cabinet it what we call a "Farm Radio." These were made in the 1930s before rural areas of this country had AC power. Those folks wanted radios and these were the solution. I have restored many of them that were built between 1935 and 1940. The tubes are available at reasonable prices. The speakers in these radios did not have field coils. They were either "Magnetic" or "Dynamic." The magnetic speakers can be identified by the large horseshoe magnet on the rear. The dynamic speakers had the same construction as modern speakers. However they were not built to handle much power. The average battery radio had only one watt or less of audio power. Everything was done possible to conserve
battery life as batteries were expensive.
The circuits can be restored but it takes someone who is familiar with antique radios.
I agree with the posts above that it would probably be expensive unless you do the work yourself.
It was one of my hobbies and I enjoyed doing it but do not do that anymore. There is a lot of information on Antique Radios on the internet.
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Steve Duke

 

From:
Missouri, USA
Post  Posted 17 Jun 2017 5:47 pm    
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Thanks for the comments Jim and Blake. Blake: It is a Farm Radio. I didn't have to use one but my mom did. She tells me how it was then with this type of radio. We had electricity when I was young but no running water or toilet. All out side back then.Blake the speaker has what looks like to me is a transformer you would see on a door bell.It is a wooden cabinet. Stands about waste high and 2 feet wide. Coronodo brand.I kept all the internal mechanics in place and added the amp head in the cabinet over the tubes and used the amp speaker in the same place as the radio speaker. Thanks again. B safe
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Blake Hawkins


From:
Florida
Post  Posted 17 Jun 2017 7:10 pm    
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Steve, The transformer mounted on the speaker
is the output transformer used to match the power amplifier tube to the speaker. A typical unit would have 10,000 primary and a 4 ohm secondary.
That was a common location for it.
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