This  radio looked in real bad condition when received.  But it came up pretty well, considering, and it still has the original wooden knobs. It's from about 1947.

Broadcast only, no shortwave. The dial shows separate North Island, South Island, and Australian stations.

Currently, it is a 5 valve chassis, but a 6th valve used to be immediately above the power cord, in front of the power transformer.  At some stage, someone has converted it to solid state rectification, instead. The Loop Antenna can just be seen sitting vertically at the left.

Click on image for full size advertisement picture of  the Loop Antenna used in this model. (127KB.)  Although made by a different company, Radio (1936) Ltd used them for a short while.

This is a 5 valve broadcast chassis, with a 6 inch electromag speaker. The tuning knob sits right in the middle of the dial, direct drive. The only other control is the volume. There are no dial lights, and it is a relatively small radio. I wonder if it may have been intended as a cheap radio, for its time.

This one was made about 1937 according to the ARTS&P sticker, but the manufacturer's plate on the back of the chassis has no Manufacturer's name on it.  I would have expected it to say Ultimate (1936) Ltd. Bit of an enigma, there! As received, it has a damaged dial plate, but at least it was there, and a number of wires are disconnected, so somebody has obviously "got at" it.

Click on the pictures for large versions.

Junior picked up two of these extension speakers at a second hand shop. Eight dollars for the pair. Not too bad. They are bakelite cabinets, in good condition, apart from needing a good clean and polish. The speakers are 8 inch, and each has a volume control on the right hand side. The brackets on the back would help to strengthen the cabinets, I guess, but are mainly intended for mounting the speakers on a wall. They do both work. There was a radio made by Radio 1936 Ltd that got to be nicknamed "The Hanging Horror". It was made inside a cabinet the same size as these speakers. Some were the same, but others had some bars across the grille area. The reason for the nickname was the fact that most were hung from a cord, which had a habit of breaking, in which case the radio hit the deck, and often damaged the cabinet. So they are fairly rare in good condition. The same goes for the speakers.

Click on the pictures for large versions.

This RAC model from 1950 has a 5 valve chassis, broadcast only. The 78 RPM gramophone, which uses steel needles, sits behind the pull out door, which also has the 10 inch Rola speaker mounted on it. There are two controls on the side for tone and switching from radio to gram. The radio is going, but with a very loud hum. There doesn't appear to be as much gain as there should be, on gram setting. The gram appears to be trying to work, but not quite succeeding. I don't think it will take too much to have it running well. It was obtained cheaply from a second hand shop. When I dropped in, he said he had this old radio he'd just got, but it was still on the truck, outside in the rain, if I wanted to have a look. So obviously, one doesn't say no. But as you can see, I also said "Yes".

Click on the picture for large version.

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This model RL table-gram, as you can see, is not in the best of condition. As received, it was not running. The rectifier was missing! Replacing a couple of electrolytic capacitors, and 3 paper caps sorta got it going. Replacing another valve then made a big difference, but it still cut out at higher volume, and went all distorted. This turned out to be a capacitor from the volume control wiper. That soon fixed it! It now goes really well, heaps of volume, and really drags in the shortwave. It's a 6 valve, dual wave, with an 8 inch permag speaker. 1946/47.  Now we need to look at the 78 rpm turntable, and do the cabinet.