R707 sound quality

[howard]

Hello,

I recently bought two Roberts R707 radios to restore - Ive just finished one of them and its come out really well, almost mint in fact. It needed a good clean but no repairs other than a squirt of switch cleaner in the volume pot and in the wavechange switches.
Im curious about its sound quality though cos it has rather bloated bass when the bass control is pushed round much more than half way to max, which is rather unlike Roberts radios, although this is quite a large set. Is this typical of the R707 ?

Howard

[howard]

Oops,

I think Ive sorted out the problem .... some cables inside were intefering with the loudspeaker !!

Its much better now that Ive moved them away from the speaker, actually this is rather a nice sounding radio, Ive had it on Radio 3 all evening and its been very relaxing to listen to

Howard (embarrassed)

[howard]

Hello all,

I have been using this radio listening to Classic FM for the past 3 days and I now think this R707 model is the best sounding Roberts radio that I have. It's even better sounding than my R900.

Roberts don't make radios like they used to back in the 60s/70s, do they ?

Howard

PS: My Hacker Hunters are still better !

[GJR 11L]

Originally Posted by howard

PS: My Hacker Hunters are still better !

Speaking as one whose best Hunter has just had new electrolytics throughout, new output transistors and a bass pot, I would tend to agree. I hadn't heard a Hunter working properly for such a long time that this was a revelation.
Don't get me wrong, I rate the R707s too but they're not in the same league as the RP38A. I had assumed that my Hunter was ok, only bothering to check cs & rs (the "rs" all within tolerance by some fluke) when I had a silly idea about selling it. I don't think I'll be doing that in a hurry now though.
Although a very different beast, I love the Grundig Yacht Boy 210 also, it can sound better than the 707, but is certainly more competent as a receiver if not a piece of decoration.
Supposing that a newly-elected future government decrees that all eccentric collecting types must only keep one radio from their collection, but that radio would have to be that person's only means of entertainment; Which would you keep if the choice were between an R707 and an RP38A?

Sorry to confuse by bringing the Grundig into the arena, but if you don't own one yet, why not?

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by philsync

Supposing that a newly-elected future government decrees that all eccentric collecting types must only keep one radio from their collection, but that radio would have to be that person's only means of entertainment; Which would you keep if the choice were between an R707 and an RP38A?

For me it would be an RP38A: certainly not a Yacht Boy, as the couple I've heard, years ago now, seemed nasty boomy things, though they may not have been in the best of health. Given free choice from the collection here, I suppose it would be the 1937 Murphy A40C that stayed with me, or the Grundig Satellit 3400 Professional: or possibly, sacrilege or not, the Pure DRX-601EX for the sake of BBC7 and an interference-free World Service

Roberts sets now, unfortunately, bear more than a passing resemblance internally to the Ajax Diplomat and its like which issued from Hong Kong circa 1970. I suppose the market just wouldn't support anything better. 1977 seems to have marked the end of the fairly uncompromised British portable radio, with the R707 going out of production without an adequate replacement, and Hacker's Sovereign III and Hunter replaced by the Sovereign IV and Consort: if you've not heard either of those you haven't missed much

Paul

[howard]

Originally Posted by philsync

Which would you keep if the choice were between an R707 and an RP38A?

It would be the Hacker RP38A of course

Howard

[Heatercathodeshort]

Originally Posted by howard

Hello all,
Roberts don't make radios like they used to back in the 60s/70s, do they ?Howard

Hello Howard,
No I don't think they do but customers are far less critical these days and accept a much lower standard than my customers did 20-30 years ago. To be fair its largely a matter of price and the cost of quality manufacture. Your R707 if produced today would probably cost around £200 being hand built with pride. If customers were prepared to pay for quality the likes of Hacker would never have gone down the tubes. It was VERY hard to sell quality to customers when I had my business especially as the years passed. Roberts are a 'British cult item' loved by traditionalists and have managed to attract a younger generation with their new IMPORTED products. All the same, good luck to them and I hope they survive these tough trading times. Regards. JOHN.

[howard]

Hello John,

No, I dont think many would buy a new R707 nowadays for £200, even with DAB onboard. Mind you, Roberts flagship DAB radios in R200 style cases retail for £170 and one or two of their limited edition real leather cased Revival radios retail for well over £200 but obviously only in small numbers.

Roberts is the UKs only remaining radio manufacturer and I think all here hope that they continue to thrive, even if their traditional UK built radios are only made in relatively small numbers now.

Howard

[Paul_RK]

Hello all,

I'd have guessed at £400-£500 as the necessary going rate to sustain production today of something built the way the R707 was, even without DAB: certainly it doesn't look likely to happen. £130 currently buys the standard version of the Roberts R550 - MDF cabinet, miniature solid dielectric tuning capacitor, flimsy Far Eastern on/off switch, imported circuit with its active components on three ICs. I doubt another £70 on the asking price could remedy much of that About the only self-contained radio I think has been built to something like the old standards in the past 25 years or so is the Pure model I mentioned above, the first DAB set put on general sale, which retailed at £500 and didn't find many takers.

Paul

[mikelect]

OT closed