Trying to remember old radiogram.

[WaveyDipole]

I'm trying to remember what make and model of radiogram we had at home in the 1960's. This was already a 2nd hand item in the 1960's. It had a Garrard multi-speed turntable (played 78's, 33's and 45's). It was mono and had a valve radio/amp with long, medium and, if memory serves, 4 or 5 shortwave bands. The general appearance fitted in with some of the 1930's furniture that my parents had, which was a dark brown in colour. I seem to recall that at least some, if not all, of the valves had their anode connector on top.

There was a flap covering the top half which was hinged along the bottom and dropped down, being retained and held horizontally by a small chain on either side. I believe it was made by a UK manufacturer.

Are there any photographs of Radiograms anywhere? I've had a look on eBay, but this was older than most items I have seen on there and I have not seen anything similar yet. I would like to recall and identify what it was that we had. The unit was rarely used and still fully working the last time I saw it. Unfortunately it was scrapped by a family member....

[yestertech]

A longshot ,but with Anode top cap connectors and multiple SW bands , it could have been the HMV "bureau style" radiogram ?? ( model 581 )
Can't see it having had 45rpm, unless a t/table transplant was done at some point

An advert for one is here :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HMV-His-Ma...00556813036%26

Andy

[WaveyDipole]

Getting warm. It was a "bureau style" piece of furniture. The radio/amp was on the left and the record player in the cavity on the right. At the bottom left with a door opening to the left, was a compartment for storing records, etc. The one in the ad though appears to have a storage compartment on both sides. The bottom right contained the large speaker.

[G6Tanuki]

Philco perhaps? Top-cap-anodes suggests the use of American valves: even in the 1930s the UK/European preference was always for the top-cap to be the grid.

Though you say it played 33s and 45s and had a Garrard turntable. 45RPM records were a RCA invention in early-1949 but it took a while for the format to cross from the USA to the UK.

I wonder if perhaps the Garrard turntable was a retro-fit in place of an earlier, pre-WWII 78RPM-only one?

[WaveyDipole]

Had a look here but I cannot see anything remotely like it.
http://www.philcoradio.com/gallery/

Regarding the turntable, I'm not aware of it being retro-fitted, but I guess its possible. The radiogram was my grandad's, but he gave it to my mother and after she married she took it with her. I don't know how long he had it before that or where it came from. I always remember it being at home during the 60's and 70's. In fact that last time I saw it was probably in the 80's and I wish I had been consulted before it was scrapped as I would have kept it.

The family came over from Poland after or during WW2 and I can't imagine them being in a position to buy one, so it was either a gift, secondhand, or had been left in the house that my grandad lived in.

Either way, I spent quite a lot of time playing records, including 78's, long play (33's) and singles (45s) on it, so I know it could play all 3 formats. In my teens, I remember replacing the magnetic cartridge and the stylus and balancing the arm. I believe, but can't be 100% sure, that it had a Garrarrd logo on the head and possibly the plattern. I also think that arm was diecast metal (possibly aluminium) rather than plastic.

My mother always reckoned that the radio didn't work, but I remember being able to pick up all sorts of stations on it just by connecting a random piece of wire to the antenna socket. I also was nosey enough to remove the back cover and peek inside a couple of times, hence my recollection of the style of valves. I can't be sure whether they all had anodes at the top though, but several definitely had wires going to the top which fascinated me.

[WaveyDipole]

One other feature that is worth mentioning is that the turntable had a feature that allowed you to stack up several records on an arm. The records would drop onto the turntable and play one after the other until all they had all been released from the arm. I think the cartridge was ceramic rather than magnetic as stated previously. You had to flip the stylus if you wanted to play 78's and back again when you wanted to play 33's or 45's.

[Anthony Thomas]

Trying to remember?

I have a perfect memory, in fact I cannot remember a single thing that I have forgotten

Joking aside, Ferguson made radiograms that could fill that specification, WaveyDipole.

Tony

[WaveyDipole]

Had a look at some of the Fergusons I could find online, but nothing similar. I did come across these photographs though:

The bottom half is vaguely similar to the bottom half of this, but I think the door(s) were set at an angle to the speaker grille which was somewhat recessed:
http://ejay.com.au/cacItem/426/Philips-Radiogram

The radio was placed on the left and the sides were angled not square, a bit more like this, although the flap or lid was in one piece:
http://audiophilemusings.blogspot.co.uk/p/images.html

If I could take the top of the second one and add it it to the bottom of the first one, I would get something resembling the radiogram that we had. I can't remember whether there was a compartment both sides. I only remember one on the left. Maybe it just had a pannel on the right? Can't be sure.

[greenstar]

http://www.radiomuseum.org/
Have you searched here? Put a make in and you get a list, many with photos.
A major clue might be a three speed deck and top cap valves - anode or grid - may indicate a turntable swap has occurred. Do you remember the valves? Were they bigger octal valves with a bakelite base or miniature all glass? Were some red or grey?

[WaveyDipole]

Originally Posted by greenstar

http://www.radiomuseum.org/
Have you searched here? Put a make in and you get a list, many with photos.
A major clue might be a three speed deck and top cap valves - anode or grid - may indicate a turntable swap has occurred. Do you remember the valves? Were they bigger octal valves with a bakelite base or miniature all glass? Were some red or grey?

Some of the valves were of this type of design and were quite big:
http://www.r-type.org/exhib/aad0038.htm

They had quite a bit of that silvering sprayed on the inside, but I don't think there was anything sprayed on the outside. I don't think there were any red, just semi-translucent silver/grey on the inside and at leat some of them did have a bakelite base like the one in the image. Can't be sure if all of them did though.

I had a search for radiograms on Radiomuseum, but they don't seem to list very many?

[greenstar]

That is more like 1940's, or even late 30's. It might help you to sketch the thing and post here? Can you remember things like the back - ply or fibre. It's sounding a bit hopeless without more info. I had the same trouble identifying my gran's radio.