For the link to the Official "Mr Carlson's Lab Calendar," click the Show More tab just below the video's written description. For more video's, invention releases, projects to build, and more, go to Mr Carlson's Lab Patreon page. Click here: www.patreon.com/MrCarlsonsLab
@@ibanezleftyclub Ha! That was going to be my very comment! Yep, would have been nice to see the Vedolyzer, especially after all of the nice work he did on it!
Kind Sir Paul, you just give me tears of nostalgia. I'll tell you why. After I graduated from DeForest's Training, INC in July, 24, 1953; and after a short time with a Radio and TV Service company; I was hired by "RCA Service Inc". (A subsidiary of RCA Victor, Inc then). But 2 yrs later, RCA made us a part of RCA Victor. We were really honored. And a few RCA Radios came in like you showed, to get fixed. And believe it or not; it was the same Radio you taught (so incredibly) on this video. Now, I was with RCA for 33 yrs. And when I saw your video of "that Radio"; tears came out. Because I hadn't seen a radio like that for 60 yrs ago. For I'm 91 yrs old now. Thank you Paul, for doing this on this Radio, and all the others. Because it brings many joyful days; in my repairing and aligning, many RCA Radios and TV's. Yes, thank you kind Sir, and you don't know what you've done to me. I shall never forget it. Your teaching ability; is one of the best I ever seen. Keep it up dear man.
Your description of your experiments with pushing the amp dangerously into class A and analyzing the difference in distortion profiles sounds like the most interesting content imaginable for an audio dork like me. 🤓
"The Golden Throat" was a marketing trademark of RCA Victor in the late 1940's through the mid to late 1950's, and is a precursor to the "New Orthophonic" branding that began in 1955. RCA produced both "Golden Throat" and "New Orthophonic" concurrently, then the Golden Throat was dropped as the 1950's progressed. "New Orthophonic" was the first of RCA's product line of phonographs, tape recorders, and amplification systems in the dawn of "High Fidelity" or "Hi-Fi" products.
@@danielesbordone1871 unrestored value, between ten to about thirty-five; restored with great cabinet, about fifty to 125, depending on market, demand, condition, etc.
My Father had this exact radio back in the early 90's. He tried to "fix it" by "adjusting" it. It never worked other than the light bulb, and I'm not sure what happened to it. It was not anywhere near the condition of the one in the video though so it's not a great loss.
You are a great teacher. I studied radio and TV electronics at RCA Institutes 1955/56, you bring back lots of memories about old time radio. Thank you.
For what it's worth Paul: RCA Victor changed their company name; when transistors came about. And they dropped the word Victor. And they changed their Icons too; and made it like modern simple, icons with colors. Most of us employees did NOT like it. So we kept the original Victor pins. And I am 91 now and I love that pin. For what it's worth.
Just as addicted to this channel...as I was when 'American Pickers', (an American show about 2 guys touring the US, searching garage sales, for antiques), came on back about 10 years ago. Mr. Carlson's channel...has historic value!!! It is awesome to see these old radios. They're quaint. Anyone should be proud to have a working, 'Golden Throat', sitting in the living room. Kids today...would be puzzled...then fascinated with it.
There are many electronic resto channels but, I enjoy the professionalism of yours more than any others. In fact, of all the various resto channels, yours is the most professional. You also have a very soothing and enjoyable speaking voice.
I like that you don't edit out tasks like getting lightbulbs -- it makes the video much more enjoyable to watch because it feels like we are at the bench with you, as you like to say.
RB your comment prompted some reading (Valve wizard is great) and I just learned that filter caps are divided into reservoir caps and smoothing caps. So maybe a larger reservoir cap would mitigate?
Ah, the memories. I grew up with one of these radios. From age 3 to age 6, we lived in northeast Louisiana and could listen to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night. All the lights off, with my parents in bed listening, and the glow in the corner of the room, from the dial lights. Then we moved to northwest Louisiana, and that radio became mine, because there were no stations that my Dad wanted to listen to. I spent many an hour into the wee hours of the night searching for the most distance radio stations that I could find. WLS Chicago often came like it was local. Thanks for bringing back those memories.
Ok I've watched this video multiple times. Every time I learn more. This is a very very good video to learn a lot of very good information. I know a lot of people say, it's stuff everyone already knows. But it's not, I've learned so much watching this channel. Thank you.
Hello, I'm a fellow antique and vintage electronic restorer, I've been doing it since I was 13 and I'm 31 years old now, and I'm actually self taught through various electronics forums. Anyways whenever I've replaced the old paper caps in my radios I've never really observed the outside foil direction on them and I've never had any problems with any of my radios breaking into oscillation or anything they worked just fine after I replaced the old paper caps, of course it could of been that I just got lucky and the outside foil happened to be in the direction I installed the new caps in every time. The oldest radio I ever worked on was a 1931 Westinghouse WR10 tombstone radio that before I got it had sat in an old abandoned farmhouse that the roof had collapsed on it 20 years ago and the cabinet was shot on it but the guts were still good and all I did to it was replace the coupling (paper) caps in the set and it works perfectly I never had to replace the filter cap in it as it was of the dry variety and it was still doing it's job after all these years, not a single bit of hum in the set, and it's a great DXer at night. I also got it a "new" cabinet and the set looks and works as good as new. I love your videos. By the way, that radio is referred to as the "Bullhorn" radio because the speaker grille resembles a police bullhorn from that time period.
The scope of practical and technical details relevant to the restoration in this video is top-notch! One of Mr. Carlson's Greatest Hits, in my opinion...make that one of CZcams's greatest.
Your explanation of the bias effects of leaking capacitors reminds me of something I ran into recently: On a 16-channel Behringer mixer, some channels didn't work at all on some days, and were fine on other days, and different channels were bad on different days. What I discovered was that they had used no-clean solder flux on the PCB, and when the air was damp, the flux residue absorbed enough moisture to drive some of the channels out of balance far enough to stop them working at all.
Don't Go!! I love that humor since 1962. And those Labs are one of the best dogs, second to Samoyed's, In my humble opinion. I am biased. Experienced two dozen Samoyed's in my youth. Awesome Breed. Labs are also awesome dogs. Weimaraners are also a great breed. Of course we can't say, "Mr. Carlson's Whine", now can we. ;-) I do like "Mr. Carlson's Lab" much better. Thank You, ExCebit!!
I don't know why but I've only just got to see this one. I'm 67 and used to work on this type of receiver, although I'm in the UK, so I suppose we must have called them the All British Five! If I remember rightly, most of our transformerless sets also used a large and very hot mains dropper resistor, due to our mains voltage being at 240 volts. Thank you so much for all your hard work Paul, its really appreciated. Now, you've been making great videos for a long time now and I'm sure there must be one or two out takes floating around in the Carlson hard drive, so how about treating us to a few of your scenes that didn't go quite to plan! Keep safe, all the best from Yorkshire, England.
Wow! I grew up with one of those! When I was younger, I enjoyed listening to distant stations after dark. When I got older, I came to know that radio intimately. I am now in a 40+ years professional career in electronics. Thanks for the wonderful memories!
I watched every minute of your restoration and you nailed it. The 1949 RCA 9-X-571 was possibly one of the best AA5 radios ever produced. The bass that this radio is capable of reproducing is crazy. It's the Bose radio of 1949. Big sound from a small package. I would like to point out that the 50L6 output tube is notorious for developing grid leakage after full warm up. The DC voltage on the control grid starts to rise and the tube conducts harder causing the tube to run hotter and go into thermal runaway. This causes distortion and taxes the DC power supply. The control grid voltage should always be checked after at lest 5 to 10 minutes after warmup to verify it remains near zero volts DC. The only other issue I have is with your alignment procedure. When adjusting L3, the 600 kHz oscillator coil, you must rock the tuning gang and alternately adjust the L3 oscillator coil to find the most sensitive point then repeat the 1620 kHz trimmer adjustment, the 1400 trimmer adjustment going back to the L3 600 kHz until no further improvement can be made. Unless you have an AM transmitter, there isn't much program material on the AM band that can show off the performance of this radio. The three step tone control cuts the high frequencies at one end, cuts the low frequencies at the other end and is full ranged in the center. The volume control is actually a dual tapped loudness control that boosts low frequencies at lower control settings. The phono input requires a full one volt signal to dive the amplifier to full output. I can't post the original sales info that I have but this radio cost $39.95 in 1949. That equates to $437.08 today.
It’s unique, not bizarre. I am a long time well experienced ET. I do enjoy listening to your explanations. You have a good grasp of knowledge and a pleasant voice. One can hear the confidence in your tone. It’s all in the details.
That same RCA radio has been in my home since the '50s. I haven't listened to it in decades, but this video has provoked me to dig it out and fire it up. Thank you Mr. C !
Mr Carlson's Lab; "The Golden Throat" label, and the opportunity to hear the sound quality that RCA was branding this radio as, is why I kept watching this particular restore. I get to the end and you flew through the stations with hardly a pause to hear the quality. A couple of times I caught good voice quality but I wanted to hear music through it. Otherwise, that is one awesome radio restore.
I've become addicted. This is really enjoyable. I watch a 2x speed because you speak so clearly it is easy to follow and I can fit more in on my time off.
Hi "my teacher" ... :) You are one of the very few people I know who "invest" so much time in explaining things exhaustively, sometimes even repeating you, but always with an impeccable calm and serenity. Congratulations, as always. Now let me tell you: personally I would not have painted that needle holder panel in black, and, always personally, I would have liked to see the radio turned on, during the final listening test, with much less light, so as to be able to admire the illuminated frequency scale. Having said that, thanks again for your priceless video.
Yay! A new Mr Carlson video! On the topic of the "Golden Throat", Techmoan covered that in a recent video about the LP format war, titled "How a forgotten 1949 Format War shaped the future of records"
Just saw that Techmoan video a few days ago. Yeah, I remember the Golden Throat radios. My grandparents had one in the kitchen, and would listen to WOR in NYC every morning.
Had to rejoin Patreon again, now that we are locked down, I can watch all your extra videos at my leisure, and man do I have leisure time! Love that old radio you are right, it looks just like the vents in mom's ceiling where the air conditioner cools her now vacant home (She is in the nursing home now that she has turned 94 and needs aid walking.
Wow! I had the exact same one as a kid. I inherited it from my parents bedroom and used to have it tuned to a top 40 radio station while using the top of it as a ride cymbal when I practiced drumming. All I can say is it was very durable and sounded good. Never had to change a tube and it was still playing when I lost track of it. Maybe it was once mine.
I have 9X561, which is a slightly less pretty version of this radio. I've been doing restorations for a while, but Mr. Carlson always has some great tips to make the process easier.
Superb picture and sound quality you can clearly see the texture in the side panel of your Tektronix scope in the intro and when the back came off the radio I felt like I could put my hand in the screen and pull a valve out. Best Tech and channel on CZcams .
Beautiful old radio. Thanks to your videos I’ve restored a number of AA5 radios and one 1940 RCA console K80 chassis. That one had old crumbling rubber insulated wire that had to be all replaced along with all the tubes including the magic eye. Thanks to your videos I dove in and rewired, re-capped and changed about every resistor in the radio. It turned out great and had great range on the broadcast band reception. I was pulling in NYC stations at 5:00PM in mid October 350 miles away, I can’t do that on any other radio I own. My customer was very happy with the restoration. I usually work on old tube guitar amps and audio amps. I wanted to try my hand at radio work and you definitely helped me have the confidence to do it. Even rebuilt some IF cans with silver mica disease with perfect results. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I am a Patreon supporter and always look forward to new projects.
LOVE that radio ! Here in the uk I never see that sort of thing . Our radios had so little style . Well made but mostly just a square wooden box with a dial and speaker fret . The designers had so little imagination . I have been collecting and restoring tube radios nearly all my life but I still learn from your superb videos . Well done . I enjoy all of them . Best wishes from Thomas in UK
i actually think your videos so excellent that someone with no electronic training could troubleshoot an audio circuit just from watching your videos. especially tube circuits. with minimal equipment. maybe you could explain some of the safety features of lab equipment. i went to hamilton tech in davenport iowa founded by a former dj who in those days had to be an engineer to get a license to broadcast. my best teacher like you was a whiz at communications repair. back in those days there was no internet- diagrams were hard to locate. he could back engineer circuits just like you. he could always reduce something to a level you could understand and understanding is gold. he overheard me explaining something to another student and remarked i obviously understood the principle or i couldn't have reduced it further. that made me proud coming from him. he was a master of his craft and a teacher anyone could understand. kind of a rare thing. his name was dennis bridgeman and you are a teacher on his level and as rare as hens teeth. i remember the class books putting me to sleep on many a night. i struggled with the math until i allied myself with a student who had just graduated from a 4 year college with a math degree. then the lights came on. what you do is priceless. you don't lecture you show. in detail. your lab work is better than anything i ever had in school. your parallel capacitance resistance testers are a new level of troubleshooting accuracy. i hope you live a long long time and keep educating us. it is truly appreciated
I know very little about electronics …… but I enjoy listening to your knowledge and mechanics of radio. You make following along interesting. Thank Mr. Carlson.
Dear Mr Carlson, my deepest respect. Your are an amazing teacher and communicator. Each of your videos is a magnificent class, I have learned more form your channel than from my electronics classes at the University. I just bought one of this RCA radios, after seeing this I have decided to take the risk and restore it by myself.
@@MrCarlsonsLab Dear Mr Carlson, my pleasure, thanks for taking the time to answer. I am not kidding, I studied electronics engineering and industrial design, I have been a University professor for 19 years. It is not very often that you meet people that not only can teach what you find in books, but can throw away of the expertise of experience in their field with clarity in such a generous way.
You really, really love these old wonders. That's what i like the most about your videos. I'm not a technician.... at all..... but i know juuuust enough about electronics to find it fascinating.
Most excellent! Your knowledge goes way past what you present on your channel! You are, by all good measure, a teacher! Most young Electronic Techs don't have a clue about Vacuum tube technology and especially how to tune a receiver. The tuning of a modern receiver may be similar, the use of ICs simplify the whole process of alignment. Great video. I will look forward to your next post! Any more guitar tube amp repair/restorations in the works? I am a retired Tech who has no extra money to become a patron, would like to, but for now I will have to be content to watch these great projects here on CZcams. You attention to detail and your confidence and soft spoken voice are wonderful and for all the younger techs who are going back to learn about Vacuum Tubes, this is one of The Best channels to watch! Thanxz
Got to get and ol radio again. Memorylane, awsome. The smell of the old radios was somthing , 8 years old in the dark, radio on the lap listening thru all channels,tweaking noises, magic connecting to the world/universe. Time flies. Thanks for the great content,all level quality.
What a great way you explain the problem with capacitor leakage and the effect it has on the biasing of the tubes (we call them valves) in amplifier circuits. I have been trying to explain that effect for years and you have done a much better job than I have. Great video. I was surprised how close the alignment was after changing out all the old waxed-paper capacitors.
Love that capacitor knowledge! I have a Sears Silvertone Twin Reverb tube guitar amp, packed with four 6L6 power output tubes. Left it with my family, hasn’t been plugged in for decades. Now I know not to plug it in and fire it up without first following your sound advice to preemptively replace the caps. I have since learned that this model is a highly cherished classic among musicians. Thanks! 👍🎶
Mr Carlson,...I learned so much here! the biggest take away is that i need more tools n knowledge! But,hey half of this i found,right here in Mr Carlsons lab! Thanx friend,from the Netherlands! electro RULES!
Found the first Newspaper ads for this radio in Dec. 1945. They really did quite the campaign for these as the first with FM radio. This sold for $95.00 in 1946.
I've been watching some of your previous vids and I must say I am impressed; you are truly the "Golden King" of vintage electronic restoration Mr Carlson! That radio looks and sounds like new. :)
I just finished working a 1955 RCA which, being newer, uses miniature tubes. It looks like they used a similar circuit in that one. It aligns exactly the same way too. That particular circuit design was used a lot of chassis. That one also worked really well when I got done with it. This was very informative and helpful, thanks.
I have restored an RCA console radio/record player of that same design. It has a transformer and push-pull audio output. Otherwise, the same circuit. Thank you Mr. C
Thanks for another very enjoyable video. And although I must confess to only partially understand the technical aspects of Your videos, I always find that Your consistently calm and clear explanations combined with the excellent presentation means that I never feel "overwhelmed and lost". Even at times when I feel that I have "lost the thread" in some particular technical explanation. And I think that this is one of the unique qualities of Your videos that makes me like them so much. So thanks again for all Your great work. Best regards. [Apologies for the convoluted language, English isn't my mother tongue]
I own one of these radios myself, but haven’t gotten around to restoring it yet. Even so, it’s one of my favorites in my collection because it’s just so unusual and fantastic-looking. I thought this was just going to be another All American Five restoration (which is always fun on its own), but you made this video so much more. Your insights into the reasons for “that warm-tube sound” were especially appreciated. Happy Thanksgiving to you and all my fellow MCL acolytes!
"Driving it harder into class A" ... well, it already is class A. Driving it harder makes it go into compression, distorting the waveform and rolling off the high freqs.
Thank you for explaining how a leaky capacitor can overdrive the output. That nice 'warm', class A sound goes hand in hand with that nice 'warm' plate that's burning up inside the output tube! 👍 Now we know why the output transformer will open up. Gorgeous radio, Excellent video. Well done!
Hmm, That is a pretty unique looking radio! you are right, it does look like a ceiling vent of an air conditioning unit. Inside its just dust, all labels looks pristine. Cabinet still looks good too! This is going to be a very interesting restoration! Thanks for posting this one!!!
I have that exact model RCA radio, it was nicknamed the "Bullhorn" because of the front conical elements. I restored this one about 10 years ago, great sound to it!
This is so interesting. I am completely ignorant of electronics, but despite that, I was completely intrigued. I love old radios and their designs and was captivated by my family's beautiful Capehart's record player/radio cabinet. Thank you.
Such a beautiful radio! The condition it was in when you found it is testament to how well built it was and how well cared for it was. I really hope digital never fully kills off radio because these machines are too fascinating to become useless! Great video!
Great explanation of the "warm sound" due to capacitor leakage. Audiophiles get so mad that they are not taken seriously by audio engineers, but here is an explanation that takes their "warm sound" claims seriously AND explains the reason in engineering terms!
Mr. Carlson, sorry but I haven't been watching your videos that much but when I do I'm in it for the long run. I have to look for that video of the radio that you have on your calendar for May, that's a beauty.
I know all about speaker cones attracting screwdrivers. Ask me how I know. Good advice. Always amazed at the knowledge you possess. As much as I like electronics, and as much as I miss working as a residential and commercial electrician, at my age, there is no way I could remember all the stuff you have crammed into that brain. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I could watch this stuff for hours. Sometimes, I do, actually.
What a neat looking little radio! So glad to see you use your capacitor leakage tester and foil end tester as well! Always happy to see a new video with your in depth analysis! Made my day and week!😊👍🏻
I remember this radio well. This is much cleaner than the nearly identical radio I had -- in 1970. Mine was a very slightly different model - it looked the same except that the cabinet was all black - none of that woodtone on the front - and it didn't have the tone control switch. It did have the phono input, but this was selected by a slide switch on the back of the chassis, and the power switch was integrated with the volume control, so there was just one knob on the left side. I believe it had felt washers under the knobs, so yours have probably been lost over time. This radio was paired with the 45 RPM record changer that RCA was famous for in the late 1940s and 1950s.
The tone of the Golden Throat was a marketing term used by the RCA / Victor at the time to represent the quality of the sound produced by their devices. It was pretty well just a marketing term and really had no meaning in any other terms. Thanks for another great restoration.
Good point, Paul! Don't fire them up until you've replaced the waxies! It's funny, I saw a listing the other day on EBay for an old Heathkit SG-8 Signal Generator, and the seller's comment was something like "my expertise doesn't allow for me to test it..." & "it powers up". Yes, in the picture, the bulb was illuminated and all I could say to myself was, "YIKES!
For the link to the Official "Mr Carlson's Lab Calendar," click the Show More tab just below the video's written description.
For more video's, invention releases, projects to build, and more, go to Mr Carlson's Lab Patreon page. Click here: www.patreon.com/MrCarlsonsLab
Mr Carlson's Lab I’m a little sad not to see the Supreme Vedolyzer in the calendar :(
@@ibanezleftyclub It will appear in next year's calendar, the wood case still needs refinishing. I want to include it when its completely assembled.
Is a US based source of the calendar available?
Hey mr carlson... Im vondering if you ever seen a radiometer multymeter type MM1c. Its a danish multymeter tube based
@@ibanezleftyclub Ha! That was going to be my very comment! Yep, would have been nice to see the Vedolyzer, especially after all of the nice work he did on it!
Kind Sir Paul, you just give me tears of nostalgia. I'll tell you why. After I graduated from DeForest's Training, INC in July, 24, 1953; and after a short time with a Radio and TV Service company; I was hired by "RCA Service Inc". (A subsidiary of RCA Victor, Inc then). But 2 yrs later, RCA made us a part of RCA Victor. We were really honored.
And a few RCA Radios came in like you showed, to get fixed. And believe it or not; it was the same Radio you taught (so incredibly) on this video. Now, I was with RCA for 33 yrs. And when I saw your video of "that Radio"; tears came out. Because I hadn't seen a radio like that for 60 yrs ago. For I'm 91 yrs old now.
Thank you Paul, for doing this on this Radio, and all the others. Because it brings many joyful days; in my repairing and aligning, many RCA Radios and TV's. Yes, thank you kind Sir, and you don't know what you've done to me. I shall never forget it. Your teaching ability; is one of the best I ever seen. Keep it up dear man.
Your description of your experiments with pushing the amp dangerously into class A and analyzing the difference in distortion profiles sounds like the most interesting content imaginable for an audio dork like me. 🤓
"The Golden Throat" was a marketing trademark of RCA Victor in the late 1940's through the mid to late 1950's, and is a precursor to the "New Orthophonic" branding that began in 1955.
RCA produced both "Golden Throat" and "New Orthophonic" concurrently, then the Golden Throat was dropped as the 1950's progressed. "New Orthophonic" was the first of RCA's product line of phonographs, tape recorders, and amplification systems in the dawn of "High Fidelity" or "Hi-Fi" products.
How much are one of these models worth ?
@@danielesbordone1871 unrestored value, between ten to about thirty-five; restored with great cabinet, about fifty to 125, depending on market, demand, condition, etc.
°
@@seanbryant2848 , Dollars, US, about 2020.
My Father had this exact radio back in the early 90's. He tried to "fix it" by "adjusting" it. It never worked other than the light bulb, and I'm not sure what happened to it. It was not anywhere near the condition of the one in the video though so it's not a great loss.
When I woke up this morning I had a feeling it was going to be a wonderful day. I was right, thanks!
i love waking up like that !!!!
@@goofyahhuncleproductions42069 never woken up like that , never will
You have the most Canadian name
So much quality in this channel... Thank You !
Thanks for your kind comment Victor!
His free channel is better than his Patreon channel. I subbed to it for a while, but didn't get much out of it.
Mr Carlson yor RCA radio Receiver cabinet is in good shape ti looks like . New I like color dark brown and a good shine it is cool
You are a great teacher. I studied radio and TV electronics at RCA Institutes 1955/56, you bring back lots of memories
about old time radio. Thank you.
Glad to share Perry!
I used this video as a reference tool as I restored mine.
Class of 1962 !
For what it's worth Paul: RCA Victor changed their company name; when transistors came about. And they dropped the word Victor. And they changed their Icons too; and made it like modern simple, icons with colors. Most of us employees did NOT like it. So we kept the original Victor pins. And I am 91 now and I love that pin. For what it's worth.
I've never seen a chassis in such great condition. Zero rust or corrosion, a complete label, it's truly a jem.
My God! Did you get that out of a time capsule? It looks practically new! That's amazing!
Yes!!! It does look brand new. As if it has been stored in a box for all these years. What s blast from the past!
Mine is a time machine it only receives broadcasts from Its timeframe. It really isa time machine
In the old 50's Sci Fi movie Flight to Mars this radio is on the General's desk. A perfect example of space age design.
The "Mr. Rogers" of electronics. Your voice is calming and smooth as silk.
compression works wonders
@@plcc07777 Not as much as a decent mic
@@plcc07777 Or just talk extremely slow
My settings were stuck on 0.75 speed from a video I was watching yesterday XD I'm ded
ASMR. Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. (Look it up. Hundreds of videos on that basis. It actually works).
Amazingly clean set. Refreshing to hear Mr Carlson pronounce Solder as Solder, instead of "Sodder" as so many Americans do.
Just as addicted to this channel...as I was when 'American Pickers', (an American show about 2 guys touring the US, searching garage sales, for antiques), came on back about 10 years ago. Mr. Carlson's channel...has historic value!!! It is awesome to see these old radios. They're quaint. Anyone should be proud to have a working, 'Golden Throat', sitting in the living room. Kids today...would be puzzled...then fascinated with it.
There are many electronic resto channels but, I enjoy the professionalism of yours more than any others. In fact, of all the various resto channels, yours is the most professional. You also have a very soothing and enjoyable speaking voice.
I like that you don't edit out tasks like getting lightbulbs -- it makes the video much more enjoyable to watch because it feels like we are at the bench with you, as you like to say.
Best explanation I’ve ever heard of capacitor breakdown results. “My amp never sounded better, just before it burned up”.
lol. Yes, that has also been my experience with tube guitar amps. lol
My Gawd did Paul drop the knowledge here !
ahh, so redplating is for recording but not for practice or live gigs
@@not_your_raccoon - lol. As long as the red-plating doesn't cause a lot of ripple from the power supply.
RB your comment prompted some reading (Valve wizard is great) and I just learned that filter caps are divided into reservoir caps and smoothing caps. So maybe a larger reservoir cap would mitigate?
Ah, the memories. I grew up with one of these radios. From age 3 to age 6, we lived in northeast Louisiana and could listen to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night. All the lights off, with my parents in bed listening, and the glow in the corner of the room, from the dial lights. Then we moved to northwest Louisiana, and that radio became mine, because there were no stations that my Dad wanted to listen to. I spent many an hour into the wee hours of the night searching for the most distance radio stations that I could find. WLS Chicago often came like it was local.
Thanks for bringing back those memories.
Ok I've watched this video multiple times. Every time I learn more. This is a very very good video to learn a lot of very good information. I know a lot of people say, it's stuff everyone already knows. But it's not, I've learned so much watching this channel.
Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
That radio is in immaculate shape! Whoever owned it before you took great care of it!
Mr. Carlson is probably the only person I know who actually pronounces the "L" in solder. Gotta respect his expertise, though. He is the master!
Adamant IT British guy does too...so correct.
Hello, I'm a fellow antique and vintage electronic restorer, I've been doing it since I was 13 and I'm 31 years old now, and I'm actually self taught through various electronics forums.
Anyways whenever I've replaced the old paper caps in my radios I've never really observed the outside foil direction on them and I've never had any problems with any of my radios breaking into oscillation or anything they worked just fine after I replaced the old paper caps, of course it could of been that I just got lucky and the outside foil happened to be in the direction I installed the new caps in every time.
The oldest radio I ever worked on was a 1931 Westinghouse WR10 tombstone radio that before I got it had sat in an old abandoned farmhouse that the roof had collapsed on it 20 years ago and the cabinet was shot on it but the guts were still good and all I did to it was replace the coupling (paper) caps in the set and it works perfectly I never had to replace the filter cap in it as it was of the dry variety and it was still doing it's job after all these years, not a single bit of hum in the set, and it's a great DXer at night.
I also got it a "new" cabinet and the set looks and works as good as new.
I love your videos.
By the way, that radio is referred to as the "Bullhorn" radio because the speaker grille resembles a police bullhorn from that time period.
The scope of practical and technical details relevant to the restoration in this video is top-notch! One of Mr. Carlson's Greatest Hits, in my opinion...make that one of CZcams's greatest.
Your explanation of the bias effects of leaking capacitors reminds me of something I ran into recently: On a 16-channel Behringer mixer, some channels didn't work at all on some days, and were fine on other days, and different channels were bad on different days. What I discovered was that they had used no-clean solder flux on the PCB, and when the air was damp, the flux residue absorbed enough moisture to drive some of the channels out of balance far enough to stop them working at all.
Now that is interesting. I've had suspicions about humidity and barometric pressure affecting the sound in systems.
You should have a Labrador dog as a pet... then you could call it "Mr. Carlson's Lab"
Okay, I'll see myself out ^^
Far too many dogs in the world already...
Don't Go!! I love that humor since 1962. And those Labs are one of the best dogs, second to Samoyed's, In my humble opinion. I am biased. Experienced two dozen Samoyed's in my youth. Awesome Breed. Labs are also awesome dogs.
Weimaraners are also a great breed. Of course we can't say, "Mr. Carlson's Whine", now can we. ;-) I do like "Mr. Carlson's Lab" much better. Thank You, ExCebit!!
Booooooo
IIRC he has a cat already.
I totally was more than willing to give you your well deserved "100th Like" (Yay!!),
for this killer 'Dad Joke'!
I don't know why but I've only just got to see this one. I'm 67 and used to work on this type of receiver, although I'm in the UK, so I suppose we must have called them the All British Five! If I remember rightly, most of our transformerless sets also used a large and very hot mains dropper resistor, due to our mains voltage being at 240 volts. Thank you so much for all your hard work Paul, its really appreciated. Now, you've been making great videos for a long time now and I'm sure there must be one or two out takes floating around in the Carlson hard drive, so how about treating us to a few of your scenes that didn't go quite to plan! Keep safe, all the best from Yorkshire, England.
What an attractive set. Definitely a well deserved restoration.
Leftover pizza I forgot to refrigerate and a brand spanking new video by Mr. Carlsen. The perfect bachelor's lunch.
Who would like to see Mr Carlson repair an old RCA Theremin going into all the unique ways it was developed?
Gotta love the sheer density of oscilloscopes, wave form generators and power supplies in that room! Nerd heaven!
I saw the thumbnail and went bonkers. My grandfather had one of these that stayed in the workshop. I never knew they looked so good restored.
If you want to become a quality electronics engineer or technician, this channel is essential for your education.
Wow! I grew up with one of those! When I was younger, I enjoyed listening to distant stations after dark. When I got older, I came to know that radio intimately. I am now in a 40+ years professional career in electronics. Thanks for the wonderful memories!
You're very welcome Stephen!
I watched every minute of your restoration and you nailed it. The 1949 RCA 9-X-571 was possibly one of the best AA5 radios ever produced. The bass that this radio is capable of reproducing is crazy. It's the Bose radio of 1949. Big sound from a small package. I would like to point out that the 50L6 output tube is notorious for developing grid leakage after full warm up. The DC voltage on the control grid starts to rise and the tube conducts harder causing the tube to run hotter and go into thermal runaway. This causes distortion and taxes the DC power supply. The control grid voltage should always be checked after at lest 5 to 10 minutes after warmup to verify it remains near zero volts DC. The only other issue I have is with your alignment procedure. When adjusting L3, the 600 kHz oscillator coil, you must rock the tuning gang and alternately adjust the L3 oscillator coil to find the most sensitive point then repeat the 1620 kHz trimmer adjustment, the 1400 trimmer adjustment going back to the L3 600 kHz until no further improvement can be made. Unless you have an AM transmitter, there isn't much program material on the AM band that can show off the performance of this radio. The three step tone control cuts the high frequencies at one end, cuts the low frequencies at the other end and is full ranged in the center. The volume control is actually a dual tapped loudness control that boosts low frequencies at lower control settings. The phono input requires a full one volt signal to dive the amplifier to full output. I can't post the original sales info that I have but this radio cost $39.95 in 1949. That equates to $437.08 today.
It’s unique, not bizarre. I am a long time well experienced ET. I do enjoy listening to your explanations. You have a good grasp of knowledge and a pleasant voice. One can hear the confidence in your tone. It’s all in the details.
I always enjoy your videos. A lot of stuff you cover I learned years ago. I'll be 70 in January. But it doesn't hurt to refresh my memory!
Pre- Happy Birthday John!
That same RCA radio has been in my home since the '50s. I haven't listened to it in decades, but this video has provoked me to dig it out and fire it up. Thank you Mr. C !
Mr Carlson's Lab; "The Golden Throat" label, and the opportunity to hear the sound quality that RCA was branding this radio as, is why I kept watching this particular restore. I get to the end and you flew through the stations with hardly a pause to hear the quality. A couple of times I caught good voice quality but I wanted to hear music through it. Otherwise, that is one awesome radio restore.
He is sweeping through the channels like that to avoid copyright strikes.
I've become addicted. This is really enjoyable. I watch a 2x speed because you speak so clearly it is easy to follow and I can fit more in on my time off.
Man you are so smart and such a great communicator/ teacher. I’m really kinda in awe of you sir.
Thanks for your kind comment Doug!
Hi "my teacher" ... :)
You are one of the very few people I know who "invest" so much time in explaining things exhaustively, sometimes even repeating you, but always with an impeccable calm and serenity. Congratulations, as always.
Now let me tell you: personally I would not have painted that needle holder panel in black, and, always personally, I would have liked to see the radio turned on, during the final listening test, with much less light, so as to be able to admire the illuminated frequency scale.
Having said that, thanks again for your priceless video.
Thanks for your input Oscar.
Yay! A new Mr Carlson video!
On the topic of the "Golden Throat", Techmoan covered that in a recent video about the LP format war, titled "How a forgotten 1949 Format War shaped the future of records"
Just saw that Techmoan video a few days ago. Yeah, I remember the Golden Throat radios. My grandparents had one in the kitchen, and would listen to WOR in NYC every morning.
Had to rejoin Patreon again, now that we are locked down, I can watch all your extra videos at my leisure, and man do I have leisure time! Love that old radio you are right, it looks just like the vents in mom's ceiling where the air conditioner cools her now vacant home (She is in the nursing home now that she has turned 94 and needs aid walking.
Welcome back Jerry!
Wow! I had the exact same one as a kid. I inherited it from my parents bedroom and used to have it tuned to a top 40 radio station while using the top of it as a ride cymbal when I practiced drumming. All I can say is it was very durable and sounded good. Never had to change a tube and it was still playing when I lost track of it. Maybe it was once mine.
I have 9X561, which is a slightly less pretty version of this radio. I've been doing restorations for a while, but Mr. Carlson always has some great tips to make the process easier.
Superb picture and sound quality you can clearly see the texture in the side panel of your Tektronix scope in the intro and when the back came off the radio I felt like I could put my hand in the screen and pull a valve out. Best Tech and channel on CZcams .
You do not see this kind of quality anymore these days, so much attention to detail went into this radio and it shows!
Beautiful old radio. Thanks to your videos I’ve restored a number of AA5 radios and one 1940 RCA console K80 chassis. That one had old crumbling rubber insulated wire that had to be all replaced along with all the tubes including the magic eye. Thanks to your videos I dove in and rewired, re-capped and changed about every resistor in the radio. It turned out great and had great range on the broadcast band reception. I was pulling in NYC stations at 5:00PM in mid October 350 miles away, I can’t do that on any other radio I own. My customer was very happy with the restoration. I usually work on old tube guitar amps and audio amps. I wanted to try my hand at radio work and you definitely helped me have the confidence to do it. Even rebuilt some IF cans with silver mica disease with perfect results. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I am a Patreon supporter and always look forward to new projects.
LOVE that radio ! Here in the uk I never see that sort of thing . Our radios had so little style . Well made but mostly just a square wooden box with a dial and speaker fret . The designers had so little imagination . I have been collecting and restoring tube radios nearly all my life but I still learn from your superb videos . Well done . I enjoy all of them . Best wishes from Thomas in UK
i actually think your videos so excellent that someone with no electronic training could troubleshoot an audio circuit just from watching your videos. especially tube circuits. with minimal equipment. maybe you could explain some of the safety features of lab equipment. i went to hamilton tech in davenport iowa founded by a former dj who in those days had to be an engineer to get a license to broadcast. my best teacher like you was a whiz at communications repair. back in those days there was no internet- diagrams were hard to locate. he could back engineer circuits just like you. he could always reduce something to a level you could understand and understanding is gold. he overheard me explaining something to another student and remarked i obviously understood the principle or i couldn't have reduced it further. that made me proud coming from him. he was a master of his craft and a teacher anyone could understand. kind of a rare thing. his name was dennis bridgeman and you are a teacher on his level and as rare as hens teeth. i remember the class books putting me to sleep on many a night. i struggled with the math until i allied myself with a student who had just graduated from a 4 year college with a math degree. then the lights came on. what you do is priceless. you don't lecture you show. in detail. your lab work is better than anything i ever had in school. your parallel capacitance resistance testers are a new level of troubleshooting accuracy. i hope you live a long long time and keep educating us. it is truly appreciated
I know very little about electronics …… but I enjoy listening to your knowledge and mechanics of radio. You make following along interesting. Thank Mr. Carlson.
You're very welcome Robert!
Dear Mr Carlson, my deepest respect. Your are an amazing teacher and communicator. Each of your videos is a magnificent class, I have learned more form your channel than from my electronics classes at the University. I just bought one of this RCA radios, after seeing this I have decided to take the risk and restore it by myself.
Thank You for your kind comment!
@@MrCarlsonsLab Dear Mr Carlson, my pleasure, thanks for taking the time to answer. I am not kidding, I studied electronics engineering and industrial design, I have been a University professor for 19 years. It is not very often that you meet people that not only can teach what you find in books, but can throw away of the expertise of experience in their field with clarity in such a generous way.
Looks like a hot air vent. Must be for listening to talk radio. Great restoration video as usual Mr Carlson.
funny!
You really, really love these old wonders. That's what i like the most about your videos. I'm not a technician.... at all..... but i know juuuust enough about electronics to find it fascinating.
Thanks 👍
Most excellent! Your knowledge goes way past what you present on your channel! You are, by all good measure, a teacher! Most young Electronic Techs don't have a clue about Vacuum tube technology and especially how to tune a receiver. The tuning of a modern receiver may be similar, the use of ICs simplify the whole process of alignment. Great video. I will look forward to your next post! Any more guitar tube amp repair/restorations in the works? I am a retired Tech who has no extra money to become a patron, would like to, but for now I will have to be content to watch these great projects here on CZcams. You attention to detail and your confidence and soft spoken voice are wonderful and for all the younger techs who are going back to learn about Vacuum Tubes, this is one of The Best channels to watch! Thanxz
Got to get and ol radio again. Memorylane, awsome. The smell of the old radios was somthing , 8 years old in the dark, radio on the lap listening thru all channels,tweaking noises, magic connecting to the world/universe. Time flies. Thanks for the great content,all level quality.
You find some of the best looking old school radios. The thing is gorgeous. Thanks for sharing...Vic
What a great way you explain the problem with capacitor leakage and the effect it has on the biasing of the tubes (we call them valves) in amplifier circuits. I have been trying to explain that effect for years and you have done a much better job than I have. Great video. I was surprised how close the alignment was after changing out all the old waxed-paper capacitors.
Thanks Chris!
I was totally glued to the screen and learned so much. Thanks so much! PS I like the dial background in black. Looks smart. Happy 2020 all.
Love that capacitor knowledge! I have a Sears Silvertone Twin Reverb tube guitar amp, packed with four 6L6 power output tubes. Left it with my family, hasn’t been plugged in for decades. Now I know not to plug it in and fire it up without first following your sound advice to preemptively replace the caps. I have since learned that this model is a highly cherished classic among musicians. Thanks! 👍🎶
Mr Carlson,...I learned so much here!
the biggest take away is that i need more tools n knowledge!
But,hey half of this i found,right here in Mr Carlsons lab!
Thanx friend,from the Netherlands! electro RULES!
I usually don't sit for 1:33 video but this one was captivating. Thank you sir.
A fine restoration. The black dial background is much much better and compliments the design perfectly.
Excellent Master Class. Takes me back to the 1960’s with my dad teaching me about TV and Radio electronics. Thank you!
I like the way you're editing the video to work with the commercial, brilliant
Very nice work in restoring the chassis finish. The loop antennae in these type radios were simply great.
Found the first Newspaper ads for this radio in Dec. 1945. They really did quite the campaign for these as the first with FM radio. This sold for $95.00 in 1946.
I've been watching some of your previous vids and I must say I am impressed; you are truly the "Golden King" of vintage electronic restoration Mr Carlson! That radio looks and sounds like new. :)
I just finished working a 1955 RCA which, being newer, uses miniature tubes. It looks like they used a similar circuit in that one. It aligns exactly the same way too. That particular circuit design was used a lot of chassis. That one also worked really well when I got done with it. This was very informative and helpful, thanks.
I have restored an RCA console radio/record player of that same design. It has a transformer and push-pull audio output. Otherwise, the same circuit. Thank you Mr. C
You're very welcome!
Thanks for another very enjoyable video.
And although I must confess to only partially understand the technical aspects of Your videos, I always find that Your consistently calm and clear explanations combined with the excellent presentation means that I never feel "overwhelmed and lost". Even at times when I feel that I have "lost the thread" in some particular technical explanation. And I think that this is one of the unique qualities of Your videos that makes me like them so much.
So thanks again for all Your great work.
Best regards.
[Apologies for the convoluted language, English isn't my mother tongue]
I own one of these radios myself, but haven’t gotten around to restoring it yet. Even so, it’s one of my favorites in my collection because it’s just so unusual and fantastic-looking. I thought this was just going to be another All American Five restoration (which is always fun on its own), but you made this video so much more. Your insights into the reasons for “that warm-tube sound” were especially appreciated. Happy Thanksgiving to you and all my fellow MCL acolytes!
"Driving it harder into class A" ... well, it already is class A. Driving it harder makes it go into compression, distorting the waveform and rolling off the high freqs.
Wow! Nice calendar. 🤗👍🏻 Will sure buy one. Tell Marie Carlson that she’s done a very nice job. 😀 God Jul och Gott Nytt År.
Thank you for explaining how a leaky capacitor can overdrive the output. That nice 'warm', class A sound goes hand in hand with that nice 'warm' plate that's burning up inside the output tube! 👍 Now we know why the output transformer will open up. Gorgeous radio, Excellent video. Well done!
You're welcome Michael. Thanks for your kind comment too!
That is a Classic beauty. Has sort of a Tannoy ish look so I had to watch. Good job and I am happy it was found in such fine shape.
Hmm, That is a pretty unique looking radio! you are right, it does look like a ceiling vent of an air conditioning unit. Inside its just dust, all labels looks pristine. Cabinet still looks good too! This is going to be a very interesting restoration! Thanks for posting this one!!!
I have that exact model RCA radio, it was nicknamed the "Bullhorn" because of the front conical elements. I restored this one about 10 years ago, great sound to it!
Another success with your video Paul!!! Congratulations and thanks for taking the time to do it.
It's great how you can open the back of the radio and know exactly what each part is doing! I'd like to be able to do that.
Hang around, you'll recognize this stuff in no time.
Love these old radios.never know what people were listening to at that decade 📻
This is so interesting. I am completely ignorant of electronics, but despite that, I was completely intrigued. I love old radios and their designs and was captivated by my family's beautiful Capehart's record player/radio cabinet. Thank you.
It's quite difficult to stop watching your videos, so easy to learn with your explanations. Fab
Glad you like them!
Such a beautiful radio! The condition it was in when you found it is testament to how well built it was and how well cared for it was. I really hope digital never fully kills off radio because these machines are too fascinating to become useless! Great video!
THAT , is a work of art , needs to be in a museum. Quality piece.
This is one of my favorite radio redos!! Thanks!
You're welcome!
What a beautiful radio. I'm a big fan Mr Carlson. I'm working on being able to do that.
the first description of the old vent caught my eye, what a unique radio
Great explanation of the "warm sound" due to capacitor leakage. Audiophiles get so mad that they are not taken seriously by audio engineers, but here is an explanation that takes their "warm sound" claims seriously AND explains the reason in engineering terms!
Mr. Carlson, sorry but I haven't been watching your videos that much but when I do I'm in it for the long run. I have to look for that video of the radio that you have on your calendar for May, that's a beauty.
Bizarre radio? Well maybe, but it now performs flawlessly. Great information on restoring it Mr.C!👍🏻👍🏻
I do understand 95% of your theory and repair. I’m 65 and was at that level when I was a very young teen
Just bought the same radio with the matching record player to restore. Should be a fun project, and thanks for the great video with the schematic!
I know all about speaker cones attracting screwdrivers. Ask me how I know. Good advice. Always amazed at the knowledge you possess. As much as I like electronics, and as much as I miss working as a residential and commercial electrician, at my age, there is no way I could remember all the stuff you have crammed into that brain. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I could watch this stuff for hours. Sometimes, I do, actually.
Thanks for your kind comment, and feedback too Michael!
Mr.Carlson.. thanx for the wonderful restoration video.. keep up the good work on the
enlightenment of all of us.. God bless & happy thanksgiving..
What a neat looking little radio! So glad to see you use your capacitor leakage tester and foil end tester as well! Always happy to see a new video with your in depth analysis! Made my day and week!😊👍🏻
Thanks for your kind comment Mark!
I remember this radio well. This is much cleaner than the nearly identical radio I had -- in 1970. Mine was a very slightly different model - it looked the same except that the cabinet was all black - none of that woodtone on the front - and it didn't have the tone control switch. It did have the phono input, but this was selected by a slide switch on the back of the chassis, and the power switch was integrated with the volume control, so there was just one knob on the left side. I believe it had felt washers under the knobs, so yours have probably been lost over time. This radio was paired with the 45 RPM record changer that RCA was famous for in the late 1940s and 1950s.
The tone of the Golden Throat was a marketing term used by the RCA / Victor at the time to represent the quality of the sound produced by their devices.
It was pretty well just a marketing term and really had no meaning in any other terms.
Thanks for another great restoration.
That's my old radio! Mid 50's to mid 60's, my connection to the world. Never thought I'd see it again.
Good point, Paul! Don't fire them up until you've replaced the waxies! It's funny, I saw a listing the other day on EBay for an old Heathkit SG-8 Signal Generator, and the seller's comment was something like "my expertise doesn't allow for me to test it..." & "it powers up". Yes, in the picture, the bulb was illuminated and all I could say to myself was, "YIKES!
I love settling in for an excellent Mr Carlson’s Lab episode!