Table top am/fm radios

I went to town on a Sony High Fidelity ICF-9650W AM/FM. In aged stock form it wasnt too great. Replaced the amp IC, wires, resistors with 1% metal films, caps with Fine Gold/Silmic and all transistors. Couldnt believe the sound, comparable to CD quality. Best table radio I ever heard.

View attachment 1097377
I know they aren't the same, but that looks almost identical to the Radio Shack table radio that my wife had for about 16 years on her desk at work.. They rearranged the offices and she could no longer get reception.
Anyway, nice looking radio.
 
If you wanted a "vintage" look, you succeeded! While I don't doubt the tuning or sound quality of some of the posters radios, only some so far strike me as "vintage."

To be, or at least look, vintage I think a table radio, needs to
(1) have a very high KNOB-to-BUTTON ratio;
(2) have either a wood (or wood looking) or a Bakelite (or Bakelite looking) case; and
(3) it CANNOT have any sort of digital display.

Of course a radio could look vintage and sound like crap (by today's standards), so obviously the vintage look can't be the only objective, but I think it's nice that you wanted that and found it!


Anyone use one still?
My wife just started her new job and asked if I could look for a radio. So off I went to research! After what I think was a pretty thorough review between this and the Tivoli I decided on a Sangean WR-SE11 40th anniversary radio. While most went new for $159+ I got lucky and snagged one for $110 with a Bluetooth adapter to fit in the back aux input for those times my wife wants to stream Pandora. Total $130.
I'm digging the rotary dial knob.
View attachment 1092596

View attachment 1092598

Love the vintage look of these....
My earliest memory of any stereo being four at the time was his reel to reel stereo system. But the one that made an impression on me was over on a table was this HUGE gigantic radio. A Zenith trans Atlantic "Ocean" radio. I was fascinated with it's fold out feature and a picture of what I thought was the world. It neatly tucked away to become a suitcase. It was awesome that it transformed like that.

Love to see yours. Small or big. A table top radio.
Cheers.
 

I love the older Panasonic's
My favorite is/was the T100M with a beautiful reverse painted dial face. I'd still have it but was offered an obscene amount for it . Amazing radio
28115796929_34183cf9e3_b.jpg


This RF-1600 is a cutie and it sounded very nice surprising me that it was better sounding than the 2nd gen Zenith Transoceanic solid state I had.
25024808457_ce989d2cef_b.jpg
 
Last edited:
Nothing New sounds as good it's China pretty much and they always tried to copy this industry and got really good at it lol
 
This, IMNSHO, is the best table radio ever. I still use the one I got in 1999 and would buy another (new) in a heartbeat.

CSW Model 88.jpg

Cambridge Sound Works Model 88. Small, easy to use and sounds simply wunnerful. I specifically wanted one without the CD because I know that, mechanical things being what they are, it would stop working, and I'd be stuck with a half functional unit.

So, I used the RCA inputs on the back to plug portable units into it. It's great on the covered 10 X 30 deck. It's ability to fill that area with clean, rich sound is uncanny.

But, in a similar vein, I just picked up one of these for $15.00. IT's about as "retro" as you can get. It ain't fancy but it serves well as my travel radio, And, it's surprisingly sensitive and does a remarkable job of filling a motel room with clean sound. Not component level hi fi, but better than one would expect.

jensen radio.jpg


https://www.target.com/p/jensen-am-...DQW4WeOKLEsQKj4UsqUaAjJ4EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

But, forgive me father, I have sinned, but I just picked up an internet radio for the bedroom. All the smart TV's in my house have made me aware of how much I'm missing by limiting myself to local terrestrial transmissions.
 
Last edited:
Just got it home. My wife, the ever frugal shopper scored big on this. My original surprise gift to her was on a good deal for $110. She then found a better deal at ABT electronics for $75 only to be told it's on back order. Waiting a month and then they finally confessed they didn't know when it would be in. They graciously cancelled the order and refunded her the same day. Classy company.
So desperate she needed sound found it in stock at Walmart online. I said Walmart?
She said "Yup. For same price as ABT electronics PLUS $25 off for coming back". She hadn't bought from them in many years online. $50! Delivered in two days no less!
Onto the actual radio.....
First impression is.. HEAVY for such a little sucker. Pound for pound it would rival monster receivers. Ok maybe not. It weighs in just shy of 5 lbs.
Here in the kitchen the radio with it's simple string antenna gets excellent reception. The sound is pretty good too right out of the box. But I'm easy and am sure once broken in it will bloom and sound better. Wife like the sound too.
Highly recommended.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20180214_172918.jpg
    IMG_20180214_172918.jpg
    86.4 KB · Views: 133
Last edited:
I have restored many dozens of early transistor radios, particularly National Panasonics, but they are all stored at the moment, including my Dad's National T100 which is in a condition like the pic above.

This is my house radio:

IMG_1988.JPG

150k-29.999MHz. FM/AM/LW/SW Direct entry, dial or search PLL. Stereo through headphones. Runs for about 5 years on a set of 6 D batteries and a few AAs for the clock timer.

It's the one I will grab if there's an apocalypse. :)
 
Yes, it does sound good, but the 25 wpc figure may be misleading, since both units are bi-amped.
funny radios though......mine was always breaking ...fixed 2 times...still not working right.....but not as bad as a friend in the era before cell phones...when car service used 2-way radios & CBs...in the middle of the night the 301 speaker would broadcast everything....all night long.
 
funny radios though......mine was always breaking ...fixed 2 times...still not working right.....but not as bad as a friend in the era before cell phones...when car service used 2-way radios & CBs...in the middle of the night the 301 speaker would broadcast everything....all night long.

I've had no problems besides a scratchy gain pot.
 
Looking at some of those pictures, I had to check to make sure you guys had not pilfered some of my radios. :D
I have Two of the Sangeans (WR-11 and WR-2) and really like them. I don't care for the display on the WR-2. They could have done much better than that. Love the way the WR-11 looks in a dark room though. The glow from that radio's slide tuner takes me back to my youth.

Also have the Boston Acoustics Recepter radio. It does put out a lot of bass. In fact, it puts out so much I needed to plug the back port on it a bit. Otherwise, a very nice radio.

Now the bad. I've also had the Tivoli Model 1. In fact tried a couple different ones because they were so bad. AM reception is non-existent regardless of what sort of antenna you might try (built in or tune-able loop). Both AM and FM drift to a terrible extent. Got rid of that junk as quick as possible.

Have also had the Sony listed, as well as some other Sony pocket radios, but this is about table radios.

I have to say my favorite of the bunch is the Sangean WR-11. From the looks, to the sound, to the reception (terrific AM for sports radio) regardless of using the built in antennas or externals. In fact, the built in antennas can do a better job than many external ones.
Again, that tuner glowing in the dark is a thing of beauty.

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture. It does look better in person.

sangean.JPG
 
Back
Top Bottom