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New (in 1958) Bell 2315's

Radioactive, due to the natural difference in ear sensitivity depending on volume, you will perceive a difference in tonal balance depending on the position of the loudness control. That may be what you're noticing. But the loudness control is a volume control on this unit, and I will bet all my cash and beer on that.
 
DonQuixote99 said:
Radioactive, due to the natural difference in ear sensitivity depending on volume, you will perceive a difference in tonal balance depending on the position of the loudness control. That may be what you're noticing. But the loudness control is a volume control on this unit, and I will bet all my cash and beer on that.
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i'll raise you 1 beer and double the bet.:D seriously though it's been awhile since i've had the 2315 hooked up and mabe i have it confused with the sherwood amp i also owned that seemed to have a similar setup. i will say that theres been some weird setups back then that make a persons headspin :D
 
You can't raise, Radio, I'm all in already. You're close enough to calling, though....

As I noted above, I've got the schematic. Only one wire connects AF2 and AF3 here, and it comes off the tap of the Loudness pot. I can't see that it does anything but attenuate the whole signal.

Also, when I turn the knob the volume goes up and down.
 
I love the look of Bell Sound's late 50s Hi-Fi. It's my understanding that they sound pretty good when restored, too. Do your panel lights function? I think the knobs are lit from behind if I'm reading the brochure correctly. Sure would like to see a photo of one of these Bells in their night mode.

You'll find scans of the 1958 Bell catalog, including the 2315, here:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?p=3271157#post3271157

The cover is especially attractive.
 
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soundmotor said:
Glad you managed. Could not see the obstacle from your pic.
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It's subtle. The butt end of the transformer is just enough in the way that the lower handle of the pliers hit it, so you can't grap the bottom side of the dang thing. I just had to press down a lot on the top with a screwdriver, and sort of fawce it.
 
Well, new power cords are on, and while the originals may belong in a museum, they are off to the landfill. Strain relief bushing was just as big a joy second time as the first. :puke:

Proceeded with my a/b test, after a brief delay due to a loud hum when I turned The Beast on.... (I was asking for it when I named that unit. The other, BTW, is named 'Old Man,' because it's serial number is 200 or so less than The Beast's, proving great age.)

Anyway, took Beastie down to the bench, opened everything up, looked for stray material or anything obvious, reseated the tubes, tested it and it seemed fine. So hooked it up again upstairs. All fine this time. Then I hear some noises as I shift the operating amps around a bit. Finally tracked it to the aux inputs. They are very 'touchy.' Nudge the cables, and you get hum or static. Have to look into that.

The a/b test with the Harmon Kardon 330b proved pretty inconclusive, which is of course very good, as I really like the HK. And if anything, it seemed like the 2315's may have had an edge in depth and detail. But that could just be totally subjective, can't really say. In any case, they drove the Boston Acoustics A-60s very capably and sounded great.

This was using a CD source, btw--a Vivaldi disk I just happen to have two of. Yes, two different CD players, a possible source of variation....

Next step--vinyl.
 
Stephen J said:
...ECC83's ya got there ?
I know Bell liked Telefunkens !:D
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I don't think what Bell liked has anything to do with what's in them now.

In one of the units I've got a Motorola, a Sovtech, and a GE. Haven't been back into the other one yet....
 
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BTW, Red1, regarding lights. I've got no bulbs at present, turns out. If they were there, the bulbs would bounce light down from a recessed position above the front panel. Just might look like the dials were illuminated from within, but they aren't, actually.
 
Well, I've had the 2315s down in the mancave, listening to the radio. Initially the idea was to listen to records, but my downstains turntable, a BOTL Technics, has decided to go speed crazy. So instead I hooked up the Pioneer TX-520 tuner. Speakers are Utah HS5-As, with midrange and tweeter horns, and the 2315s like to drive them.

However, I encountered both crazy booming bass, and (at least to my ears) harsh overdriven highs. So I twiddled the knobs until I got to something I liked--now the jazzy blues Shakin' Dave was playing sounded good, including piano solos, clairinet solos, and Dave talking. The level is pretty loud, and I have the treble pots on the speakers turned 7/8 down. The dials on the 2315s look like this:

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This sort of freaks me out, since I've never been a tone-knob guy, and I would have sworn I could get the same result as this with the treble flat, the bass nudged a bit, and the overall level lower. But that doesn't work. This works. With this I could listen all night. :)
 

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