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What to do with a Western Electric 41a and 42a rack?...

Should I keep or sell?

  • Yes

    Votes: 4 50.0%

  • No

    Votes: 4 50.0%
  • Total voters
    8
P

Phonogram175

New Member
While 'picking' in what was essentially a barn , I stumbled upon a giant rusty rack with early electronic equipment labelled "Western Electric". As a fan of antique and vintage audio, I decided to drag it out (which was barely possible, even with the help of three friends). Upon further transportation and research of my find, I learned that this would've been used in an early movie theatre's sound setup in the late 1920s early 1930s.
I have a huge interest in 1970s HiFi and Quadraphonic, and on the other end, antique radios and Victrolas from the 1920s. So for me, this is kind of the dream.

However, I've learned that anything labelled Western Electric is not cheap. Actually quite the opposite.

So, I'm not entirely sure to do with this beast at the moment. As it sits, it's pretty badly rusted on the exterior. But, under the protective covers, most of the components and interior seem relatively intact. Between dealing with cosmetics and an electric restoration I would still have to find a complete set of 205d tubes and potentially a couple of 239a tubes. All of this I am learning is many thousands of dollars. At the moment, I am also in college working on my undergrad. So time and funds for that would be relatively slim.

So ultimately, what would y'all do in my same shoes? Extra money and eliminating the daunting task of restoring this thing seems appealing. Equally, the idea of restoring this thing, hooking up an early 78rpm turntable with a horseshoe magnet pickup, and using a western electric horn speaker replica also sounds pretty b****s. Just, how feasible is that?

I don't have a lot of photos of it on me at the moment besides the ones taken while moving it, but I'll try and get some more with the back and the covers off posted later this week.image0.jpeg image1.jpeg image2.jpeg image3.jpeg image4.jpeg
 
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What a lucky find! Despite being really rusty it still must be worth big money.

The 239's in there are probably good, they dont look broken at least. The price of 205's kind of kill the whole idea of fixing it though.

I'd flip it just because it's going to cost way too much to get it working. And who knows how much of it is even usable after sitting there forever rusting away. I'd be surprised if the meters still work. It's really cool but people pay ridiculous money for western electric amps and preamps.
 
yeah, much as I find this to be cool, I know it wouldn't get much use at my place so I'd rather someone who wants to shovel money at me deal with it. Besides, the chances of finding a second one to make it really useful is about zero.
 
Interesting!
WE, like Marconi, did not sell their equipment, but leased it instead. I assume the stuff that was concidered too obsolescent to reclaim was basically abandoned on site for scrap.
 
Wow, that's crusty. If you have room to store it in a dry place and your expecting to make good money when you enter your chosen field than hang onto it for now. WE gear seems to only go up in value.
@Pio1980 , when WE lost the anti trust suit they sold off all the gear to the theaters, I've heard for as little as 1 dollar. The R&D and manufacturing rights were sold off to a few key engineers for little money, they started a company called All Tech Industrial Services, later shortened to Altec, yup, the same Altec that a lot of us love dearly.

BillWojo
 
The likely only real money buyers for this will be in Asia. Id break it down in 4 different pieces for ease of shipping. Make 4 separate listings on ebay at .99 10 day auction starting on thurs. and make sure you check the global shipping box! GLWS
 
I found a Western Electric rack at a barn sell.....bought it and sold the next day for 4k..... a couple year ago.

Not sure what exact model it was.....but it did have 1 amp of some sort on it... I could dig up the info if you like. ( having trouble with my main computer where my pics are....and am on a laptop...but they might be on my phone...)

Listed it on Ebay....and immediately got a coupe emails offering to buy it....one from Hawaii....and one from Virginia.
Your rack with those Amps....is probably worth more. High Dollar to collectors!

I notices that my rack at 6 feet was more valuable than one listed on Ebay that was 7 feet tall.....

I can dig around and find the collector in VA, if you like. He's around Tysons Corner in NOVA.

Yes....mine had almost no rust.... So that might make a difference. But they are thick steel...or iron...and could be cleaned up a repainted....But I would leave that to the buyer.

I'd do some heavy research on those amps.... Could be worth a fortune! The rack alone is also...

Even in the condition it is in.....you could be looking at 10K there....easily. IMO
 
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Congrats.
It appears you found something that might be quite valuable.
I agree with the others, don't do anything to it if you do decide to sell it. It could affect the value. Leave that for the end owner.
 
Unless you have a place to store it until the school issue is resolved and it is something you want to tackle, I would sell it myself, no idea of what the value of something like that is but easily 10-20k I would think just the transformers alone are likely a few k each. I sold an output transformer a small one a few years ago for $1700.00 every piece and part on that is worth money the rack likely 5k alone the meters are likely 500-1k each i would not be surprised if a single complete amp minus tubes fetches 10k each
 
Snow said:
Unless you have a place to store it until the school issue is resolved and it is something you want to tackle, I would sell it myself, no idea of what the value of something like that is but easily 10-20k I would think just the transformers alone are likely a few k each. I sold an output transformer a small one a few years ago for $1700.00 every piece and part on that is worth money the rack likely 5k alone the meters are likely 500-1k each i would not be surprised if a single complete amp minus tubes fetches 10k each
Click to expand...

pfffftttt.... gotta get out to some barns, eh!!!!!
 
Just had a flashback. Around 1971 I was in the basement of a Salt Lake movie house, maybe the Capitol Theatre, where one of the maintainance guys showed me a cache of old obsolescent equipment. There could have been one or more of these racks down there, I did get a NOS WE double carbon button studio Mic of that vintage out of it, wish I still had it.
http://www.aes-media.org/historical/html/recording.technology.history/microphones1.html
89000.jpg f14e7d8d0db45b50403d52e3b687ab0a.jpg
 
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