Classic Hifi Care

As I was checking out Estate Sales.net this evening I came across this estate sale not far away.

https://www.estatesales.net/MI/Muskegon/49441/3695826

As you can see there are two console stereos, but the interesting thing to me was the Vintage General Electric Deluxe stove/range. For those in the know about vintage appliances please feel free to fill in the blanks. I'm guessing this was a TOTL GE in its day.

Bill

I grew up with that model range. It's a GE Liberator, circa 1956. It's a wonderful 40" electric range with dual ovens. You can broil in either oven, and the bottom drawers are storage. The left-front burner is a "Sensi-Temp" unit which is thermostatically controlled, but no parts are available to service the Sensi-Temp. I have seen people convert it to a regular burner. That is the top of the line model, the cheaper model only had one oven and the left door was storage.

It has the same pushbuttons as the ca. 1948 Hotpoint at the cottage. I was surprised to find that both of the Hotpoint ovens also broil. I had assumed that only the left oven broiled but my sister in law informed me that both do.

My eye fell on the Sunbeam electric skillet i that estate sale. My sister was laughing about how our Mom made almost every meal in hers. And when she saw one at an estate sale, she bought it so she could have one at the cottage without carting the original back & forth.

Chris Campbell

Thanks Guys, I knew someone would know about the range. The Philco console stereo looks interesting, I'm curious what amp it might have. I guess I need to look at the sale again, I missed the Sunbeam electric skillet.

Bill

While the buttons are the same as on GE-made Hotpoint they were used 1948 to 1956, and that there's a 1955/6 GE Stratoliner or Liberator 40" range, model depending whether it has 1 or 2 ovens (Liberator had 2. Stratoliner had 1 + storage). Both had Sensi-Temp, griddle option, and switched and unswitched outlets. I have the '1957 version of it now (pic), and had the '56 version in a Hotpoint 10 yrs ago.

The 1940s range has a temp sensor too. It's visual-manual. Look to see if the burner is glowing. If not, hold hand close and see if it's warm. Actually, since I replaced the bulbs a few years ago, the first step is to look at the pushbuttons for color.

Chris Campbell

Parts for Sensi-Temp are hard to find, I converted our red '61 GE range (pic 3) with ST at camp to a regular 5 button control with the correct 8" burner and 5 button unit and some rewiring (with help from an appliance expert friend). The '57's ST (Automatic Calrod), works, the other 3 burners have white "piano key" 5 button controls with colored lights behind the keys (pic 2) instead of in the clear buttons found up to '56, , and a sliding control ST (Automatic Calrod) unit (pic 1) The '61 30" range eliminated the colored buttons but still has the white piano button keys.

Bill,

I believe the Philco is a H-1714. If so would be a SE 6BQ5 amp with no need to worry about tracking down missing satellites. Might be a VM changer. Sharp looking console in mahogany. Thanks for posting.

Mark

Thanks Mark. That amp looks very similar to the amp in a little Philco console that I picked up awhile back here in town. My amp uses 6AQ5's and does not have a functions switch. Mine does have a VM changer in white which is the only VM white changer I have ever seen. Mine, model H1617, is shown in the link:

https://philcoradio.com/gallery2/1960a/#Model_H1617

Bill

The Philco H1714 has the same center bass setup as a later model I had K1638. Advertising 10 watts per channel was the most they could do to promote it. My impression was more like 5 watts per channel, center channel speaker is fed simply from a center-tapped OPT, B+ to CT, then feeds B+ to the SE OPTs. No filtering at all, just a separate bass speaker.

This is not a completely separate amplifier like Motorola and RCA Victor designed for the 3rd channel.

William wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2023 11:36 am Thanks Mark. That amp looks very similar to the amp in a little Philco console that I picked up awhile back here in town. My amp uses 6AQ5's and does not have a functions switch. Mine does have a VM changer in white which is the only VM white changer I have ever seen. Mine, model H1617, is shown in the link:

https://philcoradio.com/gallery2/1960a/#Model_H1617

Bill

I also got the same thing, H1619 using 6AQ5 (the hardest working 7-pin beam power tube). It came with a 1960 brochure, so I need to scan it in here

Thanks for scanning, Dave.

Bill

Thanks for sharing. I haven't seen a sale like that since I left Michigan.

Rex, estate sales here in Michigan are pretty much 24/7 all summer long and some even take place in the winter. Auctions are the same way.

Bill

For those of us here, the problem is not finding an estate sale. It's staying away from them....

Chris Campbell