Classic Hifi Care

I keep a small radio near my computer desk. The living room speakers are about 20' away one direction and the kitchen Superradio is about the same distance in the other direction. It's nice to have a source next to me for convenient volume up/down as needed. The current radio is a small Zenith C14W with a down-facing speaker (the front of the unit was reserved for the clock in the clock radio version).

A while back I found some Polk stand-mounted speakers in the alley. I've been thinking about using those at the desk with a small receiver. Today I grabbed a GE receiver, a low-end model, off the shelf and hooked it up. It's a GE T2050A from 1967 and you can see pix here via eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/295422778587

The little Polk speakers are acoustic suspension and fairly inefficient. It was not clear that the GE would have the oomph to drive them. But it does seem to have enough power for non-critical listening.

To use it I will need to solder up some speaker cables with RCA plugs, as that is the speaker connection on the GE.

Chris Campbell

You are upgrading, which is always a good thing. The little GE receiver reminds me of a Coronado I have in the shop. Mine is older as it has twist knobs instead of slide controls. It's not a great performer as far as wide range frequency goes. I purchased it in 1970 while working at the Gamble Store and it's still going strong with its original speakers. It has phono and tape input as well as MPX FM. Years and years ago I had a Layfette record changer that had a 4-pole motor but a ceramic cartridge. I used that changer with the Coronado receiver and its speakers as my "stereo" at college. It served me well back then and still does today.

Bill

Well, after two hours, the little GE is still working just fine. That was the first test--will it keep working after sitting on the shelf forever? With a passable antenna, it gets my three public radio stations that are the usual fare. The controls are not even noisy. Out in the garage I've got a little Sylvania receiver also, another lower-end model, that I may rotate in. The nice thing about these lower-end models is that they are smaller and fit the space next to the desk.

Chris Campbell

Since the GE seemed to be dependable, I set about improving the speaker interconnects. The GE uses RCA jacks for speaker connections. First I extended the speaker cables; the ones as-found were short. Then I pondered soldering RCA plugs onto the speaker wire. Do I really want to make these speakers usable only with RCA jacks? Not a good idea. So I soldered the RCA plugs to a 4-terminal screw-terminal set. That will plug into the GE, or the Radio Shack receiver/cassette machine sitting next to it, and any speakers can connect to the terminal strip.

Chris Campbell