Classic Hifi Care

I saved way too much stuff when we had our auction. If I had it to do over, 80% of what I saved would have been in the auction. I have speakers, fuses, miscellaneous stuff I just HAD to have. I found a NOS speaker for a 1960 Rambler with a Carboneau EIA code on it. I have cones and voice coils for those little 3 1/2" speakers Cadillac and other GM cars had in the instrument panel in the early stereo radio cars. Many of the fuses I have are for TV's and stuff like that. I have the market cornered on old Buick tube radios, 1951 to 1956, with a 1959 thrown in for good measure. I have thousands of radio and audio tubes I need to sell or just toss. I get tired of digging thru this stuff, then not having or not being able to find what I need. I have a couple of VM changers I'll sell. I have 8" speakers, 4X10 speakers, 5X7, a couple 6". I'll put them on ARF first, then maybe FM. My intention was to convert some of the Buick radios to run on household current.

I was thinking about the conversion issue the other day. I recall reading about using a 6V or 12V transformer in place of the vibrator. There's a question about the frequency a vibrator runs at, and whether 60 cycle AC is compatible. And the tube heaters would be running on AC and not DC.

One thing that always worked in my '60 Rambler was the radio, with the round concentric tuning dial.

Chris Campbell

The good thing about the tubes in 12-volt Buick radios is that you can use the 6-volt equivalents. I was not planning on using the vibrator or the OZ4. I was going to replace the vibrator transformer with a 120-volt primary, 500-volt center-tapped secondary with the usual 5.3 volt and 6-volt taps for the tube filaments. Then use a 5Y3 rectifier. Or, better yet, use a 5AX4 damper diode used in TV chassis as the rectifier.