[Hallicrafters] Re: Hallicrafters speaker.

[kiyoinc at attglobal.net]

** Reply to note from hallicrafters-request at mailman.qth.net Fri,  4 Jun 2004 04:00:06 -0400 (EDT)


> What's the model number of this: 
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> And why is it so expensive on the used market?

I can't just look at it; it is in a box at my mother's house.
It has a die cast front with very stiff, ribbed grill cloth.
I vaguely recall that it is in layers. The back is stamped
metal. From memory, it's about 6 inches tall. it looked out of
place on my SX-101A.

This came up for a couple reasons.  

I just adopted a 75S-1 with a 312B-3, manual, and the 500 cycle
mechanical filter.  This was a one owner radio and is in
immaculate condition. 

The fellow who sold it to me has a collection of various
speakers (and about 100 primo-grade boat anchors.  An awesome
collection.). I saw the speaker on his speaker shelf and
mentioned that I had one. We chatted about the value of
collectables and it came up that speakers are worth relatively
more than other vintage radio items.  

I said that I never liked the Hallicrafters speaker, it was
tinny and buzzy. It's not a good speaker.  

Folk want them now. I stopped using the Hallicrafters speaker
because it wasn't a good speaker.  I used a 69 cent, bulk buy,
2 x 3 inch generic speaker in a particle board box that I made.
It had better sound.  

I also glanced at the voice/(code, music, ???) switch in a
Hallicrafters speaker about 1964, noticed the electrolytic cap
and put the same thing in my particle board speaker. It made a
difference.  

What's the model of the Hallicrafter's speaker with the
voice/??? switch.  That one was big and horizontal.  

Another pricing anomaly, the fellow who sold the Collins said
that he was giving me a good price.  I've checked eBay and it
seems that he "GAVE" me the 75S-1.  

The manual, mechanical filter, and 312B-3 speaker together,
sell for more that I paid for the receiver package.  

I will not break this set up or resell it.  This is one of
those deals where you preserve, use, and enjoy the radio until
it is time to pass it on to someone else who will respect the
history.    

I've heard that there is a closed society, possibly informal,
of vintage radio collectors.  Their radios are traded and
sold only to known folk who will preserve them.

I've seen comments on the listservs, that, "xxxx finally agreed
to sell the yyyyy".   

I kinda understand that sentiment but I'm not a "collector" in
the sense of wanting a full, prefect, collection.   I like
fixing old radios, cleaning them and bringing them back to 8+
condition.  

I don't have the patience or skill to do a full up, museum
quality restoration.  

I've been buying "guarenteed dead, if this radio starts to work
within 48 hours, return for a full refund" Heathkits off eBay.  

I clean them up, De-Ox-It, replace the bad parts, usually the
main power electrolytics but I have found bad carbon resistors,
realign them, reset the mechanicals.  

I don't bid on radios with bad front panels, extra holes and
bad lettering, I can't fix those.  


de ah6gi/4