My Glorious Grundig!

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by pdenny, Nov 4, 2003.

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  1. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    My buddy Prix thought I should bore everyone with my latest find, so here's my story...

    I've been looking for a vintage 50's 78RPM/tuner console for years. Grabbed a few along the way but they were all too beat up/beyond repair/not quite what I was looking for. Then a couple of weeks ago I found this beauty at a local thrift shop. The owner said it didn't work when he plugged it in so he let it go for $50 after I balked at $65. Got "the look" from my wife all the way home, natch. After reseating the tubes and cleaning off the fuses, it lit right up! So now, following a two week regimen of compressed air, Q-Tips and Old English, my Grundig Majestic rests in my office, playing the platters that matter along with a smattering of local AM and FM broadcasts courtesy fine West German engineering.

    Cabinet with doors closed:
     
  2. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    Left side door open, revealing record storage area (and my Bird 78's):
     
  3. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    Where it all happens: the right side door opens into a magical world of mono! Gotta love those backlit tuning bars, EQ and green turntable cover!
     
  4. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    Finally a (not very good) shot of the tuner. There's a knob that rotates an internal AM antenna.
     
  5. jamesmaya

    jamesmaya Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Congrats on your thrift shop find, pdenny. That's a beaut! Pick up any shortwave? I've got one of those consoles, too (belonged to my dad). Enjoy!

    Jim W.
     
  6. Gary

    Gary Nauga Gort! Staff

    Location:
    Toronto
    That is really, really beautiful.... :love:
     
  7. Dan C

    Dan C Forum Fotographer

    Location:
    The West
    God that's gorgeous!:love: :eek: :thumbsup: Why don't I ever stumble upon these things! :mad:

    I bet it sounds as pretty as it looks.

    Dan C
     
  8. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    Jim, the shortwave tuner works, but reception is not good. I'm thinking of getting a wire up on the roof at least. I'm salivating at the prospect of listening to John Lee through those "wireless knobs" as Van Morrison sez. Or at least VOA. :D
     
  9. Cafe Jeff

    Cafe Jeff New Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    Nice find.
    Does it have the back to front tuning? Jeff
     
  10. petzi

    petzi Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    That's interesting, I didn't know this kind of product was exported to the USA. I would assume it's a little bit too bulky to be transported cost-efficiently, but then again, cargo ships with a big belly existed back then...
     
  11. petzi

    petzi Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Good idea. The longer the better. Electrical isolation is crucial, too. But make sure as well you can't get hit by lightning.

    I guess there are two connectors for the short wave antenna, one for the ground? Connect this properly to ground, it could make a big difference.
     
  12. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    You mean big numbers on the left? Yeah! Still takes some getting used to...the AM tuner is a separate strand. When you hit the FM button a different strand is used so you don't lose the last AM tuning. The manual (this thing is complete, let me tell you) describes a remote control you could get and it also has an external speaker out (see below):
     
  13. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    There is a 110/220 switch on both the amp and the turntable!
     
  14. Lord Hawthorne

    Lord Hawthorne Currently Untitled

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    You'll find a lot of Grundig and Telefunken consoles here in the US courtesy of GIs stationed in Germany during the 1950s and 1960s, who took advantage of cheap shipping rates for the armed forces when they came home. Those units were also shipped for sale in the US. I remember before the advent of shipping containers they would arrive in wooden crates as "breakbulk" cargo.
     
  15. petzi

    petzi Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    That makes sense. I heard that, at that time, every GI in Germany was a rich man, because the $ to DM exchange rate was extremely good. So they could afford all the good stuff, and take it home later.

    A German industry worker had to pay several months' salaries for a item like this. Not easy to save that much.
     
  16. Cafe Jeff

    Cafe Jeff New Member

    Location:
    Toronto

    Your one has a seperate strand! Dog! I have to remember where I am tuned. Does yours have a magic eye too? If you do have a guy near you, and can stand to be parted with it, a decent alignment will do wonders. My Grundig Majestic uses a single EL84 in Triode mode in the output stage and sounds glorious. The story goes that my father won the radio in a card game during university. Jeff
     
  17. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    Yea that Magic Eye is a strange thing. I'd love to replace the tube but it's really padlocked in there. Only seems to work on AM and doesn't throw off much light to speak of, except for an anemic light green. My EL84 is a Telefunken. Maybe you should post pix of your Majestic? Time to start a club?! :laugh:
     
  18. Claus

    Claus Senior Member

    Location:
    Germany
    Grundig is bankrupt since last year... more than 8000 employes worked in my hometown in the 70's... maybe 1000 peoples still have work. Grundig was one of the leading german manufactures... and was part of the german economic miracle... but that is history!

    Grundig website
     
  19. Cafe Jeff

    Cafe Jeff New Member

    Location:
    Toronto

    Magic Eyes are hard to come by, and it should also work on FM. In fact, this is what they are most useful for. I think this may be easy to readjust. I had to replace mine. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to replace mine with an exact equivalent. The EL84 in mine was a Tele too. I replaced it with a Sovtek, but I think it still had lots of life in it. Jeff
    Does yours have little side speakers for added ambience?
     
  20. Dan C

    Dan C Forum Fotographer

    Location:
    The West
    That's a shame. :(

    There is a Grundig console at one of the thrift stores here. It's totally trashed and they're asking $100 for it. :rolleyes: This store has a habit of overpricing certain things that end up sitting there for months.

    Dan C
     
  21. pdenny

    pdenny 22-Year SHTV Participation Trophy Recipient Thread Starter

    Location:
    Hawthorne CA
    Maybe I should have a tech check out the Magic Eye. That would make this console look even cooler with the lights out! Yes, it has the side speakers. I'm not sure how much "ambience" they add....:D
     
  22. Cafe Jeff

    Cafe Jeff New Member

    Location:
    Toronto

    They add a kind of neat 'pseudo' Stereo effect in the way that an old Corner Horn sounds more than just mono. Put your ear to one. They should be working. Jeff
     
  23. petzi

    petzi Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Have you heard that the sun (the star that we see by day...) is highly active at this time. Yesterday it blasted the highest level of X-rays to the earth that was ever measured. This resulted in the absorption of short wave radio in the ionosphere. The ionosphere normally reflects short wave, and makes it possible for a strong radio transmitter to receive itself after the signal has circelled all the way around the earth. Anyway, short wave radio was down yesterday...
     
  24. JohnT

    JohnT Senior Member

    Location:
    PA & FL gulf coast
    Beautiful find pdenny. Enjoy! That's one to passed on to your next generation.


    My dad was a marine engineer sailing on oil tankers in the 50's & 60's. On one trip in the early 60's he came home with a Telefunken which I still have and hope to restore. It's condition is not too bad.
     
  25. Highway Star

    Highway Star New Member

    Location:
    eastern us
    Nice find pd! The faceplate and switches/knobs are very similar to my c. '60 Telefunken Sonata console. Maybe I'll post some pics when I get a chance. I have a collection of old radios, maybe 40-50. I know what you mean about the wife, took mine a while to adjust to my radio mania some years ago.
     
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