So I have this radio, I like the case, 6 tubes plays pretty good. Somebody replaced the original speaker with a Jensen, looks a bit messy but it plays good. Maybe better than the original speaker. It had a replacement electrolytic, but is was an oldie, replaced. Other caps changed out.
Only thing is that when you turn on you may think it is dead if it were not for pilot light. You need to turn volume knob up quite a bit to get sound. It plays at a decent volume but you need to turn vol control up more than most sets. Should I care? Is it speaker swap? Maybe vol. control had been replaced as well and not a good fit? What would make a set do this?
The schematic on nostalgia air show this as a 5 tube, mine has 6?
It has puzzled me but it is not a rare valuable set but I wonder. I like it so it matters .
So to complete my own query. I have listened to the Admiral for about a week, still not sure why I need to turn it up a bit to play. It sounds very good for what it is. I think the Jensen speaker may be an improvement from what it had, it picks up my fave 250 watt AM station from Cambridge and plays music with nice tone. It has not smoked, squeaked, scratched or otherwise failed, so I am decalring it "good enough".
It is actually a fine sounding radio though it is pretty basic so I conclude "victory".
Could be, It has funky Jensen lettering, PM Alnico speaker, Chicago. No Ohm rating listed. Would a mismatch be a problem other than I supply more juice to speaker? Other than caps and 1 tube it came to life pretty easy. Has a cheap carboard piece behind the light for dial, I will eventually replace, need to figure how to slip out of the metal piece that is crimped on it. I believe is is a 1946 item, part of the post war start up. Probably made a zillion Admiral radios with the same chassis. I did eventually get the correct knobs for it, from "Radio Pup".
You might check the tubes for being weak. You might swap the speaker for proper impedance one and see if it improves the volume.
If the mismatch is present, it is unlikely to cause any damage. It is just the power transfer is not optimized.
I mean, other than the extreme cases of shot and open.
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
You may be supplying LESS juice to the speaker. If the original was 2 ohms, for example, the OT is supplying lower voltage at a higher current. An 8 ohm speaker needs higher voltage to generate sufficient current through the voice coil to give the same power. The speaker "absorbs" less power from the OT. Thus, lower volume. Just a thought!
Well after a while I came back around to the Admiral again......I may need to get my Heathkit tube tester checked out as well. With the help of a pal who has a real radio "lab" we figured the following:
12SQ7 was weak......
35Z5GT was weak....
12SJ7 was strong but glass tube where metal is specified....
Also my friend noted it had a #44 pilot bulb where a #47 is required.
So made all the change outs, plays stronger, better sound, and dial lights brighter.
Found this on the N/A Site. I bet that your chassis is a 6A1 Rev B. Is there still a label on the set? It may not be a 6T01. NA shows a 6T01 as a 5 Tube AM / SW set, a lot of radios with number / Letter / Number (Zenith, RCA, etc), the first character is the # of tubes. RCA got away from this post war but I think Zenith stuck with this. I think that this is early post war
"Do Justly, love Mercy and walk humbly with your God"- Micah 6:8
"Let us begin to do good"- St. Francis
Ill look at label, but tubes match mine, got a 12SJ7 as extra tube. My guy is a 6 tube job.
So Mr. Fixr55 my complete label reads 6T01 6A1N MA the label is complete it is a Brown Bakelite, they also made it in a Cream color
and that has a slightly different #.
This one illustrated for me that a set with weak tubes can still sound OK. Though the very slow warm up and need to put Volume up was likely to having 3 low emitters in there, should have tipped me to something. The replacements made a difference plenty of volume off the 5 inch speaker and quicker warm up, proper #pilot lamp means I can read dial better is brighter for nitetime. So I learned a little.
Made me wonder if people did "re tube radios" like you see in those ads from the old magazines.."insist on RCA Radiotron tubes when re tubing". Could have been expensive for a high tube count fancy set.
My Admiral retailed for 27.95 in 1946 --424.66 in todays money according to inflation calculator. It was 29.95 if you took installment plan, at your local Admiral Dealer..............
. I have listened to the Admiral for about a week, still not sure why I need to turn it up a bit to play. It sounds very good for what it is. I think the Jensen speaker may be an improvement from what it had, it picks up my fave 250 watt AM station from Cambridge and plays music with nice tone. It has not smoked, squeaked, scratched or otherwise failed, so I am decalring it "good enough".
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