Old Hifi separates

[bricol]

Back in the 70's my mum replaced a valve GEC radiogram (which I still regret skipping when I was 18 - lovely polished wood cabinet, damped lid, auto-loading record player for all 4 speeds, pop up juke box single spacer - to get "stereographic" sound, you needed another radiogram according to the instructions) with a Fidelity 350 hifi. Amp, tuner, tape deck, record player, large (physically) speakers.

Other than the tape deck (failed belt I'm guessing) it all still works, although most of the back lighting bulbs seem to have failed, its missing one toggle cover, and the cabinet is long gone.

Is it worth anything or is it simply ebay and then the skip?

It played a range of 45s this evening from EMI, Decca, Parlophone - my mum used to run a record shop in the 60's, some date from then (and were probably played on the GEC one when she told me it was used in her shop to make the shop window bounce in and out) - but also the some from my era of mid 80's.

 

[Ross365]

There are still people around who value such stuff, see https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/index.php

 

[gaz1]

the older type just had a radio within that type of cabinet the newer model was with record deck ive used this type nice sound and kicked some music out without distortion
the 3 in one systems are still wanted and are easily repaired

i had the hitachi flat deck system and the back window i cracked due to the vibration as it kicked some nice bass and treble out

 

[skotl]

Depends what it is and, as ever, a quick google will let you know.

Generic Binatone systems are worthless but individual components from established vendors could be worth a pretty penny.

That said, technology still moves on. An example: I had a Linn Sondek LP12 turntable that my angry ex-partner trashed. If I had repatriated it then ebay suggests it might be worth £700, but Linn are now selling new versions for a couple of grand. So a vintage unit might be worth a few hundred quid (not to be sneezed at) but you can't take new variants as an indication of old-stock price.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Fidelity 350T, 350P, 350C and 350A.
Low-end 70s stuff with not much of a following but still worth selling rather than scrapping. Probably says Made in England on it but it will have been assembled here rather than actually manufactured.
The belts will most likely have turned to goo but you should be able to find ones that will fit. Lamps are readily available.
I love 70s hi fi, I have a system in the bedroom and use an old receiver with a Bluetooth adapter in the garage.

 

[minimutly]

Fidelity was rubbish when most other stuff was rubbish. And don’t get me going on that sh*t Alan Sugar was selling...

 

[Wedg1e]

Fidelity was rubbish when most other stuff was rubbish. And don’t get me going on that sh*t Alan Sugar was selling...

Bizarrely, in the early days some of the Amstrad stuff was pretty robust; I had an EX330 amplifier that had a sheet steel and aluminium chassis and weighed a bit.
Still not Quad or Armstrong territory but miles better than what came after.

I still have a Rega Planar 3 (late 80s), Armstrong 625 (1976), Marantz CD273 (1987) and B&W DM4s (1974) plus a plasticky TEAC cassette deck but rarely play anything as the walls are made of that stuff they used in schools and the neighbours would soon kick off.

Also have a home-brew power-amp based on two Quad 405 modules, with all the protection circuits bypassed... - original modules, not the copies you can buy from the web nowadays.

On cassette decks it was often the rubber pinch rollers that fell to bits before the drive belts.

Reminds me, we really need to dispose of my grandparents' wind-up cabinet gramophone, complete with tin of needles and a selection of shellac 78s

 

[tom2207]

use the old stuff ,, even if its only in the garage , unless its something exotic of course ,,
a pair of gumtree speakers and an old separates , or mini hifi [ if anyone remembers them] will still give many hours of listening pleasure.

 

[bricol]

Thanks for the replies - I'll check out the vintage radio site properly - the only google hit I got on it was on there when someone was repairing a tuner.

It is indeed the full set of 350T, A, P and C. They are all quite big, and I've nowhere to put it - other than my loft. Designed to be an event to use I reckon - switch on the amp, switch on whatever unit you wanted - various toggle switches for filters, tuning, sound limits.

She replaced it with a Beocentre 8000 in early 90's - a google on that shows it was only sold a couple of years as it wasn't too popular. I remember the CD or tape door on that failing and sorting it out for her - the top comes up and there's a bonnet prop built in to fold out and hold it up - design for servicing! I moved it recently - and discovered on doing so, the two long, thin glass touch "pads" were loose - 30 yr old doubled sided foam tape used when it was made had failed. How I didn't drop them . . . The remote body is cast alloy - it would make a good cosh if anyone broke in to complain about the noise

I had an Amstrad something or other plastic thing at uni -record deck on top. When it failed in 1991, I was quite surprised on breaking it up to discover 98% of the cabinet was empty space - everything was on the back of the front plastic bit. I replaced it with a JVC midi system, that other than needing the CD player pot(s) adjusting (a random adjustment after marking where they were, to try to make it play more than 1 in 10 cds placed in it) still works fine - in a corner of my living room right now.

 

[tom2207]

I have still got and use the 3500 B&O that was probably one model range later or the lower priced model same era ,,, it plays the radio every morning through a pair of EVx1s , and does just fine.
Its not what I would class as Hi Fidelity , but its robust and listenable to ,, same flat glass front and double sided tape lol.

 

[Wedg1e]

There's still a Bang & Olufsen shop not far from me, but I have never seen anyone in it.

Most of those 1980s 'midi' and 'mini' systems were single-board constructions in a box of fresh air. There was an 'arms race' in terms of power output, the audio press used to take the P mercilessly over claims of '500W PMPO' and such like... PMPO being a term made up to disguise the fact that if they used the proper terminology of Watts RMS, Joe Public would twig how poor it all was. Allegedly it was the maximum amount of power, irrespective of distortion, that could be delivered at the point the power transistors went short-circuit and melted the speaker coils.

 

[Robotstar5]

I remember the PMPO adverts, seem to recall × .707 then ÷ 2 to get the true rns per channel so your 500W PMPO becomes 176W

 

[ajlelectronics]

Allegedly it was the maximum amount of power, irrespective of distortion, that could be delivered at the point the power transistors went short-circuit and melted the speaker coils.

Yes, take the RMS figure and double it. Then multiply by the number of channels and round the answer up. Total nonsense and is something I often point out on 'bike forums when someone shows their new 400W add on amplifier! Simple physics means that it is actually the same as the radio at no more than 36W RMS per channel.

 

[Blobber]

I have still got and use the 3500 B&O that was probably one model range later or the lower priced model same era ,,, it plays the radio every morning through a pair of EVx1s , and does just fine.
Its not what I would class as Hi Fidelity , but its robust and listenable to ,, same flat glass front and double sided tape lol.

Some of the B&O stuff was really nice to look at, did 2/3 years installing the stuff for a couple of the shops back in the 90s

 

[Red'n'Black]

Most of those 1980s 'midi' and 'mini' systems were single-board constructions in a box of fresh air.

Yep. Started my career in electronics fixing those things for school mates. Build quality was awful but the owners often made things worse by seeing what would happen if they flipped the switch on the rear that said 110 / 240

A new transformer usually got them going again and they were usually happy to pay my extortionate mark-up before their Dad found out what they'd done and walloped them...

 

[minimutly]

There's still a Bang & Olufsen shop not far from me, but I have never seen anyone in it.

Most of those 1980s 'midi' and 'mini' systems were single-board constructions in a box of fresh air. There was an 'arms race' in terms of power output, the audio press used to take the P mercilessly over claims of '500W PMPO' and such like... PMPO being a term made up to disguise the fact that if they used the proper terminology of Watts RMS, Joe Public would twig how poor it all was. Allegedly it was the maximum amount of power, irrespective of distortion, that could be delivered at the point the power transistors went short-circuit and melted the speaker coils.

When I bought our JVC stack system 30 yrs ago I went into the shop and one by one, waited for the sales guy to walk away befor wanging them to flat out. Any with obvious distortion were rejected out of hand. The jvc passed with flying colours. However, I found when using it for our village line dancing, that after a while it turned down it’s own volume control!
It’s still going strong, although I think the secondary speaker outputs have blown.

 

[bricol]

When I bought our JVC stack system 30 yrs ago I went into the shop and one by one, waited for the sales guy to walk away befor wanging them to flat out. Any with obvious distortion were rejected out of hand. The jvc passed with flying colours. However, I found when using it for our village line dancing, that after a while it turned down it’s own volume control!
It’s still going strong, although I think the secondary speaker outputs have blown.

That'a pretty much how I selected mine - took a tape of St Etienne, "He's on the phone" for the drum beat 20 seconds in, recorded on my mum's B&O . . . tried it on a fair few in an big electrical store in Huddersfield that was closing down - and got more money off as a JVC logo was missing from one speaker.

My grandad had a Beolab 1700 - but just the amp and a record deck - it sat in the front, Sunday best, room with all the un-worn, uncomfortable, furniture, best ornaments,etc. Used to wear out Jim Reeves records from memory. That is sat in my living room in a cabinet - too many years in my mum's loft has caused the veneer of the case to come apart though.