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Grundig Tube Console


Gregorius

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I just purchased a old Grundig Tube console in excellent condition at the local thrift shop for $20. The tube compliment for the amp is 2ea Telefunken smoothplate 12ax7's, and 4ea Siemens EL84's. It also has a Dual 1009 TT with spare needle.

I have two questions, first are the Siemens EL84's any good? and is the Dual TT worth keeping and building a cabinet for?

I have no intentions of keeping this monster intact,(no room) and I essentially bought it for the radio tubes, 12ax7's and possibly the TT.

Any suggestions?

Regards,

Greg

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Have you fired the beast up and if so you don't find it almost impossible to tear apart they are so cool intact. I have 3 different console around collesting dust because I just don't have the heart to gut them.

I'm sure the tubes are great !! Do you have a tester to confirm there good ?

Craig

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Craig,

I fired it up for a short time at the thrift, and it sounds pretty good.

My wife is going to crap when she sees the size of this thing, it's like 6 feet long! She hasn't seen it yet, I am going to pick it up after work.

The amp is pretty industrial looking, and it uses proprietary connectors for everything, even the speakers. It has eight speakers "Symphon" brand. Ever heard of them?

I am going to fool with it this winter and see what I can do. I dont have a tube tester, but there is a local fellow that will test them for me.

Regards,

Greg

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Those EL-84 are some of the BEST ever made depending on version. Ditto with the 12AX7. If those tubes are in great shape, you essentially walked away with about 250-300$ of tubes, not to mention the amp. Some of those console amps had LAME transformers but I dont know about yours until you give more info.

Let's just say you got a DEAL. No tube rectification?

kh

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Mobile,

I think that the transformers are pretty lame on this one. The amp seems to be built essentially on c-channel. It has a large, flat square trans. that I believe is the power trans, and two output trans that do not even have bell caps on them. I will investigate further when I get it home.

Mike,

It looks exactly like the top photo that you posted. I didn't test the TT out very thoroughly as they had wanted $50 for it and I offered them $20 and they took it. I guess it had been setting for quite some time and they were glad to get rid of it.

Are parts still avail. for this TT if the need ever arises? ie. cartridges, idler wheels, etc.

I would appreciate any info that could be provided.

Regards,

Greg

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That 1st one was manufactured from 1964 to 1966. Here is a link to the Dual Classic Website for that TT...

http://www.compassnet.com/concept/tables/1009.htm

Can you tell what kind of cartidge is on it? Unfortunately, the classic site doesn't have any specs on that table (they are looking for them). I would search the net for info on it...

Mike

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I posted something last summer about a Grundig console I saw at the flea market. They ARE cool looking, huh? I poked around (as much as I could without a screwdriver to remove the back) and saw a down-firing JBL woofer. Couldn't make out the tubes, but I'm sure the compliment was similar to yours. He just wanted too much for it (as I recall, over $100), and my daughter was begging me not to bring another big, heavy box home ("But Honey....look! Thars tubes in thar!!").

fini

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Greetings Gentlemen,

I picked it up on Friday, and spent Saturday checking it out.

It has 8 speakers made by Grundig, kind of cheap, chrome-plated stamped spiders, small magnets. The 2ea 12" woofers have foam rot on the surrounds. The remaining look like 2ea 3" speakers, and 4 ea 4"x6" ovals, with two of them having a plastic device in the center, kind of like the paper whizzer cones that i've seen.

The Dual TT is in excellent shape, but it sounds like it needs a new cartridge. I installed the new needle and it seemed to have an excessive amount of silibance at low volume. It is a Dual TK071 with a DN43 needle.

The radio section is alright, not as good as the Fisher 800C, but it does have shortwave.

What would be a good, low-cost cartridge for this TT? It seems to have a pretty heavy arm, and a massive platter, I guess for speed stability.

I am having my doubts as too keeping this one intact. I will probably keep the tubes and TT, and see what happens for the remainder.

I found a receipt for this in the documentation. It was purchased by a Captain in the US Army stationed in Germany, in March 1965.

Regards,

Greg

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