The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I bought this instruction manual on eBay (has not arrived yet) ...a model 690? ....only one line drawing of the inside of the set loks like a Radiola 80 chassis anyone ever seen this ? can not wait foe ir to arrive ...hope there are more pictures

Looks like neat book. I am guessing there were General Electric, Graybar and Westinghouse versions of the Radiola 86. Who this one was made for is a question? Why doesn't it have a name on the cover? RCA made equivalent models for Radiola 44, 46, 80, 82. There must have been one for the 86. Whey is says automatic? Does it really change records? Will be interesting to see.

Looks like it had a Capehart changer!!!

It appears that neither the RCA name, nor the Radiola name, nor the Electrola name are shown on that book, at least not in the photos above. As pointed out above, that suggests this was made for someone else. Maybe it is not a US marketed set.

Yet, the radio chassis and the power unit chassis are identical to the ones in the RCA RAE 59 (except that the picture of the back of an RAE 59 shown below has a shield around the radio chassis). It is possible the changer is really an RCA changer as shown in the picture below?

Maybe this manual is for a set aimed at the Canadian market.

Russie look at the line drawing the power supply is the Radiola 80-82 style one interconnect cable .My theroy is that Victor had not been aquired by RCA when the set was concieved ,since everyone then was coming out with an automatic machine ( I have a Philco,a Grebe and a Silvertone with the 10-12 changer) RCA needed something with a changer too so made this for a VERY short time because of Victors being taken over by RCA ..... The Riders entry does say RCA and Capehart ...I hope there is a top view picture

more information

Skihawx wrote:. I found some more information I had on a RCA 690. Not sure how it cannot be the same.. Introduced 5/29/31 with a retail price of $117 and 2,497 were produced. Not really sure how this can be anything else. But why doesn't it have RCA on the cover and why wasn't there a service manual available??

Vinrage_mania wrote:Russie look at the line drawing the power supply is the Radiola 80-82 style one interconnect cable .My theroy is that Victor had not been aquired by RCA when the set was concieved ,since everyone then was coming out with an automatic machine ( I have a Philco,a Grebe and a Silvertone with the 10-12 changer) RCA needed something with a changer too so made this for a VERY short time because of Victors being taken over by RCA ..... The Riders entry does say RCA and Capehart ...I hope there is a top view picture

more information

Skihawx wrote:. I found some more information I had on a RCA 690. Not sure how it cannot be the same.. Introduced 5/29/31 with a retail price of $117 and 2,497 were produced. Not really sure how this can be anything else. But why doesn't it have RCA on the cover and why wasn't there a service manual available??

Back in 1981 I restored a 690 for Charlie Hummel It was decided it was a canadian machine.

Ah Ha ! ....that explains why we have not seen any- many

Don, Yes, that is a very interesting combination. There seems to be some conflicting clues about it being a Capehart, and that is what I'm trying to figure out. I see that the page from Rider's does mention the Capehart changer, yet when I compare the dimension of the upper back part of the 690 cabinet shown in the line drawing to the dimension of a cabinet that houses a Capehart changer (see photos below), it does not look like the upper part of the cabinet in the line drawing is deep enough to house the taller Capehart changer.

In addition, the Rider's page references a Capehart 10-12C, a later version of that changer which appeared in other brands around 1932. (Skihawx mentions several of them, and I'll add General Motors to that list, which is shown in the photos below.) Yet, the chassis' in the 690 are earlier than that, by years.

It seems a little confusing considering the clues don't add up.

Russie the 10-12 was made for almost 10 years this s one in a 38 Philco combination ,but that is odd and you are right no way did it fit in any of the RE cabinets Don

Wow! I didn't know Philco used the 10-12 that late. Would that be a 10-12D, E, F or G? Just kidding. Makes sense though, that style of changer was quite reliable, at least in my experience. There is a 10-12(A) in my Capehart Model 5, a 10-12B in my Kelley "Kombo" and a 10-12C in my GM Model 290. All of them work (so far) when played, and sometimes years go by without being turned on.

How good does that Philco sound?

When that booklet arrives, I hope you'll post more pics of it. Cheers, Russie