Slightly OT - Edison Radios & Radio Phonographs Adverts

[Valecnik]

A few Edison Radio and Radio-Phonograph Adverts I've had for a long time...

Nine models are pictured. R1, R2, (no R3 is listed, was there one?)R4, R5, R6, R7, C1, C2, C4

At one time I had the C2, C4, R5 and R6. Have a look at especially at the R6 in the very last picture. Listed here at $297 less tubes, I'm sure I have another, earlier brochure in which it's listed at $495 less tubes in 1929!

First, from September 1928...

[Valecnik]

From March 1929

[Valecnik]

From August 1929

[Valecnik]

From July 1930

[WDC]

Thank you for posting these! Although I never got into early radios, these Edison machines are really great. One day...

[gregbogantz]

Bruce, those are nice copies of the Edison brochures. There was no model R-3 or C-3. I've never heard an explanation of why those numbers were skipped. There was also the very elusive R-8 which was in the 1930 model year lineup. It appears in some of the company literature, but nobody has ever seen one, to my knowledge. It seems from pictures to have been a rehashed R-5 with extra gingerbread added to the cabinet. Also not known is whether it used the 1929 or the 1930 chassis. The Edison Radio/Phono division went belly up in late 1929, so the 1930 models were essentially clearance items. The 1929 cabinets seem to be poorer quality than either the 1928 or the 1930 models - I especially like the R-6 design. The 1928 chassis were the poorest designs with a quasi-regenerative tuner that was subject to squealing and oscillating if improperly aligned, but the later two model years were good designs that worked well. These sets are early designs that did not use electrolytic capacitors, so you often find them still in working condition even though they are 80 years old. Can you say the same about your first computer or VCR that's maybe only 10 to 30 years old?

[Lenoirstreetguy]

These are great! I've never seen the last two brochures before. It's too bad about the Edison Radio. I've always thought they might have made a go of it if they had a) introduced the line to the market even six months before they did, and b) if they had marketed a cheap table model with better than average performance ..which they could have called the New Gem . But they went after the high end of the market. It looked great until the stock market crash, but then even Atwater Kent, one of the radio gurus of the twenties, got sucked in. He had built his massive company by selling cheap sets which performed well for the money. But in 1928-29 he introduced a line of more expensive consoles. Philco saved themselves by their Gothic models : cheap and good!

Jim

[ChuckA]

As Greg said in his post the R-8 is the most elusive of the Edison "R" series radios, if it was ever produced in quantity. This is a copy of a marketing picture of the set that I got years ago,
not great quality as it is a B&W copy.




Chuck

[phonophan79]

Great advertising brochures!

Thanks for sharing!

Here are some pics from when I owned an R-5...

[gregbogantz]

Thanks for the R-8 picture, Chuck. It had been a while since I looked at it, but the tuner control layout would indicate that it uses the 1929 chassis. The 1930 tuner was quite different. Edison must have had a surplus of both R-5 cabinets and 1929 chassis and decided to market the excess items with a tarted-up cabinet as the R-8 in 1930. But there seems to be no evidence that this model was actually brought to market.

Since they are not commonly seen, I have attached some pictures of the 1930 model sets below. Compare with the above pictures of the 1929 R-5. Note the control layouts and the escutcheons are different on all three model years. The green paint on the 1929 chassis was factory original. And the copper/gold paint on the 1928 and 1930 chassis was also original.