Brunswick BR-160 (Radio Guys needed)

[travisgreyfox]

This beautiful machine is my dad's and has been in the family for a long time. I am visiting my parents in Louisiana right now from Pennsylvania for the holidays and while playing some Christmas records it got me wanting to play the radio that has never worked.

I was wondering if any radio people here could tell me which parts it needs and how hard said parts would be to come by. That is if it is even worth trying to do.


Thanks Travis

[travisgreyfox]

The back

[JerryVan]

I'm not seeing a "radio" per se. I'm seeing radio parts. That radio has been gutted. You'd need to find a complete replacement, I'm sorry to say.

The radio is basically an RCA Radiola AR-812, but with the components and front panel rearranged to fit in the B'wick cabinet. Here is an AR-812 chassis, but it's not a drop-in for your Brunswick. The parts should be the same however and should give you some idea what's missing from yours.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275584118576?h ... R5i3ntGmYQ

[travisgreyfox]

Thanks so much Jerry. My dad is pretty handy and I'm hoping he would be able to at least give it a good shot. How tough of a project do you think this would be on a scale from 1 to 10 with all of the parts? ( I guess that question is really subjective).

[JerryVan]

Thanks so much Jerry. My dad is pretty handy and I'm hoping he would be able to at least give it a good shot. How tough of a project do you think this would be on a scale from 1 to 10 with all of the parts? ( I guess that question is really subjective).

I'll just say that with a donor AR-812 chassis, it should be possible. When it's done, you'll also need a battery eliminator, such as the ARBE III, since this was a battery powered radio. You'll also need the tubes**, all of which are UV-199's, which will add up quickly.

https://arbeiii.com/ARBE-III/

**I see the eBay chassis has all 6 tubes. That could be good!

[Skihawx]

It is not clear if the horn driver is present. There is something in one photo that looks like an unconnected tube that may be part of the driver plumbing. Even if the driver was not missing this would be a hard radio to restore. RCA sealed 90% of the components in a catacomb with a resin. The biggest problem today is that the wires have broken or corroded where they leave the resin. But all these small wires are inside and has to be melted out to repair. If it were more like an AC operated Radiola 18 in a Victor 7-26 it would be an easy task. Not to be a Debbie downer I think your chance of success is very low. However, this may be just the encouragement you need to try. If you do, I'm betting on the other side. If you do try to melt the resin, don't tilt the assembly when pulling it out. All the transformers are just sitting on a shelf. If you tilt it at all they will slide off and be left dangling by the wires.

[gunnarthefeisty]

What a headache. Stripped, possibly refinished cabinet as well as most of the radio just being gone.

[ChesterCheetah18]

Hi Travis. That's a very attractive machine. After doing some reading, I thought I would provide some clarity:
The radio chassis supplied by RCA to Brunswick were designated AR-813. The AR-812 board was rectangular, whereas the 813 was square to fit in the Brunswick radio/phono cabinets. The chassis and controls were reconfigured on the 813, but as far as I know are identical to the AR-812.
In fall 1925, RCA began producing the UR-556 adapter that allowed the use of the new UX-120 output tube instead of the UV-199, resulting in much better performance. According to Eric Wenaas' book, all AR-813 chassis were supplied with the adapter.
Brunswick used the AR-813 in several different models. It shouldn't be very difficult to locate a complete 813 board/chassis and driver to get yours back together.
As a side note, Brunswick must have had some unused BR-160 (Tudor) cabinets, because a pamphlet dated Nov. 20 1926 shows a model PR-16-C (Panatrope/Radiola) in the exact same cabinet. It's described as being AC powered, so it must have used a different radio chassis, but still interesting.
Personally, I hope you decide to get it operational, but then again I'm a sucker for those early combination machines. I love 'em.

Steve

[gunnarthefeisty]

Hi Travis. That's a very attractive machine. After doing some reading, I thought I would provide some clarity:
The radio chassis supplied by RCA to Brunswick were designated AR-813. The AR-812 board was rectangular, whereas the 813 was square to fit in the Brunswick radio/phono cabinets. The chassis and controls were reconfigured on the 813, but as far as I know are identical to the AR-812.
In fall 1925, RCA began producing the UR-556 adapter that allowed the use of the new UX-120 power output tube instead of the UV-199, resulting in much better performance. According to Eric Wenaas' book, all AR-813 chassis were supplied with the adapter.
Brunswick used the AR-813 in several different models. It shouldn't be very difficult to locate a complete 813 board/chassis and driver to get yours back together.
As a side note, Brunswick must have had some unused BR-160 (Tudor) cabinets, because a pamphlet dated Nov. 20 1926 shows a model PR-16-C (Panatrope/Radiola) in the exact same cabinet. It's described as being AC powered, so it must have used a different radio chassis, but still interesting.
Personally, I hope you decide to get it operational, but then again I'm a sucker for those early combination machines. I love 'em.

Steve

They also used these for P-3s, presumably the Tudors and the 160s went to PR-16s.

[streetmechanic14]

Travis-
To me it appears that you already have all the parts I would consider challenging to find with the possible exception of the valve for switching the horn throat from the acoustic tonearm to the radio loudspeaker driver- I don't think we've determined yet whether that's still present in your cabinet or not. Rather than look for the actual Brunswick radio which, likely would be difficult to find, I would look for an RCA "Semi-Portable" (RCA's designation) like I show here. It contains all the radio parts you need and, unlike your relatively rare Brunswick, was sold by the tens of thousands and still turns up frequently.
-Dave