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The RE-45 is a very good performer when properly restored. The sound quality us quite nice. In one of the earliest issues of Consumer Reports the RE-45 was rated as a "best buy" among second-hand radio although at the time it was a decade out of date. Their evaluation included the line"the fidelity of reproduction offered by this model exceeds all but the most expensive combinations currently on the market."

This is an RE-75 I just got back together last week. I don't have it completely put together as I can't figure out where I went with the lamp in the record compartment. But it's a very nice sounding machine, and has the same components as the RE-45 does. I did put a later tone arm on it because I think the later tone arm isn't quite as hard on the records. I think they are very nice machines, and they are kind of heavy but not as bad as a lot of the radio/phonographs made in those years. And they are pretty easy to find parts for too, and that's nice as well. They must have been considered a good deal when they were new as Victor sure sold a lot of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDteccACzJs

Earl, that thing sounds good! And I see you're a George Olsen fan too. Nice.

By the bye, just how hard was it to start it back up? Looks like a really good sounding machine--I like the little RE-45 because it's about the only old-time radiophonograph I could shoehorn into my tiny room. (Basically, every time I buy a machine, I have to be getting one that does a special job. Found out the windups don't do radio very well...)

Anyhow, we'll see if the seller responds...I hope he does instead of just playing a game. My guess is, he's an older fellow and not the most computer-savvy.

The guy that went through the electric side of it said that they really aren't hard to go through. I have 5 rebuilt pickup heads that will fit it, and they all do sound different on it. It's kind of funny, but I guess it's just the way it is with those early machine. They all sound ok, but there are difference. They do have a tone control on the back of the amplifier and that is a really nice feature as well. The radio actually picks up quite a few stations around here with no wire on it for an aerial. I should try hooking it up to a ground and my outside aerial and see how it works. I'm not keeping it, but I do like it very much.

The title of this thread started by VanEpsFan is "RE-45 Electrola: High Fidelity, or a boat-anchor?" so I decided it might be fun to test the electronics and see which way it turns. I pulled an RE-45 amp out of storage and replaced the filter caps and a couple bypass ones also, the minimum work that should be done before plugging one of these into the AC line.

If you have no interest in electrical stuff, don't bother reading any further. You have been warned....

The first item on the agenda was to come up with a value of the input and output impedance (AC resistance)so the tests would be correct and repeatable. There are two inputs to the amplifier one is a low impedance for the phono pickup and the other a high impedance for the radio. Both windings are on the same input transformer.

Time for the GR impedance bridge:
The Bridge is on the right and amplifier being tested is on the left.

Measured:

Phono input: 140 ohms
Radio input: 6,800 ohms

Speaker output: 38 ohms

With this information I could measure the maximum power output and distortion.

The clipping point occurs at 2.5 watts (the point at which the peaks of a sine wave begin to flatten and distortion increases.

At 2.5 watts the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) is 2.3%
At 3 watts THD increases to 5%
At 5 watts THD is over 15% (good for guitars only)
At 1.4 watts THD is at 1%

THD under 10% at that time would have been considered very good, today 1% is considered to be just passing.

The next test is the frequency response, the test setup shown:
The test results were quite good for 1929, very bad by today's standards:

Measurement are at the -3db points on the curves (point where output power has dropped by a half)

With the tone control at minimum cut (full CCW)..80Hz to 5.1KHz
With the tone control at 50%.....................30Hz to 3.8KHz
With the tone control at maximum cut (full CW)...60Hz to 770Hz


So is it High Fidelity? Not really by today's standards, but in 1929 with the recordings that you would have been listening to that had content maybe up to about 5,500Hz the first time played, it sounded quite good.

I wouldn't be in a rush to replace a modern system with one unless you are only listening to 1920's & 30's vintage recordings. One other point is the amp is designed to work with the Victor speaker that matches the output impedance of the amp, connecting a 4 or 8 ohm speaker basically will change the performance, not in a good way.


Chuck

Nice, Chuck! Thanks for showing us how it's done.

Best,
Fran

Very interesting facts. As I said before it was not really into the late 30's that home electrical playback equipment could go up much past 10K at all. Some Edison Diamond Discs and cylinders can go past 5K, on good days peaking at 10K as we see acoustical 78s, and even this very good sounding 78rpm player does not really go above 5K, when fully restored. Although just for listening to 78's ignoring the actual figures, I love the sound of these magnetic pickups over even a full range Grado cartridge at that has a range of 10cps-50,000cps.

Just kidding. Nice writeup, Chuck! Nice equipment stash too.

As to records of the era being "lo- fi" though... I have quite a few in my collection that really "come alive" on my modern stuff... the fidelity of laminated electric Columbias is pretty damn astounding... right from the beginning, too. I listened to Lanin's "Flag That Train" on a flag label electric the other night... one of the earliest Electric pressings... and wow.

Victors have good fidelity too but suffer from surface noise. One of the things I find particularly annoying is the lead out "whistle" on a lot of black label Orhophonics... and if you have a copy of Whitey Kaufman's "Paddelin' Madeline Home" the feedback is REALLY bad on that early Batwing electric... number 197-something- something if I recall.

Brunswick's first foray into electric was a disaster, suffering from what I call "input-too-high syndrome". Same with red "GE" Gennetts and some of the Electrobeams as well.

But Victor did wonders with "Z" shellac in their Red Seal series, and lots of 1932-33 Victors and Bluebirds were true high fidelity.

Victor tried again with "higher fidelity" in 1938, but gave up after just a few demo issues.

Incredible history and thanks for the electrical information. I haven't had the chance to go for it as the owner seems to have dropped off the face of the earth...

Still, this thread is saving a bit of info about these particularly interesting old combinations.

gramophone-georg wrote:
Just kidding. Nice writeup, Chuck! Nice equipment stash too.
As to records of the era being "lo- fi" though... I have quite a few in my collection that really "come alive" on my modern stuff... the fidelity of laminated electric Columbias is pretty damn astounding... right from the beginning, too. I listened to Lanin's "Flag That Train" on a flag label electric the other night... one of the earliest Electric pressings... and wow.

I do have to admit that they were able to record frequencies to around 10KHz, but after many plays with pickups with 6 ounce tracking force they tend to get worn away. I have a 12" Victor test record that has a 10KHz frequency, I use it to test the magnetic pickups after rebuilding and I have noticed that I am seeing the 9 & 10KHz frequencies starting to drop in level from when I started to use it. As a test I see the drop in level with a modern pickup that is "flat" beyond 10KHz so I'm sure it's not that my rebuilding skills are getting worse.

Chuck