Interesting RCA Model K portable on eBay - wind up & tubes

[AllWoundUp]

Wind up turntable and battery powered tube amp, best of both worlds, or the opposite?

I'd love to have one but $2575.00 is a bit much for me, is it really worth that much?

[ebay]http://www.ebay.com/itm/170713620654?ss ... 673wt_1042[/ebay]

[alang]

These designer art deco portables show up from time to time on eBay (or maybe always the same one?), always for outrages prices. Not sure if any of them ever sold? Interesting, but far from worth that much IMO.
Andreas

[gregbogantz]

Yes, the allure of this particular model is strictly based on the fact that the styling was designed by John Vassos. Otherwise, it is not particularly interesting or unique. Philco and other makers sold similar spring-powered phonos with battery operated tube amps in this prewar period. If you have any interest in one of these, remember that they employed crystal pickup cartridges which are now sure to be nonfunctional. You would have to have the cartridge rebuilt or replaced with a modern ceramic type to get the unit working. The battery packs for these things are also pretty much unobtanium. They were single blobs that contained both the A (usually 1.5 volts) and the B (usually 45 to 90 volts) batteries. Some of these blobs even had C batteries (about 4.5 volts) in them as well. Of course, you can modify these sets to operate with a battery eliminator power supply if you choose to do so.