radiola: Radiola 549A restoration - tips wanted on first steps

ID: 543643
This article refers to the model: RA549A (Radiola (marque))

? radiola: Radiola 549A restoration - tips wanted on first steps 
29.Aug.20 16:26
38

William Smith (CH)
Articles: 2
Count of Thanks: 4

Dear members,

I have just joined radiomuseum.org and would like your advice getting started with the restoration of a Radiola 549A radio I bought recently.

First, I think it is identical (except for the grill) to the Philips 638 A, which is no surprise given the historical links between the Radiola and Philips companies. Is it safe then to assume it is OK to use 638 information such as the schematic posted for the Philips 638 here.

I do hope so because I found a detailed step by step restoration of the 638 described here (in French) which would be very useful.

Second, I plan to replace the capacitors. I can see their microfarad (and micromicrofarad) values in the schematic. But it's not clear to me what voltage rating they should be. A valve amp I built from a kit recently has capacitors with voltages ranging from 25V to 450V, so I am aware I need to be careful about this.

Lastly (for now) I can see one of the valves is broken as bits are rattling inside it. It's a E463 penthode, this one here.

I guess I can replace it with any of the ones marked as identical, right? Do you have any tips about buying valves? Like new versus used, ebay or known dealers or anything else?

Looking forward to your help

Best regards,

Will

 

To thank the Author because you find the post helpful or well done.

 2
radiola: Radiola 549A restoration - tips wanted on first steps 
30.Aug.20 00:55
38 from 879

Gidi Verheijen (NL)
Officer
Articles: 247
Count of Thanks: 3
Gidi Verheijen

Dear Will,

Model Radiola 549A uses the Philips 638A chassis, so for repair purposes you may use the documentation of the Philips 638A.

See table of equivalent Radiola and Philips types for the early years:

By the way, your link to the French site with the step by step restoration description does not work. You should end the link with html in stead of htm.

Regards,

Gidi

 

To thank the Author because you find the post helpful or well done.

 3
radiola: Radiola 549A restoration - tips wanted on first steps 
30.Aug.20 14:40
79 from 879

William Smith (CH)
Articles: 2
Count of Thanks: 3

Dear Gidi,

Thank you for the information about the Philips 638A chassis and pointing out the non-working link which I have now corrected.

Regards,

Will

To thank the Author because you find the post helpful or well done.