vidor Lady Margaret: CN429, Deluxe CN434

Questions about Lady Margaret

Schematics/Service/Circuit Diagrams
Trader has CN429
R&TVS has CN429 and CN434

Neither has any mention of "Deluxe" or "Z" versions. For simplicity I don't refer to "My Lady Margaret" but just Lady Margaret (Vidor used both forms).

I have two "official" Vidor service sheets. The CN396 is a reprint of ERT.  The CN430 appears to be a "real" Vidor work. I've not got others but seen some on eBay (but £3 each + £5 postage is too much!)

There are suggestions

1. That there is a CN429Z (differences unknown) (Adrian's portable Tubes¹)
2. That there is a de luxe version of CN429 (Adrian's portable Tubes¹).
3. Here that there are "early" (gone from here as it was a duplicate) and "late" versions of CN434 Lady Margaret Deluxe

Lady Margaret CN429

(from June 1954 according to Trader)

It's evident that there are variations of labels inside lid of the CN429. Some have the round V sticker top left others have Vidor, "Vidor & Lady Margaret" or Lady Margaret in the middle. Vidor sometimes called it "My Lady Margaret".
Adrian claims the CN429Z has clear knobs, but mine has clear knobs and no indication of a "Z".
It's one of the smallest Vidor cases but the CN435 Lady Catherine only differs in panel style and is same case & chassis. The CN435Z Lady Catherine uses a PCB.

Note that Service Information doesn't "Name" either CN429, CN434 or CN435. Vidor in other literature and on labels affixed to inside of lid is inconsistent in naming.

Lady Margaret Deluxe CN434

(Probably 1957, maybe late 1956? Not in Trader)
It seems to me that the "Deluxe" consists of purely cosmetic changes on the panel.

(Edited from Seller sandway7 ebay 261383726324)

Differences CN434  from CN429

1. The grill / panel has an extra ridge around the speaker grill with V at top and recess for knobs.
2. There is an extra Vidor badge above the wavechange which only has L & M not the Vidor of CN429
3. The case is curved rather than flat at the sides.
4. The DK96 pin 5 shares DF96 screen grid resistor and decoupler (separate on CN429) and C14 4.7pF on DF96 anode omitted. Otherwise the chassis look identical with minor component value changes (i.e. C1 reduced to 130pF instead of 150pF, the CN429 uses lower value resistors on DAF96 than the CN434).

Questions:

1. Is there really a CN429 Deluxe (i.e. appearance as CN434)?
2. Is there really a CN429Z, if so what is the change?
3. Are all CN434 the "Deluxe" style?
4. Are all CN434 called "Deluxe" on the badge?
5. Are there "early" (gone from here as it was a duplicate) and "late" versions of CN434 Deluxe, or is in fact the "Early" version a CN429 based "Deluxe" (i.e. CN429 case & chassis but CN434 panel)?

Searches of current and past ebay listings and Internet (over a period of time) don't show me more than two versions (CN429 not Delux and Deluxe CN434) other than here and Adrian's portabletubes site. If anyone finds an authentic "Deluxe" with CN429 Chassis and label that will be created.

¹See www portabletubes co uk/portables/v429VAR htm (replace spaces with dots)

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

The CN434 "early" has been deleted from Radiomuseum as it was a duplicate and all material moved to the other CN434  Lady_Margaret

Re-reading Mark Johnson's "Attaché Radios" (and exhaustive searching over last couple of years) I have some conclusions.

Mark says Vidor's use of Model labels is inconsistent. For example a PCB model Lady Catherine CN435Z with older chassis model paper label inside. Multiple models have Round label with big "V" with over typed Vidor, or rounded rectangle Vidor with or without "Lady xxxxxx" or "My Lady xxxxx" in smaller print or only with "Lady xxxxxx" or "My Lady xxxxx".

Vidor used a lot of common chassis parts and cabinets. Many models seem built down to a price, I can imagine them simply using up stocks of badges/labels or using old stock or generic round badge to finish sets in production when they ran out of a "My Lady Margaret" rounded rectangle badge.

So I think probably ALL "Lady Margaret Deluxe" are C434, and if one has a CN429 label then that is Vidor's error! Or even someone swapped a good chassis in a wood-wormed box into an older box with bad chassis. I'm sceptical that a CN429Z exists, but it might. "A", "B" and "Z" seem to be suffixes that Vidor used for a revision. Almost no CN420A appears to have a CN420A label. Perhaps the CN420A isn't the Dx96 125mA LT version and CN420 covers early Dx91 250mA LT models and later Dx96 125mA LT version with the "A" version being some other revision.

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