Elmas Xantia V6 and Musical Stuff

[elma]

Ooh I'm so glad it wasn't that model, I'd be kicking myself.
What's a top 10 list of valve radios to look out for? I don't really know anything about them. Would be good to familiarise so I can hunt out the real bargains.

[CitroJim]

What's a top 10 list of valve radios to look out for?

For my money I'd be looking for the following:

Note that this is a personal list... YMMV and everyone has their own tastes in these things...

I only do VHF sets myself... MW/LW ones are not usable and are largely ornamental now. I use mine on a daily basis...

Whilst I'm typing this I'm listening to Pick of the Pops on a Leak Troughline Stereo running into a Leak Stereo 30 amp and a pair of Leak Sandwich 250 speakers... Nothing newer than the late 60s there!

VHF:

Pye Fenman II - dates from 1955 and is the benchmark in audoi quality
Bush VHF64 - almost on a par with the Pye Fenman.
Bush VHF 80/81- Good beginners sets - the 80 and 81 are electrically identical but the 80 is in a Bakelite cabinet rather than the wood of the 81
Bush VHFXX (where XX is a two digit number)
Ultra U930
Any Philips VHF set.
Grundigs - German rip-offs of Bush sets!

Non VHF:

Bush DAC90/90A
Cossor Meloday Maker
Any Philips set
Any KB set
Any Murphy set

Hi-Fi Tuners

Leak Troughline 1/II/III/Stereo - the latter is rare. All valves bar the stereo which has a three transistor stereo decoder... To find one with the original decoder still in-situ is ever rarer...

Transistor...

Anything by Hacker or Roberts. Hacker is by far the best and a nice Herald VHF or Hunter is a joy...
Leak Stereofetic Tuner - An early solid-state stereo Tuner using FETs...

Amps

Anything Leak but very expensive now... Early transistorised Stereo 30 and 70 amps can still be got cheaply...
Anything Quad... Similarly eyewateringly expensive to Leak

Some early Jap stuff is OK too...

Speakers

Any Leak Sandwich
Any old Wharfedales, especially Lintons and Dentons but watch out for dissolved foam rubber cone suspensions.. later ones used neoprene which did not dissolve. Speakers from other manufacturers have been observed to suffer similar issues, including early B and O speakers...
Quad electrostatics! Expensive...

Decks

Garrard SP25 MK III (An incredibly popular deck in the 70s and still good today. Getting pricey)
Garrard 401 /301 with SME arm... The standard and eyewateringly expensive... proper transcription decks.
Pioneer PL-12D
Thoreans - any you can afford...

Ortofon cartridges...

That list is not exhaustive... Should get you started!

[elma]

Thanks Jim, that's a fantastic list to get reading up on. I'm not sure I actually need one as Zel kindly offered me a spare. However I would get much pleasure from restoring one and passing it to a worthy person so will be adding wireless to my weekly scavenge.

Zel I'm passing MK next Sunday on way home from Wales. I intend to stop for a cup of tea with Jim if he's not out running or cycling. Would you possibly be around for a similar visit? It won't be a long one as I'll have a van to unload and the dog but it would be great to meet you, Tesla, the fleet and collect that wireless.

I'll be making a similar trip in a month or so with the Xantia so I'll try you both again soon anyway.

[Zelandeth]

Sure we can work something out, just make sure to nudge me nearer the time as I'll probably forget otherwise!

[elma]

Will do.

[elma]

Jim, I almost forgot, I have a bike repair stand and assorted tools to drop to you on that trip as well. Not really got room for them here so if you aren't around maybe we can make arrangements for a neighbour to take delivery.

[Zelandeth]

Sure I can hold on to anything like that and drop it around at a convenient time if it comes to it.

[CitroJim]

Zel I'm passing MK next Sunday on way home from Wales. I intend to stop for a cup of tea with Jim if he's not out running or cycling.

As soon as you can advise me of a rough time James, I'll be home I can always adjust my cycling/running times to tie-in!

[elma]

Brilliant, I'm aiming for middayish. I plan to leave Wales straight after breakfast as I have to get the van home, unload it, return it to Luton and drive the Xantia home all in one day. Bit much really but no choice.

[CitroJim]

Brilliant, I'm aiming for middayish.

That'll be spot-on for me James

[elma]

I'll be travelling French despite the lack of Xantia, Peugeot boxer hdi. It's horrible on long journeys and great around town.

[elma]

Finally got her.

OWLN Work

Not my greatest picture but she's camera shy and just won't pose.

[CitroJim]

I love owls James... I think that's a brilliant picture

Well done for getting her on film!

[elma]

She is stunning. I've set the camera to a higher shutter speed and sports mode (rapid fire) so next time I grab it hopefully there's no blur. There's so little warning she's coming it's a mad dash to get a shot.

[elma]

Xantia hit a real milestone tonight. She's 123,000 miles old!!!!
Well 123,001 now I'm home.
Some really special numbers to come soon like 123,321 and 123,456.
I've rest the trip distance so I get 3217 and 4567 respectively with the above mileages.
Struggling to decide though do 123,456 and 4,567 go together better than 123,456 and 1,234, I have 332 miles to decide.
Maybe 123,321 goes with 1,233 and 123,456 with 1,234
ooh, hard decision to make.

Actually just realised they are all wrong.
Trip should say 1221 at 123,321 and then 1234 at 123,456
Glad I got to the bottom of that.


Guitars coming along nicely too.
Just need to choose the shape of the headstock.
Shown here with an old scrap neck as I'm cutting out shapes to hold over it to find something I like.
My whole neck and fretboard are mahogany though so the headstock won't be pale like in the picture.
Theme at the moment is Telecaster style blended with Oyster mushroom shape which is damn hard to cut out.

Own Work

There's so many little decisions to make that are painstakingly hard as I have to visualise things that may be a little different to how I imagine.
The neck inlays is the next bit.
As I have a totally SS and Brass theme I think I'm having traditional brass dots but with a SS ring around them or vice versa.
My frets will be brass though so maybe just SS dots.