Majestic Model 1S49 "Melody Cruiser" Radio (1940)
This model of a ship incorporates a five-tube ac/dc powered standard-broadcast super-heterodyne receiver.
The tube line-up is 12SA7GT, 12K7GT, 12Q7GT, 35L6GT and 35Z5GT. Almost but not quite the standard
octal AA5 tube-set (12SA7GT, 12SK7GT, 12SQ7GT, 50L6GT and 35Z5GT) that was becoming available at
just about the time this radio was being manufactured.
The chassis is very compact though extremely well laid out and as a result easy to service. I re-capped this
radio by re-stuffing the original capacitors, including the tubular electrolytic. A few resistors had drifted high
in value and were replaced. There was a broken connection to the antenna coil that resulted in poor
sensitivity prior to repair. Once these issues had been addressed, however, the sound was still very distorted
and unsatisfactory and I immediately suspected the unit's dynamic loudspeaker.
As is common with many of these small receivers, the speaker cone had become misaligned (due to
long-term storage or the long-ago high temperatures of operation in the cramped cabinet? Who knows). The
net result was distorted sound and very tinny operation at low volumes. I hoped the cone would free up if I
operated the set for a while, but this was not to be. After several attempts at fixing this problem, my eventual
solution was to insert a small sliver of wood between the output transformer and loudspeaker frame, as seen
below right. This twisted the speaker enough to allow the cone to move freely, without noticeable distortion. I
figured this was vastly preferable to replacing the loudspeaker and sacrificing the set's originality!
The tube line-up is 12SA7GT, 12K7GT, 12Q7GT, 35L6GT and 35Z5GT. Almost but not quite the standard
octal AA5 tube-set (12SA7GT, 12SK7GT, 12SQ7GT, 50L6GT and 35Z5GT) that was becoming available at
just about the time this radio was being manufactured.
The chassis is very compact though extremely well laid out and as a result easy to service. I re-capped this
radio by re-stuffing the original capacitors, including the tubular electrolytic. A few resistors had drifted high
in value and were replaced. There was a broken connection to the antenna coil that resulted in poor
sensitivity prior to repair. Once these issues had been addressed, however, the sound was still very distorted
and unsatisfactory and I immediately suspected the unit's dynamic loudspeaker.
As is common with many of these small receivers, the speaker cone had become misaligned (due to
long-term storage or the long-ago high temperatures of operation in the cramped cabinet? Who knows). The
net result was distorted sound and very tinny operation at low volumes. I hoped the cone would free up if I
operated the set for a while, but this was not to be. After several attempts at fixing this problem, my eventual
solution was to insert a small sliver of wood between the output transformer and loudspeaker frame, as seen
below right. This twisted the speaker enough to allow the cone to move freely, without noticeable distortion. I
figured this was vastly preferable to replacing the loudspeaker and sacrificing the set's originality!
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