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I kind of not looker but rather listener and when I do something I prefer to have a radio than TV. When I was hunting for my house I among other thing was looking to have a layout of the rooms what sound of my playback was well heard in my kitchen. Since I hate stairs and I ended up with a ranch- style home that has, as I thought, a perfect kitchen arrangement. My kitchen is in little middle of the house, surrounded with rooms from all sides and wide-opened to my listening room. That was perfect.

I said “was” perfect as I a bit changed my opinion on the subject. The kitchen in my home has become a main living location as it located at the middle of everything and has very comfortable permanent fixed-in table. Most of my time I spend at home I spend in kitchen, not necessary cooking but do everything, staring from working and ending writing this post, in other words my kitchen feels more like a social place. What I discovered with time is that to run my main playback what I am busy in my social kitchen is not always a good idea. My playback is in a way demanding, it is too large to be as background and I feel that for my social kitchen I would like to have some local chamber- type, small sound.

So, what a big deal, set up any mini hi-fi at the kitchen and shut up, what to write about it? Well, I think it is time to tell about another long-standing well dream. I always was thinking to myself that what I get my larger permanent place I will build my midbass horn. Ming another wet dream was in larger place to bring back from my childhood the sound of large radios from 50s.

In beginning of my teens, when I was 11-12 years old I used my reel-to-reel mono machine and I used the old radios as active speakers. Then in the begin of 80 people begin to trash the old radios from 50s and I was pulping them from trash, removed the drivers and made from those drivers my first two stand alone loudspeakers, 6 driver per speakers. I have absolutely no idea what I was doing at that time and I “invented” my own rules. I for instance thought the change in sound when I was connecting drivers parallel vs. in series was my very personal secretive discovery…

Anyhow, I was very friendly with old radio in my past and I have an idea to put one of them in my kitchen. I love how some of the radios from 50s looks like and I love their sound. This is a pure fetish thing but I literally feel horny when I switch from FM to AM with piano button and hear the mechanical springs resonances in a wonderful wooden box. Some of those radios in fact sounded very well, at least for what they meant to do at that time.

So, I kind of slowly look through the park of German early FM radio from 50s. I want one that looks very nice, in mint cosmetic condition, mono, with all original circuit, fully aligned, that will do up to 100mHz and with multiple speakers, preferably multi-amped intently. I do not expect this radio to beat my top end tuners but it will be very different objective. What could be more wonderful then listening on those wonderful old radios some Die Fledermaus tunes while baking portabella mushrooms in garlic?

Anyhow, I would like to make this gift to myself; I do not know what more in this: nostalgia, stupidity of celebration on whatever I like. There are an army of Schaub-Lorenzes , Blaupunkts, Telefunkens, Loewe-Optas, Grundigs, Nordmendes, Sabas, Graetzs, Wegas, Siemenses and many others. There are some wonderful French and Dutch radios. I do not need to know them all but I need one, sexy looking, with good reception and kindly sounding. If somebody has any experience with old radios then tell me what model is look for.

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