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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 tubes are 12SA7GT, 12K7GT,
12Q7GT, 35L6GT & 35Z5GT. Almost
but not quite the octal AA5 tube-set
(12SA7GT, 12SK7GT, 12SQ7GT,
50L6GT & 35Z5GT) that was
becoming available at just about the
time this radio was being produced.
The chassis is very compact though
extremely well laid out and easy to
service. I re-capped it 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 suspected the unit's dynamic
loudspeaker.
As is common with many 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. The result was
distorted and tinny sound at low
volumes. I hoped the cone would
free up if I ran the set for a while,
but this was not to be. After several
attempts at fixing this problem, my
eventual (temporary) solution was
to insert a small sliver of wood bet-
ween the output transformer and
loudspeaker frame (see far right).
This twisted the speaker enough
to allow the cone to move freely,
without noticeable distortion. I fig-
ured this was vastly preferable to
replacing the loudspeaker and
sacrificing the set's originality!
five-tube ac/dc powered standard-
broadcast super-heterodyne receiver.
The tubes are 12SA7GT, 12K7GT,
12Q7GT, 35L6GT & 35Z5GT. Almost
but not quite the octal AA5 tube-set
(12SA7GT, 12SK7GT, 12SQ7GT,
50L6GT & 35Z5GT) that was
becoming available at just about the
time this radio was being produced.
The chassis is very compact though
extremely well laid out and easy to
service. I re-capped it 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 suspected the unit's dynamic
loudspeaker.
As is common with many 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. The result was
distorted and tinny sound at low
volumes. I hoped the cone would
free up if I ran the set for a while,
but this was not to be. After several
attempts at fixing this problem, my
eventual (temporary) solution was
to insert a small sliver of wood bet-
ween the output transformer and
loudspeaker frame (see far right).
This twisted the speaker enough
to allow the cone to move freely,
without noticeable distortion. I fig-
ured this was vastly preferable to
replacing the loudspeaker and
sacrificing the set's originality!
Majestic Radio & TV Corporation
Cramped quarters indeed!
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