Restoring the Bel Canto Aries series 81 radio. The Aries came with a phono input and a Peerless dynamic speaker. The field coil is open and well as the primary on the audio output that is mounted on the speaker. I've never seen a speaker constructed quite like this, the audio transformer doesn't look like it has a secondary but has what appears to be two cantilevers moving the cone. Does anyone have a diagram or first hand information regarding this particular speaker? I can take a pic and post if needed.

thanks

Larry,

That sounds like a reed type speaker but the schematic shows a more normal moving coil speaker. Pictures would help.

The field coil is across the B+ instead of acting as a series choke so it will not change the B+ filtering if replaced by a resistor.

Jay

Here are pictures of the audio coil. In the center of one of the pictures you see a black frame around the winding.

That's the single turn secondary of the Peerless transformer. It is a standard field coil speaker but with a very low voice coil impedance. The impedance is probably something like 0.5 ohm.

Jay

Jay is right, these use a single turn secondary winding on the output transformer connected with heavy straps to a single turn voice coil.

It seems to work well, I have a couple Zeniths which use those Peerless speakers.

-Steve

I guess if I had paid attention to the schematic I would have seen the note for the Peerless speaker transformer, 550 ohm primary and single turn secondary. The primary was open, disassembled the speaker and rewinding the audio. The field coil is also open, gonna see if I can find the break first. Hopefully it will be worth the effort in the end.

Finished winding the audio transformer, back in the speaker, looking forward to the sound the speaker reproduces once the field coil is addressed.

Nice work on that speaker Larry!

Is the surround still soft and pliable?

-Steve

The leather is amazingly still fairly pliable, the field coil is open, 7000 ohms, ordered another spool of 36 gauge magnetic wire. I substituted a 7k resistor and a PM speaker to get it playing. Not terribly impressed with the audio level and quality, some of these old sets sound great and other are ho-hum, this one so far is in the ho-hum category, I guess the saving grace is the attractive cabinet.

Others out there restored the Amrad series 81 chassis and if so thoughts?

I would hope that it wouldn't be in the ho-Hum category being a rather upscale class radio.

btw, would you like a copy of the instruction book?

-Steve

Steve is right, audio sounds great. I spent a little more time looking at the audio section and discovered R12 was 800k and not the 860 ohms specified in the schematic. The 45s were not biased correctly now with the proper biasing the set sounds great. And now thanks again to Steve I have a copy of the instruction manual. Someone started stripping the cabinet so no saving the outside original finish but behind the doors the finish is excellent. The chassis had a replacement power transformer, inter stage audio transformer (bad) and the Mershon condenser was missing. I made the missing covers for the two transformers and cleaned and painted the rusty chassis. Tasks left on the restoration are finishing the cabinet and winding the Peerless field coil.

Removed all the masking tape and populated the chassis with the tubes, big improvement. Started on the field coil. I made new ends to the coil form using 110 pound card stock, then glued matboard to the card stock for more strength. I'm using 36 gage wire, 3000 feet should get me close to the 7000 ohms needed. Before pictures of the cabinet.

Amazing work! I'm glad you figured out the problem with it!

It is in good hands!

-Steve

Finished winding the field coil, around 15,000 feet of 36 gage wire. I had to remove cone to get the field coil out, I tried with a micro ratchet wrench with a screwdriver bit but couldn't get enough torque to break the screws loose. I used a razor knife to cut around the voice coil to remove it. Allowing the glue to dry overnight and give it a try tomorrow.

I have the outside of the cabinet stripped the bottom walnut was chipped and bubbled so I replaced that with new walnut veneer.

Hooked up the speaker to the radio and the radio came to life, so it was worth the effort of winding the field coil and output transformer. Was my first encounter with a single turn secondary speaker, should finish the cabinet by weeks end.

I'm glad it come to life and meets or exceeds expectations

Wonderful radio!

-Steve

Had time today to spray the outside of the Aries cabinet, after the finish cures for a day or so I'll mount the speaker and chassis back into the cabinet.

beautiful job, Larry

All boxed up and playing nicely, more effort than most restorations but in the end the results were worth the effort.