Renovating 1930s RCA Sound System

[Lyle Romer]

Better to get a modern processor (like the CP 65 I have for sale) and some amplifiers.

Thank you for making me feel young by referring to the CP-65 as a "modern processor."

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Thank you for making me feel young by referring to the CP-65 as a "modern processor."

LOL for me, a modern processor was the CP 100.

[Randy Stankey]

The restoration is for historical preservation, as well for special events. Our day to day system will be a much more modern set up

Get your amps and speakers working and clean them up so that they look nice then put the whole system on display and use it to play 1930s Swing music like Glen Miller.
First, music of the era will be more likely have a timber and dynamic range that matches the ability of your system to play well. (Depending on how you source the music.)
Second, why not play music from the time when the equipment was originally made? It'd be good nostalgia. I think people would appreciate the nod to history.

Wouldn't you just love to hear that thing playing, "In the Mood?" I think it would set a great atmosphere in the lobby.

[Leo Enticknap]

Agreed completely with Randy and everyone: restoring one amplifier channel and one speaker stack and setting it up in the lobby, possibly with a contemporary phonograph, as a living museum piece, would be a far better way to go than to try and have it in revenue earning service playing movies. I have a restored RCA 86T tube radio from the late1930s that gets one or two hours of use a week playing AM talk radio stations in my home office. It's a great conversation piece (and playing a source with the frequency range that the amplifier and speaker was actually designed for shows it at its best), but I would not want to rely on something like that for anything mission critical.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

LOL for me, a modern processor was the CP 100.

The CP-100 was actually pretty good if you canned the fader card and installed a newer one. Pretty sure I installed one from a CP200, because it ended up in the lower part of the chassis. Did this back around 1988. Anyway, the original 100 fader card had high harmonic distortion, especially above 10 khz, and even had a tad bit of a notch distortion at the sine wave zero point. So updating that makes a big difference in sound quality. I also used a CP-100 at home and did the same thing. If you recap the supplies in a 100 it could still sound decent today for mag playback.

[Randy Stankey]

I just thought of the perfect music source for your vintage sound system! A vintage jukebox.
Like the 1940s vintage Seeburg jukeboxes you might have found in bars and officer's clubs during WWII, playing music of that era, like Glen Miller, from 78 rpm records.

seeburg_commander.png

[Travis Cape]

I don’t think I would go through all the work and expense to restore a vintage 35mm booth at this point. If you wanted a tube amp serviced, look for people either rebuilding vintage audio gear or most likely jukebox amplifiers. The sound system will need much more than tubes. Tubes are available on eBay and various other sites.

I’m all for creative projects, but you typically need to have the skills to execute them yourself or a large bank account.

[Jack Ondracek]

Still have memories of an old RCA system I ran at a military base theatre up here.
On my first run-through the booth, it took me nearly an hour to figure out you needed the generator running to power the field on the auditorium speaker. Some time after that, I found the "emergency" switch in the sound rack.

[Martin Brooks]

I just thought of the perfect music source for your vintage sound system! A vintage jukebox.
Like the 1940s vintage Seeburg jukeboxes you might have found in bars and officer's clubs during WWII, playing music of that era, like Glen Miller, from 78 rpm records.

seeburg_commander.png

That jukebox might sound better than the sound system he's trying to restore. Depending upon the age of the jukebox, many were EQ'd to deliver a lot of top and a lot of bottom, especially from the 1950's on. I don't know if I've ever heard a 1940's 78 RPM jukebox.
There's a Van Morrison song called Wild Night. Part of the lyrics are: "And the inside juke-box
Roars out just like thunder". He meant that almost literally. This wasn't true for the diners that had those controllers at each table - it was true for the jukebox amp and built-in speakers themselves.

[Randy Stankey]

Yeah, I know that jukeboxes can be powerful! As a kid, I remember trying to fall asleep, upstairs, while the jukebox, playing downstairs, vibrated the walls of my room!
I betcha' that you could just hook those speakers right up to the jukebox! Okay, probably not... but I still betcha'!