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Beethoven TV...

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Rebel Rafter
(@rebel-rafter)
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Hi all, RR here. I've just been on ebay and someone in Redditch is offering a TV set called "Beethoven", I've never seen or heard of one of these before, does anyone know anything about it? It looks like an old 1960's black and white and it looks like it's single standard, possibly 405 only as it appears to have only one tuner. RR.

 
Posted : 07/03/2016 8:35 pm
crustytv
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As the photo on the e-bay listing clearly shows, its 625/UHF tuner

The Beethoven looks like a clone of my Teleton Anex TX12 that has a very similar control arrangement and I expect like the Teleton, it dates to around 72/73.

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Posted : 07/03/2016 8:44 pm
Jamie
(@jskinner97)
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I have a 70s portable set, bearing the name Beethoven. As I understand they were a cheap Jap import company?
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11961&p=124403&hilit=beethoven#p124403

Edit, see Chris has already solved this. Next time, a link to the ebay listing could be very helpful. Bit of a stab in the dark otherwise.

 
Posted : 07/03/2016 8:45 pm
AidanLunn
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This is just another in a long line of cheap and cheerful 1970s solid state black and white portables. I doubt it's anything special.

 
Posted : 07/03/2016 8:47 pm
Cathovisor
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'Beethoven' is a name going back to the immediate post-war period.

 
Posted : 07/03/2016 9:17 pm
slidertogrid
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The Beethoven looks like a clone of my Teleton Anex TX12 that has a very similar control arrangement and I expect like the Teleton, it dates to around 72/73.

I think Chris is right, my parents bought a Teleton portable during the three day week in the 1970's It came from a department store in town that has long gone.
When the mains went off we had a couple of old car batteries the Teleton and a couple of car headlamp bulbs to light the room. we had only just got a colour set as well! Dad thought we should get a licence rebate for the days when the power went off at 7pm...
That old Teleton lasted years and years it became the caravan set well into the 1980's.
Mum gave it away one day after it had become redundant, but I managed to find a replacement about 10 years ago.
The Beethoven sets were sold by one of the catalogue firms or Woolworths I think. I remember seeing them somewhere.
I never had one for repair from Woollies though, just loads of Regondas... and Indesits...uurgh!
Our local wholesaler sold Teleton portables later on in the 1990's, they were great little sets, cheaper than a Ferguson and thanks to the 90' tube lower power consumption on 12v (or that's what we told the customer!)
I have a few nice portables from the 1970's in my collection including the obligatory orange Hitachi. The good thing about portables is that they can be sneaked in when on one is looking :aah
Try doing that with a Keracolor! I did, (it didn't work) :cch
Rich.

 
Posted : 07/03/2016 10:57 pm
mark pirate
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Beethoven' is a name going back to the immediate post-war period.

In fact, Beethoven were making radios in the early thirties. They did actually produce a few TV sets in the 1950's.
I am not sure when the company was bought out or closed, but I suspect around 1960.

The set you are looking at is certainly a rebadged Teleton, it is certainly nothing special.

 
Posted : 08/03/2016 10:49 am
Cathovisor
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Beethoven' is a name going back to the immediate post-war period.

In fact, Beethoven were making radios in the early thirties.

<fx: beats head against desk>
You're absolutely right. How the dickens did I forget that....?! :ccb

 
Posted : 08/03/2016 10:52 am
sideband
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Bears no relation to the 'current' Beethoven name which, like so many of the others, is just a brand name now.

 
Posted : 08/03/2016 1:12 pm
Stitch
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Beethoven' is a name going back to the immediate post-war period.

In fact, Beethoven were making radios in the early thirties.

<fx: beats head against desk>
You're absolutely right. How the dickens did I forget that....?! :ccb

They do turn op on eBay occasionally, I've been after one of these mainly because I like the musical notation on the dial.

http://www.classicwireless.co.uk/Beethoven_U3138.htm

Chase Road, North Acton, London NW 10.

Sorry for the :bbc back to your TV :)

John

valveradios.com

 
Posted : 08/03/2016 1:54 pm
Terrykc
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As the photo on the e-bay listing clearly shows, its 625/UHF tuner ...

... and, like all such imports, has a round badge covering the hole in the front where the VHF Turret Tuner would be fitted for export to Europe and the States ...

When all else fails, read the instructions

 
Posted : 08/03/2016 4:01 pm
Till Eulenspiegel
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The Beethoven brand was acquired by Raymond Electric in the early 1950s. Both brands seemed to have disappeared from the marketplace by end of that decade. There was a rumour that the Waltham brand name was owned by the successors of Raymond Electric.

I have here a 1930s four valve Beethoven portable radio. It's a TRF which uses a screen grid RF amplifier and three triodes..

Till Eulenspiegel.

 
Posted : 08/03/2016 6:17 pm
mark pirate
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Sounds like the one I have, a 'screen grid 4' in blue rexine with a polished wood facia and speaker surround?
I must try to get some life from the old thing sometime :elc:

 
Posted : 08/03/2016 6:40 pm
Till Eulenspiegel
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Hi Mark,
like this one perhaps?

Till Eulenspiegel.

 
Posted : 08/03/2016 7:26 pm
Till Eulenspiegel
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Information for a "real" Beethoven TV appears in Volume II of the Malloy and Poole Radio and Television series of servicing books. Model TV50 is a fix tuned TRF receiver for the London transmitter and the TV50M is the version for the Midlands TX. Date of manufacture was likely to be 1949 to 1950.
The circuit diagram shows that the set was a well designed receiver which employed a fully isolated chassis. HT was supplied by a pair of 5Z4 rectifiers. An RF oscillator generated the EHT.
The Raymond Electric made Beethoven sets appeared in 1953.

DFWB.

 
Posted : 08/03/2016 10:11 pm
mark pirate
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Hi Mark,
like this one perhaps?

Not quite, this is the model I have.

 
Posted : 09/03/2016 7:40 pm
Katie Bush
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Just to add a little extra, it would seem that "Teleton" was also something of a NAAFI special at some time, as a lot this stuff was brought back by serving men of the "British Amy in The Rhine" when their stint on the Rhine was over - all through the 60's and into the early 80's.

Interesting to learn that the "Waltham" badge was a part of the story - that brand was associated with (I think) Littlewood's catalogue, or maybe it was Janet Fraser? But definitely catalogue bargain basement branding.

 
Posted : 14/03/2016 10:59 pm
Till Eulenspiegel
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More information about Beethoven Electric Equipment can be found in the Valvepage: http://www.thevalvepage.com/tvmanu/beet ... n.htm#ref1

There is mention about the link with Raymond Electric in the 1950s.
Also, the Beethoven B208 was similar to the Emerson E704.
Information for Beethoven and Raymond TVs can be found in the 1958/59 Radio and Television Servicing book.

Till Eulenspiegel.

 
Posted : 14/03/2016 11:35 pm
sideband
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Interesting to learn that the "Waltham" badge was a part of the story - that brand was associated with (I think) Littlewood's catalogue, or maybe it was Janet Fraser? But definitely catalogue bargain basement branding.

I thought it was Woolworths? I'm sure I saw the Waltham brand in their stores back in the 70's and 80's. Perhaps it was also sold through catalogues. :aab

 
Posted : 15/03/2016 12:35 pm
Paul_RK
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To confuse the story further, my memory is of the Waltham brand turning up mainly in Tesco electrical departments. Woolworths I think had Vesta as their main in-store brand, though maybe only on lesser value items up to and including small portable radios.

 
Posted : 15/03/2016 12:52 pm
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