Coming soon: McMichael M190TG TV/Radiogram

It wasn't something that took off was it, could be that many had bought radiograms before TV came into their area, lack of space in the house or simply the price of them.

Looking forward to seeing the photos.

Frank

Hi Steve,

That looks an interesting beast and it should the Seicento a good stretching !

Look forward to seeing the photos.

Marc.

Having owned a Sobell consolette TV I suspect the TV/Radiogram has the most beautifully finished cabinet.

Hopefully some photos for you tomorrow although the weather forecast is 'orrible so it may stay in the car.

The story is that the Sobell belonged to a lady who reached the grand age of 106. Her family was in the radio business and owned a shop in Loughborough. Apparently her house was one of those timewarp set-ups where nothing had been changed...

Steve

colourstar said 
Apparently her house was one of those timewarp set-ups where nothing had been changed...

Steve  

I would love a house like that.

Looking forward to seeing the restoration of her TV-o-gram.

Well... apologies for the long delay! This has been sitting in the hall for ages and I've only just been able to shuffle it into the front room for some photos.

Did I say it was a Sobell? Oops. It is of course a McMichael. In fact it's a McMichael Majestic Console no less. It's in really fab condition with not a mark on it. As you can see, the original sales brochure and ticket is with it. I'll scan the brochure later for your perusal.

There are two sliding doors across the front, so you can hide either the television screen or the gram section. I don't think the record player has seen much action at all. The stylus is clean as a whistle and the paper mat is still on the turntable. The control panel is a tad confusing for the unwary with it's two volume and tone controls, one set for the TV and VHF radio, the lower set for stereo record player only. There is a balance control but it's a screwdriver preset, handily accessed from under the cabinet....  Unlike the Pye Trio with it's separate (3rd) speaker for the tv, this appears to have only two, so presumably television sound is switched through those.

I wish I could have had the opportunity to see the house it came from- that of the one and only original owner. The radiogram is fitted with a reversible 2 round pin plug, still plugged into a 3-way adaptor, so Heaven knows what the electrics were like.

Anyway, enough waffle. Some pics....

Steve 🙂

Very smart Steve, will it be pride of place in your lounge when up and running?

Hi Steve,

What a lovely beast that is ! It'll certainly fill your front room nicely. 

Marc.

colourstar said

Did I say it was a Sobell? Oops. It is of course a McMichael. 
 

Topic title has now been amended

Thanks Chris!

Hi Andrew and Marc

Well, the truth is that there's nowhere really for it to go. The front room is occupied by the big 25" Bush colour set (work still pending) and the back room has the fab dual standard b&w 19" KB that is my everyday set and seems quite happy to fulfil that duty. That kind of covers all available options at the moment. Back to the hall, then!

Steve

colourstar said
Thanks Chris!

Hi Andrew and Marc

Well, the truth is that there's nowhere really for it to go. The front room is occupied by the big 25" Bush colour set (work still pending) and the back room has the fab dual standard b&w 19" KB that is my everyday set and seems quite happy to fulfil that duty. That kind of covers all available options at the moment. Back to the hall, then!

Steve  

You will have to get a conservatory then

Size was their main problem, fitting them in most rooms and then the cost but I do like them.

This one looks very elegant.  http://www.earlytelevision.org/kuba.html

Frank

Some progress to report on this mighty McMichael. I took the record deck out for a clean and service, so the 'gram' part of the telly-gram is working well now. Any suspect caps on the amp chassis were changed too. When the changeover switch is set to gram, the two blue arrows next to the relevant controls light up just to remind you that these are the ones you use, not the separate volume and tone for the tv. Rather neat I thought.

As for the tv, this has now been woken up and the signs are promising. The HT is low at the moment with not quite enough puff to produce a full raster, but it is trying, with encouraging flashes when the channel selector is clicked round. I did try a different PY33 with no improvement. Access on this set is pretty poor for some parts, good for others. The crt is attached to the chassis and there are a multitude of connectors to remove before the chassis can come out, complete with crumbling foam rubber on the crt mount. The chassis is the same as the one in that giant Sobell SC360 I worked on a couple of years ago.

Steve

Hi Steve,

Well that is looking good so far and I love those indication lights again the controls. Fingers crossed it's not much more than a few caps to get the TV working.

Great stuff !

Marc.

Hi Marc. The tv chassis is out now for general cleaning and examination, leaving behind the absolutely fiendish looking tuner and main control assembly. I made notes as there are no less than seven connections (of a variety of styles) to unleash before the tv chassis was free. It was filthy! The timebase panel is nicely warped giving the valves a rather drunken appearance in situ.

I need to consider what to do next. First and foremost is finding the cause of the low HT. Now I can actually see the main reservoir can, tucked right under the crt, there's a bit of a bulge on the end but that doesn't necessarily condemn it. It did seem to run cool. Its tempting to replace a handful of the more inaccessible ropey looking black Hunts caps and dried up electrolytics whilst they are are get-at-able but I'd prefer to be a bit more methodical. Then again I don't reallywant to have to take the chassis fully out again. Hmm.

By the way, note use of period-correct vintage Hoover Constellation for vacuuming duties...

A nice looking chassis there, should come up a treat. The tune looks like a "fireball" type.

I would certainly replace all the Hunts capacitors while you have the chassis out. 

Don't think its a Fireball, it states semi- incremental and it uses a PCF86 and PCC89 valves. All the Fireballs tuners I saw were a neutralised triode for the RF amp, on the other had I have not seen them all. PC97 and PC900 valves seem to be the ones I saw.

Hi Steve,

The Hoover Constellation noted ! now guess what I use as my telly dust buster ? (Clue below)

Small world eh, but your machine looks a whole lot nicer than mine though.

Marc.

Reading Rich's McMichael Radio thread reminded me about this massive and marvellous beast. Any progress on getting a picture on it yet?