Tag: <span>429</span>

429 - en

General Electric 429 – en

General Electric 429

GENERAL ELETRIC 429

Produced in 1955-56, this little device owes her appeal to beautiful lines and affordable cost.
It was manufactured in white, maroon, and dark red.
The years 1950-1960 were magic years for American Industrial designers.
Like many American devices designed and manufactured 60 years ago, the lines and style are still modern and undated.
In fact, the graceful lines and small size are perfectly suitable for modern settings.
This strong aesthetic personality is the main reason I restore this series of American production equipment.
There are modern appliances that copy or are inspired by these designs, but owning an original is another thing!
The sound performance of these radios are modest compared to the German giants on this website, but you can connect a digital source to this small GE radio.
This possibility will be discussed later in detail.
In addition to listening to your IPad or PC, this unit is able to receive a Medium Waves.
This device is powered by 120 volts supplied by an adapter to be connected directly to the local power supply.
It also comes with a connection cable with a 3.5 mm mini jack compatible with any modern equipment such as an IPod, PC, etc.

BLUETOOTH
Bluetooth receiver embed

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MULTI PLATFORM CONNECTION
Each radio is equipped with a cable for connection to any digital device.

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TUBESOUND IMPROVEMENT

- Bluetooth receiver embed - The unit is equipped with a BLUETOOTH receiver powered directly by the receiver power supply. This makes it possible to control the amplifier from any external digital device as an IPAD, a Smartphone, or a sophisticated multimedia station. So you can hear your preferred web station or your lossesless file without cables on the room. Wireless Receiver can be equipped upon requests.
- Multi Platform Connection - A customized adaptation cable to connect any digital device as Iphone, Smartphone, Laptop, CD Player etc. will be provided with this radio. This special cable suits the different impedances between the modern equipment and the receiver. Furthermore the two stereo channels flow into one without increasing the load to the input unit.

HISTORY

Founded in 1890 by Thomas Alva Edison the Edison General Electric Company invented and produced almost everything that has to do with electricity, lighting, household appliances, industrial products, medical equipment and more.
Here is a brief list of the major inventions of the company.

1895 World's largest electric locomotives
1896 X-ray machine
1902 The electric fan
1910 The first Hotpoint
1914 World's largest electrical installation The Panama Canal
1918 Generator for Niagra Falls - Enormous power of one of the great natural wonders of the world
1922 Radio station WGY
1927 Brings TV into the home
1930 First Electric washing machine
1932 GE scientist Irving Langmuir win the Nobel Prize for his pioneering research in the field of surface chemistry
1938 GE invents the fluorescent lamp.
1942 The first U.S. jet engine the I-A.
1943 Auto pilot
1947 A two-door refrigerator
1953 GE chemist Daniel W. Fox makes discoveries leading to the development of Lexan polycarbonate resin
1955 first reproducible process for making diamonds
1957 the J93, the first engine to operate at three times the speed of sound
1957 the world's first licensed nuclear power plant
1959 The first halogen lamp
1961 GE opens space center at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
1962 superconducting magnet over 100,000 gauss
1969 GE supplies overall quality control, systems engineering support, for th Apollo 11 mission
1981 GE Lighting produces 3 ft. long fused quartz ingots that can be drawn into fiber optic strands 25 miles in length.

Following results of the researchs are less made public.
This company had no difficulty producing radio equipments!

Courtesy of General Electric

But I confess that the real reason why when I saw this particular device was impressed and decided to restore it was this unmistakable resemblance.
I doubt that there is an Italian (over 50) who do not understand what I'm talking about.
Without using euphemisms ... for me it was a sinking heart!

MAIN FEATURES

Year of production: 1955
Superheterodyne IF: 455 KHz

6 AM Circuits

Wavebands:
Medium Waves (OM) 535 to 1620KHz

Wideband loudspeaker
Plastic case

Dimensions (LHD): 13" x 6" x 5 1/2
Net weight: 112 oz
5 Tubes:
12BE6, 12BA6, 12AV6, 50C5, 35W4

TONE CONTROL WITH LEVEL INDICATION

Several American radios of this era used this solution aesthetically very attractive , rather than illuminating the entire scale is illuminated only the tuning indicator.
Besides being very pretty this solution lets you know at a glance, even from a distance, on which station you are tuned; In fact, after a while it is natural to store the different position of the light in the scale.
Beautiful.

AERIAL

This device uses a loaded antenna on the rear panel.
It's sufficiently efficient but extremely directive, so the position of the radio impact on the quality of reception.
The back panel is prepared to connect an external antenna.
In this case the reception would be perfect.

TUNING LIGHT

In this picture you see the mechanism that controls the movement of the light bulb.

I modified the original support, old and cracked at risk of a short circuit with a new and better support.

LOUDSPEAKERS

It was used an 4 inch loudspeaker performant enough despite its size.
The audio spectrum, which can be expected for transmissions in medium wave is sufficiently reproduced.

We are not talking of course of deep bass and treble bright, but only a voice clear and intelligible without fatigue.

CONTROL PANEL

Dictated by a healthy American pragmatism controls are really reduced to the essentials.
Two knobs, one on the left controls the volume, the right knob controls the tuning.
The volume control should be used in this way:
- With a central setting of the radio is off
- Turning it to the right the device turns on and acts on the volume of the radio section
- Rotating it left the device turns on and acts on the volume Phono Input
Wanting to use the phono input you have to take care to tune to a frequency where there are no stations to avoid background noise.

REAR SIDE

Phono Input

Aerial AM - FM inputs, ground.

RESTORATION STEPS

THE USUAL AMAZING LAST IMAGE