Can you test one of these radios (have a DeLuxe Radio, Delco in my '55) with a just a plain jane car speaker? I now have 2 radios that won't auto-tune nor pickup anything, really want to move to bench testing. I only have 1 working speaker in the car, I have another that is possibly in-op. I can setup the radio on a bench with an antenna and 12-volt power and ground to the unit. The speaker with these units, if you are familiar is somewhat integrated as it has an amplifier with a pigtail wiring harness that goes from the radio to the speaker assembly behind the dash. Anyone with insight?

 

I think you might need an 8 or 10 Ohm speaker, an antenna and 12 volt battery.

 

Yes, I have all of those items, just curious if the radio will have speaker output without using the amplified front speaker shown above.

 

Make sure that you ground the antenna to get reception. Ground it to the stereo or the same ground.

 

I am stating this from my basic electronics experience, not with your particular setup. Any radio output intended for use with a paired amplifier/speaker arrangement will be much lower in amplitude than an output labeled "speaker" for use with a speaker not paired to an amplifier. The impedance is still a factor and important but not as critical since the signal is much smaller with less energy from a radio designed to use an separate paired amp/speaker. All that being said I suspect you won't be able to discern any sound if you put a speaker on the output since it is so small, think of the output from a turntable. You MIGHT be able to drive the aux or turntable input of a home stereo amplifier if you have one like that. Again the impedance may be a slight issue but if you keep the signal down low and don't run it for a long period you would probably be ok. I presume you are just trying to troubleshoot the radio and that the speaker/amp intended for use with it is working since you said it is in the car. The socket on the speaker/amp looks like it is a three or four pin unit so you will need to know which wires are for signal and which wires are for power and ground for the amp. If you had a wiring diagram that would be ideal.

 

I messed on the post title it should be "SUPER DELUXE" radio. Similar concepts though.

Thanks for the input, yes I have a schematic, they call the speaker, "power supply speaker". You basically have to test as a unit. I have 2 Super DeLuxe radios. I took apart the one I bought on ebay and cleaned the volume and tuner contacts, etc. Both radios work, but they both fail to auto-tune. My original radio goes round and round and I can't stop that without turning it off and back on again. The one I just cleaned worked for 2 minutes then clicked and lost reception. Then I tried to auto-tune and I lost all reception. When hit the wonderbar auto-tune on that one, the dial doesn't move but I finally got a station so I am just leaving it. The good news is the one I cleaned so longer has static and crackle when I turn the volume ****.

So, I have 2 options now, send my original out for a full rebuild (~$500) or I might just buy a regular "Deluxe" radio as it seems the auto-tune wonderbar business is just too problematic.

 

Update, my auto-tune feature starting working! It only works from left to right and I have to turn the unit off to manually move the dial all the way back to left, but its working now! After cleaning and light lubrication, it seems way better.

 

I suspect the auto-tune radio has some sort of servo mechanism in it. I always cringed when a washing machine broke, just contemplating the complexity of the electro-mechanical function switch jumbled my brain. Maybe that auto-tune radio would be the same way.