Emerson BY-233

Emerson BY-233

1939

Bands: AM

Tube Lineup: 6A7, 6D6, 6Q7, 25L6, 25Z5

The Emerson BY-233 was the 1939 successor to the older model 108 that first came out in 1936. While the cabinet design remained untouched, small cosmetic changes were introduced including new crown style knobs and a new embossed paper dial with new graphics. The chassis dimensions were unchanged so its deep and cramped innards were still challenging to repair. The electrical design was revamped with a new tube lineup replacing the old 6-pin 75 and 43 audio amplifier tubes with 8-pin octal 6Q7 and 25L6 tubes. The shortwave reception capability was discarded along with the band switch knob on the rear as seen in the earlier 108. Also the so-called curtain burner line cord resistor used in the earlier 108 was replaced with a ballast tube.

This particular Emerson example was an ebay win. At some point in its life, the speaker voice coil probably burned out because someone removed the entire paper cone and placed a small 1950s-era permanent magnet speaker within the old speaker frame. The field coil of the original speaker was still used as part of the power supply filter. I left this clever repair alone to maintain its history of past repairs. On the other hand, all the paper capacitors were original and I restuffed them with modern replacements. The original filter capacitor block, however, was long gone so replacement capacitors were soldered in place.

Emerson BY-233

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