Grunow 1291B from 1937

This is the last console from the collection of radios given to me  by Jerry. It is a 12 tube super with AFC and the popular Teledial.

The cabinet design makes it a perfect fit for the corner of a room. It is large, nearly as big as the GE M-125 pictured several posts below.

The main attraction for most people is the "Teledial" or push button tuning. This function works much like the similar configurations on other brands such as the Philco 37-116. The most notable difference is that the Grunow uses a discriminator/detector and AFC which works very well when using the push-and-turn tuning unlike the "Magnetic Tuning" on the Philco that works - sometimes - and is relatively hard to calibrate.

The Grunow's tone control has 6 positions, or 2 sets of low, medium and high tone. The difference between the normal and "Dial" settings is the activation of the AFC allowing aproximate tuning using the Teledial which then is automaticly adjusted to a medium to strong pre-set station. Again, as a compairison to the Philco which works for strong stations.

The Grunow 1291B cabinet has rounded sides making it a great fit in corners of a room. The veneers used are quite striking and the gold-toned accent above the black band at the base, is a novel and nice touch. From reasearch I have done, I believe  that the black base which has the same veneer beneith the paint, was not always painted when it left the factory. This one was definatly black so it was restored that way.

I would say that this cabinet design was lacking in some aspects. Support and alignment of the curved sides seemed to be a problem. As found, very few of the blocks used to secure the sides to the base and radio shelf were still attached and even when they are there are large gaps making the glue joints less than ideal.

The curved veneers and backing have no trim on the front edges which exposes the veneer edge to likely damage/pealing. Also this design places a lot of stress on the curved wood its self and without better attachment the edge that meets the front pannel (where the teledial/knobs are) tends to open up allowing for a visable crack. I took a lot of time to squar-up the cabinet to reduce the impact of these deficiancies.

I was able to reuse the original grill cloth.

I would reccomend removing the chassis prior to moving this radio unless care in handling can be assured.

One of the major issues with the restoration of this chassis was damage to the 3 position Band switch which is delt with in detail several posts below.

This 12 tube chassis uses push-pull 6F6s for strong audio with good bass with the 12 inch field coil speaker.There is a 5Z3 rectifier which was also a good choice for stable B+. There is no Eye tube or other signal strength indicator. A 6J7 is used as the AFC control. All but the rectifier are metal tubes.

Unfortunatly some of the paper caps had already been changed out in a previous service. So I will be looking for original replacements to re-stuff. I also had to replace the output transformer since one-half of the primary was open.

The tuning knob moves the entire dial assembly with ease as long as the chassis is positioned in the cabinet correctly. A strip of brown felt is attached to the edge if the dial cut-out to improve appearance and allow for slight contact off the rotating assembly though up/down, in/out and right left adjustment of the chassis is particulary important for this dial to function properly.

As I tuned the presets I orientated the buttons with stations assigned to appear level when at the 180 deg position. Unasigned buttons are at random positions relative to the dial. They can be manipulated but only after removing the dial cover (6 screws). The station labels are not accurate, rather the ones that came with the set.

Answer to Paul W's Question - In Comments

The question was: What setting controls the AFC?

Pictured are the lower two controls - knobs.
On the right we have the band selector: F=Foreign, B=Broadcast, P=Police.
On the left is a combo-function control: STD=No AFC with either Low, Medium or High tone control.
Dial=AFC On with either Low, Medium or High tone control.

It should be noted that manual or pushbutton tuning will work in either STD (AFC of) or Dial (AFC on). If the pushbutton tuning is used with the AFC off (STD) weak stations may need manual fine tuning due to errors caused by lash or even centrifical force (the tuner misses its mark).