11/14/2023
I had a customer give me the opportunity to do a complete restoration on a Midwest Royale radio in a Fleetwood cabinet.
The Midwest Royale radio is a rare and expensive radio that was produced in 1936 by the Midwest Radio Corporation. It was one of the most advanced and luxurious radios of its time, featuring 24 tubes, variable IF bandwidth, push-pull triple parallel output stage (that’s eight output tubes), dual power supplies (that’s three rectifiers), and a gold-plated dial escutcheon. The Royale was available in three different cabinet styles: the Avon, the Fleetwood, and the Victoria. The Avon and the Fleetwood were radio-only models, while the Victoria was a radio and phonograph combination. The Royale radios had a patented Acousti-Spread V-Front styling, which was a method of dispersing the sound from the speakers throughout the room. The Royale radios were very limited in production, and only a few hundred were made. They are highly sought after by collectors and enthusiasts today. I’ve posted, below, a summary and a few pictures of the restoration process.
Initial check found that the radio has significant rust around the tuning mechanism. Mice had crewed the wires in the receiver chassis causing multiple shorts. Two interstage transformers had been removed from the receiver chassis and piled on top. One of those transformers was good so I rewired and reinstalled it. The second had an open coil. Thankfully, I was able to find and exact replacement for it from another collector. Tube check found 5 bad tubes in the receiver chassis. One rectifier tube was bad on the power chassis. All 8 of the output tubes tested very low but were still working The broadcast band antenna input transformer was bad, but I found a way to bypass it.
On initial startup, the DC voltages of the power supply were extremely high probably as a result of the failed rectifier and old electrolytic capacitors. I also found one burned resistor. I recapped the radio with all capacitors replaced and resistors replaced as needed in both chassis. Voltages were still too high, so I added a power resistor to reduce the overall AC input voltage. I also added 2 more power resistors to reduce the B+ DC voltage to the output tubes. Voltages now test within tolerances.
The big speaker cone was very brittle, so I used a product on the cone to extend its life. This brush on product is used in restoring old documents and works well patching and extending the life of paper products. Both tweeters were bad, so I replaced them with two new PM dome tweeters. As the originals used field coils for magnets, I had to add appropriate resistors to compensate for the voltage drop. I was able to drill and tap the new PM magnets, which allowed me to use the original metal covers. I had to replace the speaker mounting board as it had turned into little more than a thin sheet of rice crispies. The speakers were designed with the tweeters in series with each other, but in parallel with the big speaker. That allowed me to install a new "L-pad" to control balance between the small speakers and large speaker. This had a huge impact on overall sound quality.
I wrapped the old wiring that goes from chassis to chassis with new wire loom and added a new polarized power cord, fuse holder and 3 amp fuse inline with the power cord. I spent considerable time rewiring all the chewed wires.
The radio was lubed, aligned, faulty bulbs replaced and recolored. A custom bluetooth receiver was added. The radio was already wired and switched for external input and headphone output.
The cabinet was taken apart and reduced to its individual components, sanded to new wood and reassembled. I finish sanded to 220 grit, restained and recolored to the original look. Multiple coats of semi-gloss lacquer were applied sanding between coats and then buffed to a high gloss. A new grill cloth was installed.
This was a complex and lengthy reconstruction but extremely satisfying when finished. I was fortunate that the owner had the means and mind set to allow me to restore it properly.
I include a special shout out to Mike Simpson for his expert help in restoring this radio. Here is a link to his website where you can get much more detailed information on these rare and beautiful radios.
Midwest Radio Royal (midwestradiomuseum.com)
Enjoy Steve
