Car radios...

I was listening to an old floor model radio from the 1940s the other day and remembered the big old tube radio that was in my 1949 Packard.

Today's radios simply cannot compare in sound quality to those old tube jobs.

Volume does not mean quality of sound and if you digitize it; it still doesn't have the warmth and quality of those old radios.

Any one of you guys ever experienced this wonderful sound(Rick you don't count cause I know you know what I'm talking about).

I guess the closest I'm ever going to get is to find one of those old floor models; I doubt any of the automotive ones have survived...even if I found one; I would need a 200amp alternator to run it

Inside the car is the worst place to hear music, because the surrounding and the noise, etc.

This said, anything is good enough to mask the purring of the engine, and the road noise...
Now if you have a nice car, then you want no radio and open window to HEAR the engine, the wheels, the traffic, and enjoy it all...

I am more to the car enthusiast than the "audiophile"...

Those early radios where so beautiful, they are nice to have even if the sound is no big deal. But when the electronics inside are good, oh what a delight it is to hear!

I don't know Jose, I've always thought the inside of a car was a perfect place for good sound if you could place the speakers in the right spot, so they weren't canceling each-other/themselves out.

Peter, I know what you mean, I've had a few great amps (tube type) through the years I'd love to have back. They make a rich (although distorted somewhat) golden type of sound that really please' my ear. And run a good quality record through it coming out of a decent base-reflex speaker and hell. Now you're talking pleasureful listening!

I must say though, my present system, somewhat updated, sounds fairly good at any volume one chooses to make it. My neighbor across the street is often commenting me on music, new to him, he's never heard before.... And that's really why I chimed in here, it's the music (or talk) that really is the important thing right?

Jose is right about the environment but that old 49 Packard Clipper was like a small living room with two luxurious sofas in it. The sound insulation and just the way the radio belted out the sound was so good.
Back then(when I had the car; not 1949); FM radio had not been commercially launched so the radio stations could pump out as much power as the wanted and it made a big difference to what the old radios received and amplified.
If it wasn't for endless commercials and hours of talking heads nt=ettering on about nothing; I would listen to AM over FM any day

My 1955 Olds had a vacuum tube radio and was AM only but the reception I could get with that at night driving across Montana was amazing. There were 50,000 watt stations all over the country that came in loud and clear. Daytime was less so but still could pull in a station of some kind. The sound was pretty good from the one speaker in the dash.

Bob in Lake Havasu

AM radios need only one speaker, cause stereo is not possible in AM.
FM, among other improvements, made it possible to broadcast stereo sound, and to recover both channels better than AM. And latter, digital data was added to the pack, for Radio station ID, music names, news, etc.
But still there were very good AM radios, built to the technology available at the time, and they performed much better than a crappy latter AM/FM Stereo radio...



What a nice car!

I think that one is a Packard.

Bob in Lake Havasu

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Bob in Everett
I think that one is a Packard.

I got it from Google as the 49 Packard Clipper.
Each year had its body stilling, got to love the cars from that era!

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Bob in Everett
I think that one is a Packard.

Yes it is!
Mine was a silver grey colour and it also still had the big white wall balloon tires.

Those cars were awesome to drive. True land yachts. If I remember correctly; it weighed in around 3800lbs and had a 400ci straight eight to haul it around. You would be hard put to find any engine today that ran as smoothly as those old 8s!
The car also had a semi automatic clutch. The transmission was a regular 3 speed on the column type with a regular clutch. The difference was that the clutch 'throw out' had an auxiliary solenoid that was activated by moving the shifter. So basically, if you got lazy and didn't want to push the clutch pedal; just shifting the shifter activated the solenoid and activated the clutch for you.
Sounds clunky but I don't think that even BMW have managed to come up with anything that works anywhere near as smoothly.

Mustn't forget the torque...those 400 ci straight 8s produced diesel like torque and at 100mph on the highway; it would literally leap forward if you gave it too much throttle

The down side was fuel economy(that's a joke) in the neighbourhood of 7-8mpg(IMP)...on the highway
But back when I had the car, gas cost $0.35 per gallon.

All in all, an awesome party car

What's also impressive (although I've never driven one): preselector gearboxes

That was the time when US cars were the most advanced in the world.
Back in Europe, the war was still felt as most factories were severely punished and were to be rebuilt from the ground up. Car models were recovered from old pre-war designs. Most people was not so fortunate as they could afford new cars, so the small economic models were the most popular.
Several factories were destroyed, some were taken by the East-Germany. In 1949 the Eastern "BMW" factory was named "EMW" with a red logo instead of the BMW blue.
BMW A.G. re-started works with pots, pans and kitchenware and latter came up with the 501, hand-building the luxurious "baroque angel" as well as the economic and cheap isetta, as well as motorbikes.
In 1949, Mercedes Benz came out with the new 170S, looking much older than any good US car of the time.
The other great German project, the Volkswagen, was to resume production in 1947, based on prototypes dated from before the war.and using equipment stored away from the air raids.
Some time latter, some interesting car company started up with a somewhat similar and improved design, the Porsche 356.
And so on, and so on...

When reading up on various car manufacturers through the years; it always seems to come down to human failure when manufacturers fail. Some of the finest cars ever made have disappeared because of bad business decisions and management wars.

Then you have mediocre models made by huge conglomerates backed by the banks

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Archeo-peteriX
When reading up on various car manufacturers through the years; it always seems to come down to human failure when manufacturers fail. Some of the finest cars ever made have disappeared because of bad business decisions and management wars.

Then you have mediocre models made by huge conglomerates backed by the banks

Today, most aspects of modern life are backed up by banks.
New cars are being sold (few as sales are lower than ever) today in Portugal to be paid over ten years (10 years!).
Of course this is better business for banks than anybody else!
Something is very wrong with what capitalism became today. There is in Europe a financial crisis to prove my point...
Computers, telephones, clothes, food distribution, health, you name it, everything is going to be more and more centered in few big worldwide corporations, backed by fewer banks.
They don't want the finest and the different, they want mediocre cheap products to the masses, to be paid on credit over income that is still to be earned.
This is the world as I see it today. Sorry for the rant.

Jose,
You are correct in your financial analysis. If more of us were to just follow the money, it would be so obvious that they would not be able to get away with it. Now, only a few understand and most of them are co-opted to the inside due to no morals of their own. "When treason doth prosper, none dare call it treason."

Bob in Lake Havasu

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Bob in Everett
Jose,
You are correct in your financial analysis. If more of us were to just follow the money, it would be so obvious that they would not be able to get away with it. Now, only a few understand and most of them are co-opted to the inside due to no morals of their own. "When treason doth prosper, none dare call it treason."

Sad but true and we know that the banks are pushing for the US to fall over the financial cliff...it is to their huge benefit

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Archeo-peteriX

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Bob in Everett
Jose,
You are correct in your financial analysis. If more of us were to just follow the money, it would be so obvious that they would not be able to get away with it. Now, only a few understand and most of them are co-opted to the inside due to no morals of their own. "When treason doth prosper, none dare call it treason."

Sad but true and we know that the banks are pushing for the US to fall over the financial cliff...it is to their huge benefit

Perhaps Obama can pull this, but there are Banks and corporations way too big, they can bribe as many politicians as they want, they have all the money in the world, really!
Countries like Spain, Portugal or smaller have no chance to stand up before them.
What happened in Iceland was a story of courage and the people standing up and deciding they will all be poor, but they will be free.

Peace!

Yes Peter, it takes citizens with some understanding of freedom to refuse the handouts from the slave masters. Something we have precious little of left in what was the most free country in the world. It is free no more. We are a long way down the road to serfdom.

Bob in Lake Havasu

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Bob in Everett
Yes Peter, it takes citizens with some understanding of freedom to refuse the handouts from the slave masters. Something we have precious little of left in what was the most free country in the world. It is free no more. We are a long way down the road to serfdom.

I would almost prefer serfdom...the King only took 1/3 of what they people produced/earned. We are lucky to end up with 1/3 of what we earn

Peter,
What you say is true but in the process there was not an opportunity for the serf to work his way up to anything better. That is why so many of them were glad to get here. We too are taxed about 60% but it is better than not having any income to be taxed. What we see happening now is that the chickens are coming home to roost. The 47% who do not pay taxes are getting a raise and also vote. That is why democracies fail...when the citizens find out that they can vote the public treasurey into their own pocket, they always do it.

Hillsdale College is offering some online courses for free to try and explain this better. The courses are really interesting. Constitution 101 is where it starts...hillsdale.edu. It is encouraging at least.

Bob in Lake Havasu

Thanks Bob, will look into it.

Democracy is failing, the poor will allways be poor, the rich float above all this, and the rest is becoming poor and having no chance to revert things for the better.

Perhaps democracy is only successfull when wealth is evenly distributed among all, and people can have similar oportunities, AND the majority wishes to stand together for a common goal.

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Jose Pinto
Thanks Bob, will look into it.

Democracy is failing, the poor will allways be poor, the rich float above all this, and the rest is becoming poor and having no chance to revert things for the better.

Perhaps democracy is only successfull when wealth is evenly distributed among all, and people can have similar oportunities, AND the majority wishes to stand together for a common goal.

It has taken a little longer but capitalism is going the way of communism. The west is already in an accelerating decline. The East is rising with it's communistic version of capitalism. Cracks are already showing in this system as well.

Sadly; the world will continue to cycle through these and other paradigms because human greed demands it

Jose,
The problem is that freedom must mean that we are free to be unequal...if we must be equal, we are not free.


Sort of like demanding that all cars be the same. Where is the fun in that?

Bob in Lake Havasu



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2013 07:28PM by Bob in Everett.

Peter,
Unfortunately most of the countries we see around the world seem to be run as a business with a bit of gang warfare thrown in.

Bob in Lake Havasu

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Bob in Everett
Peter,
What you say is true but in the process there was not an opportunity for the serf to work his way up to anything better. That is why so many of them were glad to get here. We too are taxed about 60% but it is better than not having any income to be taxed. What we see happening now is that the chickens are coming home to roost. The 47% who do not pay taxes are getting a raise and also vote. That is why democracies fail...when the citizens find out that they can vote the public treasurey into their own pocket, they always do it.

Hillsdale College is offering some online courses for free to try and explain this better. The courses are really interesting. Constitution 101 is where it starts...hillsdale.edu. It is encouraging at least.

This is it?
https://constitution.hillsdale.edu/101/info

The declaration of independence is one of the corner stones of our modern world.
It sparked the French Revolution, and many other events leading to what the world became today, so is not only American History, but universal.
Now is time to hear those who can think and see ahead of all this we are sinking into, bring back the citizens instead of taxpayers and consumers.

Yes Jose,
That is the correct website. The course is free to take. I have contributed money to support them already so please feel free to listen. I am really impressed with the quality of the speakers in the lessons. I just use my e-mail address as a user name.

Bob

Bob in Lake Havasu