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Beautiful DeLuxe German Grundig Radio 1955 Model 3055/56 Ferndirigent 3D-Klang, with 7 Tubes, 5 Speakers, two FM Bands, 3 AM Bands, Phono Input, Serviced and Working
In a Nutshell
A Grundig as a Grundig should be: Awesome, Big, and Clever. A real performer and - of course - perfectly working
Introduction:
In the 1950's, shortly after UKW (Ultrakurzwelle = FM) but before transistors and stereophony (not available until 1963) came up, a large number of big German tube table radios flooded the market from manufacturers like AEG, Blaupunkt, Graetz, Grundig, Koerting, Loewe Opta, Nordmende, Saba, Schaub-Lorenz, Siemens and others. The phenomenon was part of the "Deutsches Wirtschaftswunder" (economic miracle), a period of post-war prosperity under chancellor Konrad Adenauer and his minister of economics Ludwig Ehrhard (born in Grundig town of Fürth in Bavaria). FM frequencies extended from 88.5 to 100 MHz at that time, and to make full use of the higher bandwidth Max Grundig in 1954 introduced the "3D-Klang" (3-dimensional sound) with additional side speakers. Sound was further enhanced with additional tweeters (see techies). The radio has 5 speakers! It uses the standard set of noval tubes: ECC85, ECH81, EF89, EBF80, EABC80, EL84, and a EM34 as tuning eye; the rectifier is a B250C100 selenium bridge rectifier. The original price tag was a hefty 425 DM (today US$~1500).
For the techies only:
The electrostatic tweeters of this radio are in most cases defect. You don't hear it normally, but you immediately recognize it, when they are repaired and working again, by the suddenly much more crisp sound. Electrostatic tweeters work capacitively. They consist of a very thin plastic foil as dielectric, on which copper is evaporated, to form one side of a parallel-plate capacitor.
The other electrode is a metal mesh. The defect is normally a loss of contact to the copper side, which can be easily repaired with conductive silver glue (pict.s 21,22).
Other unique features of the radio are its complex three way clutch system ("Triplex-Schwungradantrieb"), allowing three independent tuners (AM plus 2 FM) to be set by a single knob (picts.19,34), its optional "Ferndirigent", a 8m cable remote control for volume and tone only, and its built-in ferrite rod antenna, that can be oriented and monitored from the radio's front panel (picts.23,27).
Additional information:
ref. 1. http://www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_hersteller_detail.cfm?company_id=9
ref. 2. http://www.antikradio-restored.de/site05_d.htm
ref. 3. http://www.edelpro.com/Grundig%203055.htm
ref. 4. http://www.casaparadiso.it/radio/Grundig_3055.htm
ref. 5. http://www.hifimuseum.de/das-radio.html (in German)
About my radio:
I thank Vancouver steel sculpture artist Roy Mackey (flamingsteel.com) for letting me have the radio for restoration. The radio was thoroughly serviced, by taking it apart, cleaning it painstakingly, checking all its functionalities, including repair of notoriously failing tweeters (see techies). It is in excellent condition, the mahogany synthetic resin varnish, the dial glass, speaker grille cloth, knobs and back plane are all original and in perfect shape. It even has its original EM34 tuning eye tube (picts.9,28), which is weak but acceptable, and very expensive to replace. All moving parts have been treated with contact spray. The radio plays loud and clear on all bands, fully living up to its label "3D-Klang". It has extremely good sensitivity and selectivity.
A 3-speaker push-pull relative of the radio recently sold for US$1314 (EBay item 300333357824). Please e-mail me (Kris) for any questions, ich spreche Deutsch, je parle Français.
Here are the specifications:
| Technical Description of Item |
| Manufacturer |
Grundig Radiowerke GmbH Fürth / Bayern |
| Model |
3055/56 3D-Klang |
| Type |
7-tube LW, MW, KW, 2xUKW Superheterodyne radio receiver |
| Production Year |
1955 |
| Serial Number |
100622558 |
| Cabinet |
Mahogany, ivory plastic, golden metal |
| Dial |
Illuminated reverse painted glass |
| Knobs |
2(3) original bakelite knobs |
| Frequency Range |
LW 150-350 kHz, MW 510-1600 kHz, KW 6-16 MHz, 2xFM 87-100 MHz |
| Controls |
Volume, antenna, tuning, tone ctrls, push-button band selector |
| Tube line-up |
EM34, ECC85, ECH81, EF89(6DA6), EBF80(EBF89), EABC80(6T8), EL84 |
| Size (WxDxH) |
26" x 12" x 17" |
| Weight |
37 lbs = 17 kg |
| Comment |
Excellent condition, serviced and perfectly working |
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