[Paul Philco322]

Hope this is right place to post.... I have been diddlng in this hobby since I was 12. I recently gave a really nice and knowledgable fellow I know a GE radio to hopefully fix, It seemed un moletsed however had what appeared to be un insulated wire running to speaker, my pal says maybe enamelled wire and does not need replacement, enamelled wire? Anyone here see or know about this? 

Enamelled............

Paul

[morzh]

Paul

A photograph would help.

[mikethedruid]

I doubt it is enameled wire going to a speaker, unless it routs far away from the chassis, or anything it might short against. With just a little rubbing from vibration enamel insulation can fail. More likely it had rubber insulation which has rotted away and disappeared.

[Paul Philco322]

My friend has the set......no photos.

[Ron Ramirez]

Paul

If I am correct, I seem to recall that your collecting interests seem to focus mainly on All-American Five type radios from the 1940s and possibly early 1950s. Some of those sets had the output transformer mounted on the chassis, and some on the speaker. It sounds like this radio probably had the output transformer on the chassis, and if so, it may have used enameled wire as leads to the speaker voice coil. These carry audio voltages and have no risk of shock.

As you described your friend as "a knowledgeable fellow" and you gave the set to him with the understanding that it did not work and would need to be repaired, I wouldn't worry about it. If the person is indeed knowledgeable, he will know to correct any flaws in the set including correcting/replacing uninsulated wire in case the wires in question are field coil leads if it is an older set using a field coil type speaker.

[Mondial]

Yes, I agree with Ron. Many times there are no separate insulated leads from the output transformer secondary winding. The actual enameled magnet wire of the secondary extends out from the transformer and connects directly to the speaker voice coil. If there is any real concern of shorting, a piece of insulating tubing can be slipped over the wire in question.

[mikethedruid]

I have only seen this use of the secondary enameled wire to connect with the voice coil wiring in cases where the output transformer was either mounted directly on the frame of the speaker, or VERY close by, and in any case where there might be a problem with rubbing and shorting a piece of "spaghetti" was used over the wire to prevent that.

[Ron Ramirez]

With no photos - or even a model number - we are only left with conjectures.

[Paul Philco322]

https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/general_el_422.html

This is she, and I will double check the wires, was this a common wire type?

My pal Lou I do not doubt, 40 years at Raytheon, he is pretty good at radio work has an awesome BW TV Collection.... he had a nifty Raytheon tube displayer unit on his dining room table....last time I visited.

Paul

[Ron Ramirez]

Obviously the GE model 422 has the audio transformer on top of, or under, the chassis since there is no transformer mounted on the speaker.

I can't tell for certain on the small photo on that site you referenced, Paul, but that may very well be enameled wire going to the speaker voice coil terminals.

In any event, my comments in post #5 above still hold true.

[Paul Philco322]

Well whaddya know here is my set in my Flickr account, imagine I forgot I had shot these photos...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/92577012@N...8877762942

Paul

[Paul Philco322]

Confirmed enameled wire, a first for my collection.

Paul