Goblin Time Spot CR

 

Shown below is the Goblin Time-Spot CR. Goblin was not a big name in radio, in fact this is the only receiver they manufactured I know of. Manufactured by the British Vacuum Cleaner and Engineering Company in 1947, the sets still turns up surprisingly often today. The radio was a fairly standard four valve plus rectifier superhet, operating on LW, MW and SW. The set incorporated a Smiths electric clock pictured left where the time adjustment control that protruded out of the back of the cabinet. The two vertical wheels between the tuning window and clock are used to set the on and off times. The set was quite expensive at £24.0.0 +pt. Considering the high price the cabinet finish is rather poor, and more often than not these sets show up today with refinished cabinets. For no obvious reason the back panel is formed of two separate parts, and these are almost always missing in receivers found today. One useful feature from a service point of view is that the chassis could be removed from the cabinet without taking off the control knobs. Valve line-up was 6K7G, 6K8G, 6Q7G, 6V6G, 5Z4G. 

So quite a collectable receiver, and although fairly common a lot of collectors own one anyway. Now also on this page I've included a picture of the Ekco A33 (shown above right), released the same year as the Goblin, and for about the same price. There's no comparison really is there? The Ekco is about a third of the Goblin's size, and the clean white lines look far better than the staid veneers of the Goblin. But you rarely see an A33 today, because they didn't sell well. It must be remembered that half a century ago people did not appreciate the clean simplicity of the Ekco cabinet (by Wells Coates). Dark veneers were the order of the day in the gloomy bedrooms with the rich dark walnut furniture, skirting boards and picture rails found in homes then. The Goblin was right for its time, and the A33 was a classic case of a cabinet design ahead of its time. (Press here for more pictures and a description of the Ekco A33).

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