...after years of searching.
Possibly quite rare & definitely not very exciting, however, it was my first ever radio-cassette:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayI...em&item=250395014517

My dad worked for Rediffusion (a TV rental company) & in the 70s & 80s it was traditional for employees to be rewarded with a "Christmas Box" in the festive season. Grundig, Sony, Philips, etc. all did good business with Rediffusion, & so supplied some of the gifts. This is where My Philips AR073 (& my brother's Grundig CR tape recorder) came from.
Man, I loved it to bits with it's nice warm Philips sound from the 3 Watt mono speaker.

I picked it up last night. The seller thought I was completely crazy driving a 60+ mile round trip over to him to pick up this broken little old radio. He wouldn't accept a penny from me for it. I'm going to do everything I my power to get this one working again.
I can't get the stupid grin off my face. I haven't been this happy about a boombox since I got the M90

That is so awesome! I'm pumped for you! Congratulations!

awesome! i've heard you mention several times that you were looking for one of those i'm glad you found one hopefully it can be fixed up good.

Congrats Isolator, Personal grails are the most important regardless of size, appearance, etc.

cheers guys.
It really is dead at the moment, but my hopes are high...

[QUOTE]Originally posted by isolator42:
The seller thought I was completely crazy driving a 60+ mile round trip over to him to pick up this broken little old radio. QUOTE]

Aren't we all a little crazy here?

I'm glad for you iso.
I know exactly how you feel,
Hope that you will fixed fast and easy that grail.

I really dig that little machine!

Excellent Iso! Congratulations!!
I'll keep a look out for one down here for parts if you like, monos are the one thing plentiful where I live.

All the best getting her going brother!



Rock On.

Iso you must feel good to have that long lost box from your childhood years.

Congrats on finding it.

Paul, crazy is as crazy does. I would have done the same..if it were my PG.

I'll bet you were tired after the trip.

Congrats for finding your grail.
Hope you can bring it back to life soon.

Thanks again for the comments


I took it apart last night. Bloody hell this thing has been in the wars.
Battery leakage so bad that much of the inside was covered in a metallic powder - including the insides of the speaker (crunch, crunch)

Also the main board has got so much corrosion on it, so I'm not certain whether half of the electronic components are even connected anymore.

Just to top it all off, it looks like it's once been very wet inside & out too.

I finally got some life from it late last night - tape drive working, but no sound yet.


...Time to get the service manual, I reckon.
Hopes no longer as high...

well as long as you can see the parts value its a matter of replacing the parts that were damaged by the battery acid and be prepared to use wire jumpers if you lose a couple of traces good luck

I wish you good luck to get it back to life.
Don´t give up.
Fight against the corrosion.

You should really get the service manual.
I also will get one for mine:
Philips 170
From the age, they must be near together.

yup - that's the guy I just bought my service manual from

...if you see another one - I still want it!

You know, i´m still searching for it.
And if you see any good conditioned 170, let me know.

service manual has arrived - it's an original!
Hoping to find the source of the trouble...