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| Reviews Summary for Allied A-2515 |
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Reviews: 1
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Average rating: 5.0/5
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MSRP: $$100
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Description: 150 -30000 KHz Receiver. Solid state, from 1967-1971
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More info: http://
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write your own review of the Allied A-2515.
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N4UE
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 14, 2008 16:10
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Send this review to a friend
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Unique, great beginner radio
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Long post..............sorry.
I was torn about what to rate this radio. Regular readers of the 'review' section, will recognize my call and my 'love affair' with low - end boatanchor receivers.
I had seen this model in Fred Osterman's awesome book: "Shortwave Receivers, Past and Present". I wish Fred would do more books like this. I consider it the 'bible' here. Why? Because his ratings almost always mirror my own experiences....
Anyway, this radio looked like a re-branded Trio (Lafayette), but was sold by Allied and was solid state.
I found an absolutly perfect example on ePay, er, eBay, and it was mine for cheap. Heavily bid, but I won....
When I got the radio, I was amazed at the condition, It had been well cared for. Other than a light coating of dust on the inside, it was just like new. The controls were very stiff indicating it sat unused for a loooong time. After verifying it worked, I replaced the line cord with a 3 connector version, as I do to every piece of vintage equipment that come in here.
I carefully disassembled the radio for cleaning and to respray the covers. I found an off the shelf 'rattle can' that was the EXACT color! Lucky!
Anyway, I removed the dial glass, and I was VERY careful atound the dial markings. I recently destroyed the VERY fragile dial markings on a nice Lafayette HA-63. I had to 'Digital Dial' that radio and have since bought another, out of frustration. All the old Lafayette radios in my collection have that one bad trait... The dial markings were a water emulsion and if touched (however gently), they dissapear like magic!!!
I was pleasently (VERY) surprised to discover the A-2515 had PAINTED dial markings! Now, you can Windex BOTH sides of the dial glass, and really make it sparkle.
Internally, I expected to find the circuit boards marked with "GRE", the Allied vendor back in the AX-190 / SX-190 era. They were different. However, the knobs and dial glass are obviously made by the same vendor Trio used.
How does it perform? Wonderful! It is one of the few old radios I have restored that I did NOT have the desire to do an alignment (yet). Although it is quite easy to do, since the radio came with the Original Manual with alignment instructions.
I have found that the capacitors in these older radios lacking. Just this week, I replaced all the electrolytics in my AX-190 due to power supply hum....
I was very fortunate in that nobody had 'golden screwdrivered' the slugs in this radio. They are all untouched. I have an Allied SX-190 that is now a 'parts radio', because someone broke EVERY slug , on EVERY board! Groan!!!!
After getting her back together, I have it playing on 15 MHz WWV and it is loud and clear.
The only negative thing I can say about this unusual radio, is that the tuning is very sensitive. It's best to tune above your target frequency, then 'tune down' using the bandspread.
This radio ia excellent and just like my FRG-7, I can look inside and ask myself "how the @#$%^& can this 'empty' radio work SO well?".
All I can say is if you run across a nice example like I did, buy it. You won't be disappointed!
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