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Is anyone familiar with Loewe Opta Radios? We have a Meteor model that my wife's father bought new in Germany around 1960. It's an awesome looking radio with MW SW LW And FM bands. Huge (by todays standards) with a finely crafted wood cabinet. I've never heard it working and was wondering what kind of performance to expect when I get it fixed. I have what must be a Loewe Opta of about the same vintage, but smaller and in a plastic case (I'll have to look up the name).  It's transistorized, but they're in _meta_l cases and plug in.  It's difficult to judge sound quality, as the speaker had been replaced by the time I got it and it's not an exact replacement.  But as far as I can tell, the radio itself performs reasonably well.  Not as good as my TransOceanic Royal (I think a 7000) of nearly the same vintage, but quite well for a small table radio of the era.  I'd like to know more about the Loewe Opta myself.

If your talking about the later solid state ones, I have no clue. I've never had any interest in the solid state TO's....Only the tube jobs. The  TO was a high quality radio for it's day. One of the highest priced you could buy of it's type. MK

I bought my Royal 7000-1 for $250 in 1971, that was a LOT of money to a kid who's only income was babysitting $$$. I've had offers to sell it and it ain't going nowhere! Re: Trans-Oceanic Radios   Group: rec.radio.shortwave Date: Tue, Mar 23, 2004, 9:17pm (EST-3) From: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (Mark Keith) This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (ROBMURR) wrote in message <news: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it I did a search and I saw great pictures of some of these radios. They are just incredible. I notice that they often came with a panel on the back side that came up. I wonder what that was for? If you are talking about the tube type from the 1950s that panel lifted up from the front and was a cover for the radio dial to protect it as well as a holder for the wavemagnet antenna... I have an H500 from 1952? or so that I should restore one day.... I had one of those. 1950-52??. Think it was a H500. Had the square dial in the middle like a clock...I sold that one long ago, and still regret it. Thing was great for MW. I have a 1958 model now. The radio itself is about the same, different dial layout , but I preferred the bigger loop in the H500 vs the slimmer loop in the 58 model. I forgot the model of mine...A600 maybe? But I don't use mine much any more. I used to use it all the time, but the caps started drying out, and it would drop out once it got warmed up. Also, the tubes are getting harder to find and more $$, and I didn't want to fry em, if I have others radios to burn. It just sits under my table now collecting dust...I'll fix it up some day when I get overly bored. I've got a 1948 RCA console I'd rather mess with than it right now. I consider that console probably the peak of late 40's MW listening pleasure, even though as a console, it's pretty boring looking compared to many of the tombstones, etc. Mine is one of the first RCA models to use the hideaway drawer on the right for the tuner. The turntable is on the top left. What makes it semi special is it's audio amp. It's got a semi high quality dual 6v6 audio amp. Lots of power and good audio for the average 40's RCA console. Most used smaller single tube audio outputs. It uses a 12 inch speaker, and has a loop much bigger than a TO. The loop is rotatable within the rear of the cabinet.It does cover some lower SW bands also I think up to maybe 19m?? ... I consider it actually more desirable of an old radio to listen to than the TO. It sounds BIG. And it's old enuff to be different...I wasn't born yet, when it was built... I was only 2 when my 58 TO was built... If your talking about the later solid state ones, I have no clue. I've never had any interest in the solid state TO's....Only the tube jobs. The TO was a high quality radio for it's day. One of the highest priced you could buy of it's type. MK