Laboratory Jottings

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 39, 10 April 1931, Page 12

Laboratory Jottings

Gulbransen Minuet MESSRS. H. W. CLARKE AND CO, have supplied us with a’ Gulbransen Minuet, and during the last few weeks we have had ample opportunity to test out this little set. In the ‘first place, the design is unorthodox and, it must be confessed, attractive. The set, designed so that it can be operated from the armchair, has great possibilities, for, with the long cable (which contains both aerial and earth leads), it can be moved about without difficulty. It takes much less space than the larger sets,

Though economising space, there has been -no cramping or skimping of the internal mechanism, for the chassis is. similar to the Gulbransen Lowboy set, ie. two stage of: sereen grid, detector, audio and two 245’s in push-pull. It is equipped with a standard Jensen speaker. One has only to feel the weight. of the set to be assured that there has been no sacrifice to bring it down to the smail space. Economy has been gained solely through the design of the cabinet. The results came up to expectations fully, for, as was to be expected, the same fine performance, put up by the Gulbransen standard models tested previously was attained. Sensitivity is all that is asked for in the modern set. When conditions were good, the Australian,smaller stations could be listened to in comfort, while the Japs were consistently good. We had the opportunity of trying out this set in another locality, and we were successful in bringing in American stations. Under normal conditions there was a considerable reserve of volume on such stations as 2BL and 2c, and we were able to listen to these more or less regularly. Considering the noise level in an ordinary city

suburb, the set was as sensitive as desirable, The tone was good, and as the Gulbransen Minuet is fitted with a volume control, the percentage of bass and treble can be varied at will. This accessory is nicely balanced, and tone can be brought over to bass without excessive woolliness. Although an. expedient during bad interference, when it can be. used to by-pass a great deal of the noise, we have little use for these modern "refinements," but they are demanded; and that is all there is to it as far as the manufacturers are concerned, There is a pronounced absence of a booming bass, eyen with the control in maximum position. for this end of the scale. The selectivity of the set leaves little to be desired, for we could listen to 2FC0 with only a little background from the. local station. Farther from Wellington, however, there would be a considerable space between the two stations. This applies to 4QG on the other side. The set is quite economical to run, as it consumes only 80 watts, approximately, and can‘be used in the Wellington district 12 hours for 1d.