Testing a 1961 Speakerphone! Model 880 by Automatic Electric

Found this nifty 1960s speaker phone and had to pick it up! This is the Automatic Electric Executive Type 880 speakerphone from the 60s, a rotary telephone with a built-in mic and external speaker for making conference calls. Don Draper would approve.
Here's the technical journal I showed: www.telephonec...

[@microbuilder]

"Hey boss, how big do you want the On/Off switch?" "Yes"

[@scottlarson1548]

"Big enough to accidentally hang up the call."

[@bewilderbeestie]

That's the second biggest on/off switch I've ever seen!

[@-BEASTOR-]

Was thinking about that button to. That thing is huge! 😆

[@microbuilder]

@@bewilderbeestie I could totally see that phone on the Chiefs desk, and Max would definitely end up accidently hitting it, hanging up on someone important, causing the Chief problems... lol

[@Supermanohman]

I know my comment is irrelevant but I want to say it's so awesome that you and your brother are friends and do things together. Please never take that for granted.

[@CaveyMoth]

That ringer sounds like a synthesizer that would be used in an old horror movie.

[@zh84]

I think it sounds like a spaceship in a 1950s black and white science fiction film.

[@U014B]

Specifically, an Italian one.

[@moosemaimer]

If a 1960's movie needed the sound of "a phone from _THE FUTURE_ " it would definitely sound like that.

[@TomoEriGoto]

It probably was used as an effect. Edit: Probably in indie movies, too.

[@Oliver-l1c]

Definitely! I was getting War of the World vibes :)

[@ink5353]

Holy crap I feel like Charlie Townsend is about to give me a very important mission involving pseudo-karate moves and skimpy clothing

[@ferretyluv]

Good morning, Charlie!

[@Stevie-J]

Before the slapchop was a kitchen gadget... it was a beloved TV trope

[@shmehfleh3115]

Angels, you're going undercover.

[@CptJistuce]

Same thought I was having.

[@donnysarian]

My dad was a doctor and had this exact phone in his home office and it was the best speakerphone ever made, bar none. I would love to have one today but they won't work on VOIP even with a plug-in Transformer. These phones required an incredible amount of voltage from the (POTS, or plain old telephone service) copper landlines of the day. Between 90 to 130 Volts to properly operate and that's why your ringer sounds weak and your On light is not flashing. Your bluetooth system does not have near enough voltage to properly power this gem of a phone. We still have copper landlines here in Los Angeles although there are rapidly disappearing and are the lowest priority on the AT&T totem pole. In fact, AT&T will not install standard home telephones anymore. they will assign you a phone number but they will form it out to a third party company to install the house wiring and jacks. Fortunately in my home all my copper landlines are still perfectly intact even though I ported over several years ago because the cost was astronomical for a standard phone!

[@stanleyk9076]

"Well that answers that." Generally with phones, yes.

[@cheater00]

By the description, it is a 2000 hertz triangle wave amplitude modulated by a 12 hz triangle wave (or both could be square). Listening to the sound, I think the latter oscillator is running slow, probably due to bad capacitors. Sounds like 2-3 Hz. Set up a simple analolg synth with these frequencies and test for yourself. So no, not supposed to sound like that

[@ferretyluv]

Wow, do you have perfect pitch?

[@cheater00]

@@ferretyluv no, but also perfect pitch does not apply to sound waves that are below the audio frequency range.

[@FlopDangle]

the frequent uploads been the highlight of the last week for me. thanks man :)

[@LGRBlerbs]

Glad to hear it!

[@tatianaes3354]

@@LGRBlerbsdid you know you have the best hands for reviews? Big, but soft, comfy. Yes, I realise this is a funny compliment.

[@Nimmbin]

That massive On/Off button just oozes cool. Great video, thanks for sharing 😁

[@galgor]

All the telelphone sounds and the audio quality that isn't crystal clear make me feel good. Love this stuff

[@fragglet]

Rotary dial speaker phone is something quite special

[@Bassquake76]

Should see if can replace the bulb. Would be cool to see it light up!

[@novelezra]

"Hello Angels"

[@camotech1314]

Good morning Charlie 🧏🏼‍♀️

[@dons8365]

The year I was born. Hope it has less arthritis than I do!!!. Keep up the good work.

[@soulchorea]

I haven't heard a dial tone in forever 😅 instantly took me back

[@Existentialskater]

The board is on the line for this meeting.

[@Petertronic]

Very smart and in lovely condition, I love the chunky rocker switch. Must have been an expensive device when new!

[@twocvbloke]

If you love that ringer, you'd probably love the tone ringer in the GPO TrimPhone, they're a proper little chirp when they ring, and most had a radioactive dial too with a tritium tube inside the dial to make it glow in the dark... :D

[@LGRBlerbs]

Whaaaaat that sounds rad

[@twocvbloke]

@@LGRBlerbs One of our phones from here in Britain in the 60s, and the dial caused much concern when people learned about the rad effects (badum-tish!) of radioactive materials, even though the tritium tubes are less harmful than a granite worktop, so later ones were shipped without them, cos spoilsports, I have an old tube from one, and although it's pretty much dead, it still puts out the faintest glow 60 years on... :D

[@bewilderbeestie]

@@twocvbloke You can still get tritium lights. They're really useful for things like keyrings and switches you need to be able to find in an emergency --- like the latch on the breaker box in the cellar. They're not even particularly expensive, being about $10 for a small one. Plus, every atom of it is artificially made in a nuclear reactor, which is cool.

[@twocvbloke]

@@bewilderbeestie I've seen those for sale, but the ones inside a TrimPhone dial was a long, C-shaped one, I wanted to recreate it with little tubes, but the cost to make up the same length was prohibitive, though these days with flexible LED filaments, that job would be much easier now I'm sure... :D

[@Brianybug]

Fascinating stuff! Reminds me of some of the stuff in the late 70's I would see at my dad's office. This video made me remember the leather executive phone at the VCF show. I almost wanted to make the guy an offer!

[@ReganMisfitGamer]

No joke it sounds like you went back in a time machine to 1960s to leave a message.

[@dbaker2919]

I have the exact same phone in beige. The ringer on mine sounds very similar to yours.

[@LGRBlerbs]

Oh nice, good to know!

[@tatianaes3354]

Some say that based on description it should sound a bit different, but it does not due to bad old capacitors

[@paulwarner5395]

Great find. Love vintage phone gear. Nice to see it still works.

[@mialemon6186]

There is something so satisfying about rotary phones. My granny refused to upgrade, so that was her house phone when I was young! Trying to stand at the little phone shelf for an hours long conversation or dragging over a kitchen chair was the Hard Times 😂😂😂😂 That phone weighed like 20lbs all by itself. My uncle ended up with it, but man I wish I could clone it.

[@CptJistuce]

While most modern phone systems won't handle a rotary phone dialing, you can still answer calls with them today. More importantly, they still RING. Even if it isn't the device you're taking the call on, it is worth plugging one in just for the ring.

[@markluke9583]

thanks for bringing the blerbs back!

[@rodc2678]

I would be guessing even the electronic components of the ringer have degraded with age, a bit of a gift it works at all. Techmoan must be drooling over this one!

[@timradde4328]

This is seriously cool. I was 6 at that time/date so don't remember ever seeing one like this.

[@CapnKetchup]

Looks like something I've seen on Columbo reruns. 😂 Great device!

[@frankowalker4662]

If you did'nt hear the first ring, by the time it rang again the caller would think you were out and hang up. LOL

[@pdbaldry]

What a lovely piece of early tech! Love it, thank you for sharing! ☎️☺️

[@KSHickeyJr]

That 60's era electronic ringer sounds something I would have heard in the background of an Episode of the Twilight Zone to heighten the sense of Tension

[@zigforjustice]

Super cool. I always wanted a speakerphone when I grew up. The ones in Mad Men were the Western Electric variety (107a)

[@LGRBlerbs]

Ooh, neat. I knew they used some desk speaker at points but didn't know what.

[@St0rmcrash]

Thouth the 107a is just a loudspeaker and no mic. The full system from Western Electric is the 4A Speakerphone

[@danieldavis2055]

I half expected Cuba Baion to start playing at some point.

[@BollingHolt]

That's cool, man! The audio quality is really good, not what I expected!

[@raptorchow329]

I like the technical journal, with all the circuit diagrams. Back in the 80's, I had a couple stereos from the 70's that had circuit diagrams for the whole stereo, printed on a sheet and glued to the inside of the back cover. (Those were the days!)

[@FoxintoshPlus]

Show us more phones XD these are so strangely enjoyable and satisfying

[@theoldar]

1961, the year I was born.

[@fluxington]

Well done you.

[@trashtrash2169]

Do you still work properly?

[@hrr597]

​@@trashtrash2169 nah he needs a new motherboard

[@trashtrash2169]

@@hrr597 Damn.

[@albear972]

Dang, now that's an extra big-ass power switch! As wide as the receiver itself and almost the same size as the dial.

[@ZaBaGaBe]

that ringer sounds similar to the ringer used in that bell systems video "a voice for the farm" it'd come through the loud speakers setup around the farm, or so it claimed.

[@MinutemanOutdoors]

That ringtone activated my fight or flight instinct

[@fensoxx]

That was awesome. Keep the telephone vids coming! If you get a standard POTS line installed at your house for this phone review side hustle, they still support pulse dialing so you can test the dial out on these old beauties.

[@youdontknowme5969]

LOL so one Christmas White Elephant gift exchange at work, I ended up with a Western Electric rotary phone with 6 plastic buttons (for multiple lines?) on the bottom and what looked like a thicc funky Parallel or SCSI-like cord connected to it. I had no idea what to do with it, so I put in blinky amber and one red LED in those buttons and made it a conversation piece. I still have it on display in a bookshelf at work LOL

[@nticompass]

I'm in love with the HUGE power switch! MORE electronics need power switches like that!

[@TastyBusiness]

Commodore branded Northern Telecom 500-style phone! Always a good choice.

[@Squonk06]

The ringer might be a bit off. The text said it should be a 2 kHz tone (which is a slightly flat C7), but it's closer to 1.5 kHz (~G6). Maybe component values have drifted? Maybe the input voltage affects the pitch? Or maybe the 12 Hz modulation mentioned somehow interacts with the tone and lowers its pitch? Whatever the case, the descrepency is interesting.

[@myleft9397]

Cool! Thanks for making a video about it.

[@DaBoaringDragon]

Think I've seen this in some movie(s). It looks very familiar...

[@fluxington]

I've never seen a larger rocker switch on a consumer electronics device.

[@asystole_]

I wonder if there's a reason it's that big. Maybe it interacts with the on-hook switch directly?

[@volvo09]

Phone calls were a private (ish) thing, and it was always obvious when a phone was off hook and could be listening by looking at the handset. A speakerphone was a very different technology, you wanted a very quick and obvious sign that the phone wasn't off hook in speaker mode, you could listen in to people by just making a call, leaving the phone, and monitoring it elsewhere. I have a feeling it was for peace of mind, for both users, and people around the phone.

[@BBB_bbb_BBB]

It'd be nice to restore something like this a little. Reference some of the old photos print off a new sticker for the dial, change the antislip mat on the base, smooth out the scuffs on the plastic, get the blinker working again. It'd look great in a home office.

[@toyfreaks]

That ringer is very pleasant, like you could ignore it for minutes without it getting on your nerves.

[@dean-ph2ww]

I believe that's the third speaker phone design available to the public that began in 1958. The first conception was just a regular phone that came with speaker phone accessories. Prior to 1958 speaker phones were used for military conferences.

[@SunsetProdz4]

Wow, that’s old. Good thing it works!

[@theoldar]

Hey, I was born in 1961, and I still work! More or less. :-)

[@SunsetProdz4]

@@theoldar not what I meant but oops 😂

[@theoldar]

Like me, it's vintage!

[@sisterspike281]

Ring sound evokes sci-fi movie sound effects of the 50s and 60s, that futuristic tone may be what they were going for.

[@CybershamanX]

(3:30) Yeah, I'm pretty sure CPS stands for Cycles Per Second. I just looked up Hertz and the Hz label didn't come into use until 1960, the year before this phone came out. Interesting! 😎☮️

[@Thomas-yr9ln]

Rotary Phones from the 1960s you got from the phone company was tough as nails . I was 10 years old I dropped them a lot and it didn't hurt it. I watch abandoned house videos and see these built-in vacuum tube intercoms it's fascinating. I wouldn't mind getting a older set and recondition it. Put all new capacitors in them.

[@rjcgy713]

I like it. Gotta find that ring tone for my phone

[@jetryder]

I love a good monday morning blerb!

[@frankelgar4866]

very Techmoan.

[@cheater00]

He should've called Techmoan

[@davidmcgill1000]

@@cheater00 doing an international call on a rotary phone sounds like hell.

[@FoxintoshPlus]

I like how this is the first comment I see XD

[@moosemaimer]

@@cheater00 now I have to go watch that video again where he won't stop calling the 8-Bit Guy

[@cheater00]

@@moosemaimer haha yup

[@Mr.CellophaneHart]

reminds me of the OG Get Smart for some reason.

[@apex_prey]

I think that is a little beauty.

[@GYTCommnts]

That bluetooth device is great. I should get one. 👍

[@davidromeroblaya7920]

That's the creepiest ringtone I ever heard in my life.

[@volvo09]

I don't think that's how it was designed. Something isn't right, or has failed on the ringer board.

[@NumptyMcNumptyface]

That ringtone sounds like something out of a 1960s episode of Doctor Who. I like it.

[@ntsrvr]

That sounds WAY better than I expected. Get yourself 3 angels & start calling yourself Bosley.

[@IRWPD]

All ways fined the 60's and 70's device design super cool.

[@idahofur]

Wish something like that would show up in my neck of the world.

[@CalGarian-qn9pw]

I used to have a Reel to Reel answering machine that would have gone well with this telephone made in 1969. I'm sad I ever lost it.

[@unmanaged]

Clint on the xlink you can change a setting to drive older telephones... I have one of these also

[@lemagreengreen]

Looks like something Dr Evil would have on his desk, awesome.

[@Kinex605]

This would be a cool phone to hook up to the PBX at VCF Midwest!

[@kevincoones4368]

Hi LGR This is a perfect phone if a hypnotize you hands free.

[@trance_trousers]

CPS stands for cycles per second which, as Clint correctly mentioned, is another way of saying Hertz.

[@EdHelms1]

Great video. I was going to comment that this looks like something out of Mad Men. I do think it’s interesting that the speaker and mic seem to be separated like they are.

[@richardbrobeck2384]

Cool Phone I have like half dozen old phones !

[@noferblatz]

I believe standard POTS voltage is 24V, and the ring voltage is somewhere in the 90V range. That's what you would need to power it.

[@jamesharmer9293]

Standard phone voltage is 48V DC with a 75V AC ring voltage. All to make sure that the bell would ring at the end of several miles of wire. The DC line voltage is limited to 25mA so when you pick the phone up and complete the circuit, the voltage will drop to only a few volts.

[@matthewcox431]

Next up for the communications desk, a TTY terminal! 😁

[@littlemiss_76]

If we go back to the rotary phones you are all set 😊

[@bhhenry]

Greetings, my friend, I've got something neat, A thrift store treasure, a real cool treat. An electric speakerphone, model 880, so grand, From 1961, a piece of the past in my hand. I love collecting phones, but not the digital kind, Those from the '90s and '80s, I leave them behind. But this one from the '60s, at such a good price, Forty-nine bucks, couldn't think twice. My brother and I, on a thrifting quest, He wanted a cassette deck, you know the best. While he found his treasure, I stumbled on mine, This speakerphone hidden, behind others in line. A speaker and mic, with a curious look, Had to take it home, like bait on a hook. Saw it online, valued more than I paid, It had an RJ11, so my devices it played. It works just fine, I had to share, This old phone, beyond compare. Collecting old phones is a hobby of mine, And this one, my friend, is quite divine. An electric ringer, not metal or bell, Sounds like a cricket, oh, isn't that swell? From '61, this marvel, ahead of its time, No more simple rotaries, now that's sublime. A loudspeaker phone, from days of yore, No hands needed, a tech we adore. With its unique housing, controls so neat, For group calls, or just a one-man feat. Plugged it in, the ringer sang, A synthetic sound, like a cricket’s twang. No physical bell, just an oscillator’s tune, Amplified sound, fills the room. North Carolina roots, it seems to say, Used till '94, in its own special way. Handset attached, but often unused, Just press a button, the mic is enthused. Needs a clean, a sticker replaced, But the mechanism’s fine, no detail erased. Testing it out, with Bluetooth gear, Not ideal, but it works, never fear. Speakerphone function, loud and clear, Blinking light’s supposed to be here. Talking through the mic, a voice from the past, This old phone’s charm, forever will last. Imagine Mad Men, in an office grand, This phone on a desk, perfectly planned. An executive tool, for calls so grand, Now a relic, in my hand. Maybe common, maybe rare, Either way, a story to share. If you know more, or have tales to tell, Let me know, would be swell. This nifty find, from a thrift store shelf, Brings history alive, all by itself. So thanks for watching, my little show, About this old phone, with a special glow.

[@TheWarmotor]

Someone stole this from the set of Mad Men, I love it :) EDIT: Goddamnit Clint made that exact joke 10 seconds after I typed it. You magnificent bastard!

[@straightpipediesel]

You need to try a conversation with it, particularly with a traditional analog phone. They're very limited and hard to use. DSP echo cancellation didn't exist, so it was fundamentally half-duplex, when one side speaks, the level of speaker audio is cut down severely (what we now call audio ducking). That often means double-talking, especially when the other side has a similar speakerphone. Feedback could happen when there was significant latency: long distance lines, particularly back then when it was all analog, had background hiss, and there were only primitive echo cancellers. The separate speaker box was needed to reduce pickup of the mic from the speaker to try to mitigate some of that. Modern devices and codecs have echo cancellers, so it works a lot better today than it did in 1961.

[@AureliusR]

Echo cancelling was around long before the modern era. As a matter of fact, part of the dial-up sounds you heard from your modem was a specific tone to tell the switches to disable echo suppression. It also has a few 180-degree phase reversals to disable another type of echo-cancelling circuit. The first modem standard to absolutely require this was v.32, standardized in 1988, but that implies that echo cancellation was around before that era.

[@straightpipediesel]

@@AureliusR Echo _cancellers_ showed up in the 80s, at the same time as the TDM digitization of the telephone network, which makes sense as you need the audio digital form. Echo _suppressors_ were present before that but only used on long-distance lines. A suppressor is similar to what we have here, it reduces the audio from the other side when you're talking, and could be implemented as an all-analog circuit.

[@TheSimArchitect]

Hello Charlie! 😁🪩

[@slightlyevolved]

I've seen/known about rotarty soeakerphones being a thing back into the 60s, just because of movies. You've seen old key exchange PBX units on like, secretary desks and such, bit ive never seen one this small or that was only a single line.

[@gmcnewlook]

“Good morning angels”

[@St0rmcrash]

Awesome speakerphone! Though I always cringe a bit as a phone collector when I see Bell logos slapped onto non-bell phones like that dial sticker the phone itself is excellent. I had no idea that the AE 880 used a tone ringer

[@derekchristenson5711]

I've seen speakerphones in old movies, probably from that far back or more, but I've never seen one that old in person! I guess 'cause I'm not an executive... As a child of the 80's and 90's, though, that bell ringer still -- much to my own surprise -- makes me feel the urge to answer the phone... that I had disconnected years ago because the landline had become all spam calls. Alas. That weird, chirping "ringer", though... that was creepy. What WAS that supposed to sound like when new? 😲

[@cousinjameson7136]

The ring sounds like Finfin! 🐦🐬

[@LGRBlerbs]

It does!

[@The_Magic_of_Zelda]

Neat rotary phone although I can do without that eerie ringtone.

[@michaelturner2806]

I couldn't imagine the idea of a speaker phone was that revolutionary. A normal phone has a microphone and a speaker, so why not bigger? I would think the hardest part would be trying to prevent feedback. If that was difficult I would imagine since early models would be push-to-talk.

[@Ganiscol]

I just call To say I ❤ this

[@P7777-u7r]

I think the sticker may have been someone trying to get the original Bell logo to the top as the breakup of US Bell into regional systems probably resulted in a different logo being slapped on top of this phone when it was still company property.

[@tyzerro]

I HAVE NEGLECTED MY POOR SWEET BLERBS! BUT NO WORRIES I AM CATCHING UP ON THE LAST TWO VIDEOS RIGHT NOW! ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY BLERRRRRRRBS!

[@hedgehoggamer5555]

LGR Blerbs is so back!

[@Belznis]

I think I might be wrong, but some old movies like Bond or some others might have had something like that but even back when I saw them that was like unrealistic, everyone would have thought it was some future technology. Very interesting.

[@ObiWanBillKenobi]

Toward the end of the 1961 movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” a minor character has a phone call with a major character using a speakerphone very similar to this. He has to explain what it is and he doesn’t call it a speakerphone; he calls it an executive phone.

[@AniZHdz]

My dogs started barking and crying at 6:05 😂

[@W4iteFlame]

Well. It sounds like fun

[@dyter424]

The hertz wasn't really estabilished until the mid 1960s or later; before that it was just called cycles per second.

[@hesthatguy]

That was fun.

[@csbruce]

7:16 "Good morning, Angels."

[@mialemon6186]

“Good morning Charlie!” 😂😂😂

[@rolfsinkgraven]

Nice, use it.

[@revoltosotintan]

Chacharas con el Clint ❤