A little research turned up some interesting information. The Golden Eight was Nutone's first electronic model in the 1960s, and it was the only one to have a cool atomic logo. It played eight- or four-note tunes on three tone bars (not Westminster chimes). When connected to the doorbell and an intercom system, the tunes...real sounds, not beeps or artificial tones...could be broadcast to all rooms.
The original intercom is still hooked up in our house, but we can't figure out how to make it work, even though it's clearly still getting power. We've discussed having someone come out to see if it could be made operational again. An electrician who came out to do some work for us said it would be no problem to rewire the doorbell. Now that I know what a fantastic chime we have, I guess we'd better add that to our To Do Someday list.
Technical information about the Golden Eight from a comment on Flickr by ZephyrSkunk
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| Our Nutone Golden Eight doorbell chime |
Dana that really is a very cool doorbell. It definitely belongs on your "to do" house list. Hope things are coming together on your projects.
ReplyDeletePam, we're steadily marking things off our To Do Now list, and the To Do Someday list keeps getting longer and longer. We're kinda stuck right now on window coverings, which I'll probably post about soon.
DeleteI love the atomic logo!
ReplyDeleteMe too! And I can't believe it's in such good condition. The metal isn't even discolored.
DeleteVery cool! Our grandmother had one with three long metal tubes that sounded so soothing.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know what the tones on this one sound like.
DeleteGold! Vintage sounds in your new home too!
ReplyDeleteSooner than later, I hope! :)
DeleteSooner than later, I hope! :)
DeleteI hope you can fix it...that would be a wonderful sound to enjoy. :)
ReplyDeleteDear Dana: This really isn't a L39 "Golden Eight". The real "Golden Eight" doesn't have an atomic logo because it is not designed to connect with Nutone intercoms. The atomic logo stands for "electronic", this means that all Nutone electronic chimes can connect with Nutone intercoms. Your chime is actually a Nutone L70 Surface Mounted "Electronic". This means that you must have a Nutone Intercom installed somewhere. I'll look forward to watch some pictures of it in your blog. Greetings.
ReplyDelete