This had the joyful fragrance of mouse dropping and mothballs when I picked it up.
I drove way down to Los Banos California to pick this unit up. You might remember in an earlier post that I blogged about our other Telefunken unit. It is similar to this one but has a few different features. I am such a big fan of anything made by Telefunken. I was advised by Luis (owner of Stereoadvisor) that “Telefunken is one of the best stereos to own”, since he repairs stereos for a living that was all the convincing I needed. Anyways, I drove down to meet Steve the seller of the Telefunken and after a small demonstration of its operation and the bugs it needed to have worked out I decided to get it. It had some water damage to the top of it but that is a usual problem for these.
Why do people put things that leak fluids on top of wood furniture. I NEVER put a plant or any drinks on the surface of any wood furniture even if it has a polyurethane finish. I do plan on getting a piece of glass cut for the top of this so that should really protect it.
I took the back off the unit to get access to all the compartments to vacuum them out and to blow them out with air. I couldn't believe the amount of dust that was in there.
The first thing I did was sand the piece down. You must remember when refinishing one of these units they only have a thin veneer surface so you can’t use a real abrasive sandpaper. I use a 100 grit sandpaper to remove old finish and then I use a 120 to smooth out the surface (remember that the smaller the number the more abrasive the sandpaper is).
As you can see all the rings are gone.
Once the finish was removed and the surface smooth I then used Minwax Gunstock stain to re-stain the top. I only had to put two coats on it to achieve a finish similar to the original. Once the stain had dried I then sprayed the top with a semi-gloss polyurethane to help protect the finish.
Look at the way the new top shines.
This unit has shortwave, AM & FM. I am going to see if I can get that all running so I can tune into some shortwave stations.
This may sound crazy but I am going to see if Luis can install an iPod adapter so I can play the songs in my iTunes account through this unit. I have a lot of records but I have way more songs in my iTunes account.
I think it turned out great. Tomorrow I drop it off at the Stereoadvisor so Luis can tune her up. I am anxious to play some of my Perry Como 78's on her.
Hepcats Haven 
That is such a beauty! Lucky to have found one that still works well and a friend who can tune it up. The finish looks great as always!
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Thanks Zak,
I am fortunate to have found one that wasn’t all beat up. Being they were made mostly of particle board there are not many survivors. I appreciate your support!
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How much do a Telefunken Hymnus Hi-Fi 5014 like this go for…I have one in amazing shape.
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I have one of these and to play your ipod you just need a 5 pin DIN male plug to 2 RCA plug adapter. Plug it into the tape player DIN plug in the back, plug the RCA jacks into a ipod charging station (mine is made by AUVIO) and push the Tape button and it works!
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Thanks for the advice Bob-I’ll try to get my iPhone to play through it.
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Your house looks great. I also have a Telefunken stereo like the one in your living room. With the short wave radio etc. They are beautiful, I think mine looks a little lighter, blonder. I’m wondering if they made them with different woods or stains or if it’s just the photos make them look different. I originally bought mine just because of the great style of the cabinet and was pleasantly surprised when it all worked. Just recently tryed the turntable and was unpleasantly surprised when it no longer worked. Would love any info on how to check it out myself. Are they belt driven? And how do you get to the guts underneath the platter? Help! Any words of wisdom/directions/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,R. I’ll be back to check out your site.
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I restore the aesthetics (wood, etc.) but I actually take my units to a local stereo repair shop when they need help.
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I have one that I’m trying to sell
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I have a Hymnus 2114 poliert Hi-Fi Stereo and is in mint condition. My problem is as soon as i try to turn it on the fuse pops (burns). Could anyone give me a reason for this? Would anyone be able to send me the schematic? Thanks
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We have a Telefunken 5014 in for repair; can you give any ideas on where to procure schematics for the unit?
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I actually just picked one of these up off Craigslist yesterday and it has the schematics, email me of you are still interested!
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