Clocks & Music
1946 Belmont 6D111 "Rabbit" Bakelite Tube Radio Restored with Bluetooth
1946 Belmont 6D111 "Rabbit" Bakelite Tube Radio Restored with Bluetooth
This Belmont Model 6D111 is one of the most instantly recognizable postwar radio cabinets, nicknamed the "Rabbit" by collectors for the two rounded, ear-like fins that rise from either end of its oval Bakelite shell. The cream cabinet holds a fan-shaped amber dial reading frequencies from 55 to 165, set above a row of six labeled pushbuttons for preset AM stations, with a single tuning knob at the right end of the case and a smaller volume knob below the dial.
The 6D111 is a six-tube AM broadcast set with a Series B chassis covering the standard band from 530 to 1650 kc, built around a 12SK7 RF amplifier, a 12SA7 mixer/oscillator, a second 12SK7 as IF amplifier, a 12SQ7 second detector and audio amplifier, a 35L6GT power output tube, and a 35Z5GT rectifier, tuned through either the pushbuttons or the end mounted dial knob and drawing signal through a built-in loop antenna.
Belmont resumed civilian radio production in 1946 after building sets for the U.S. Army during the war, and the 6D111 was among the first designs to return, its Bakelite case and streamlined oval profile carried over from a shape the company had introduced earlier in the decade. The pushbuttons on many surviving examples were pre-labeled for a specific city's stations at the factory, a detail that gives individual units a real sense of local history tied to wherever they were originally sold.
This example has been restored and equipped with Bluetooth through a 1/8 inch adapter, allowing a smartphone, tablet, computer, or record player to connect and play through the radio's original tube-driven sound. The result pairs modern convenience with the warm tone of a vintage Belmont set, housed in one of the most beloved and immediately recognizable Art Deco radio cabinets of the postwar era.
