12-16-2017, 05:28 PM
C'mon, guys, it is clearly a Phranken-Philco as Steve correctly pointed out.
Nathan asked me to look up the production figures; I did. Production for this model includes the 650RX and the later 655RX, and Philco Furniture History lumps production of both together.
There was a total of 1,500 chairside cabinets and 1,500 matching speaker cabinets made - 1,000 of each by Smith, and 500 of each by Red Lion.
Philco would not have put a speaker that close to the rectifier and output tubes. The PM speaker was removed from a 650RX speaker cabinet and stuck inside the chairside cabinet, as Steve said. The thin openings in the side of the radio cabinet, which were intended for ventilation and not for a speaker, would have cut down on the amont of sound produced by the radio.
Steve also said, and I agree, that Philco used the PM speaker in the separate speaker cabinet to eliminate high voltage wiring running from chairside unit to speaker unit, as a safety factor. I do not know that for a fact; it is merely an educated guess. In 1936, permanent magnet speakers were not as efficient as were electromagnetic speakers. It wasn't until later that magnets improved to the point that field coils were no longer needed to make a quality speaker. Philco did this with the previous (1935) year model's 118RX - it too used a PM speaker in its separate speaker cabinet. The 650 can be considered a direct descendant of the 118, as both use eight tubes and feature SW as well as AM reception. The 650 added LW.
It's not a prototype. It is not a custom one-off radio made at the factory. This is Philco which we are talking about, not E.H. Scott or McMurdo Silver. Philco mass produced low priced radios for the masses; they were not in the business of custom building radios to anyone's personal specifications. If you had the means to purchase a custom built radio...you would have been talking to Scott or Silver, not Philco. Besides, why buy a Chevy when you can afford a Rolls Royce?
The modification may have been done decades ago...but it is definitely a modified radio.
If you disagree...well...no offense intended, but all I can do is to quote a little saying that someone I used to know used fairly frequently (and he always said this with a smile):
"You don't have to agree with me. You have every right to be wrong if you want to be."
- Rev. Lowell Mason, RIP
Nathan asked me to look up the production figures; I did. Production for this model includes the 650RX and the later 655RX, and Philco Furniture History lumps production of both together.
There was a total of 1,500 chairside cabinets and 1,500 matching speaker cabinets made - 1,000 of each by Smith, and 500 of each by Red Lion.
Philco would not have put a speaker that close to the rectifier and output tubes. The PM speaker was removed from a 650RX speaker cabinet and stuck inside the chairside cabinet, as Steve said. The thin openings in the side of the radio cabinet, which were intended for ventilation and not for a speaker, would have cut down on the amont of sound produced by the radio.
Steve also said, and I agree, that Philco used the PM speaker in the separate speaker cabinet to eliminate high voltage wiring running from chairside unit to speaker unit, as a safety factor. I do not know that for a fact; it is merely an educated guess. In 1936, permanent magnet speakers were not as efficient as were electromagnetic speakers. It wasn't until later that magnets improved to the point that field coils were no longer needed to make a quality speaker. Philco did this with the previous (1935) year model's 118RX - it too used a PM speaker in its separate speaker cabinet. The 650 can be considered a direct descendant of the 118, as both use eight tubes and feature SW as well as AM reception. The 650 added LW.
It's not a prototype. It is not a custom one-off radio made at the factory. This is Philco which we are talking about, not E.H. Scott or McMurdo Silver. Philco mass produced low priced radios for the masses; they were not in the business of custom building radios to anyone's personal specifications. If you had the means to purchase a custom built radio...you would have been talking to Scott or Silver, not Philco. Besides, why buy a Chevy when you can afford a Rolls Royce?
The modification may have been done decades ago...but it is definitely a modified radio.
If you disagree...well...no offense intended, but all I can do is to quote a little saying that someone I used to know used fairly frequently (and he always said this with a smile):
"You don't have to agree with me. You have every right to be wrong if you want to be."
- Rev. Lowell Mason, RIP
--
Ron Ramirez
Ferdinand IN
