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Well, now that I assembled the Philco, what could I say - beats the pants off of the Zenith.
And no extra noises on local any time of the day. With no antenna at all!
This is some sound!!!
I think though it is not necessarily those clarifiers. It's just the speaker is monstrous. I though the Z had a big one...this probably weighs twice as much. The bass is to die for. Almost like Hi-Fi stereo and it is the local AM station.
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Well, it DOES say "high fidelity" under the Philco label.
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To get the best of it I add the treble some - I cannot do it too much, but it sounds really nice, and put the bass to the max.
But, boy oh boy, does it fill up the house.
And it is not even in the big room yet!
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I have a pair of 116X's (1936 console) that one is missing the two small clairifers. Was thinking I would for the heck of it replace those with a couple of modern speakers with built-in tweeters. The speaker in the set isn't quite as large as the 37-116 but the audio set up is similar as it uses a pair of 6A3's (4 pin 6B4) and a 42 driver (6 pin 6F6G). First got to get them working!
Terry
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Mike,
That reminds me of when I was a kid I use to play the radio before falling asleep. I remember quite well my dad saying from the other end of the house "TURN THAT D?@N THING DOWN!!!" Happen just about every night. Ah the fond memories of childhood. Didn't seem all that loud to me.
Terry
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We did not have any radios that would sound this good. FOr that matter I do not think we had radios with variable IF band or HiFi AM.
Though FM was there of course but I don't remember much going on there at all. Let alone the music was such that it did not require HiFi...not in radios.
As for you 116x, you wil thereby convert it into 690
or close to that.
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Hmmmm, the idea of adding mid-range and "tweets" to the 1936 116X intrigues me!!!
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I don't have one running yet so I'm not quite sure of the balance between high and low fq and how will pan out. Certainly could use a cap or padder to balance it out. I'm thinking it would have as much lows as the 37 model or as much high as it doesn't have variable bandwidth. Hummm could stagger tune the IF's . Just some thoughts rattling around in my brain.
Terry
(This post was last modified: 09-07-2013, 09:09 PM by
Radioroslyn.)
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My Philco 38-116 beats the pants off my Zenith 12s-265. No problems hands down. Me personally I think the Z brand is very over rated. Where would they be in the radio collecting comunity if no one was interested in the Stats or Waltons? How do you guys feel?
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My Zenith 12-A-3 works as good as or better than my Philco 37-116 Deluxe of course it has the advantage of being 3 years newer, The Zenith was a lot easier to restore even with the rubber wire.
"I just might turn into smoke, but I feel fine"
http://www.russoldradios.com/
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It is quite possible, but then it probably has a bigger speaker than the 9-tube one I have.
I guess I will have to get me the 38-690 to beat that one.
But then I have to take your word for it, as myself I did not have a chance to compare a 12-tube Z to 37-116.
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The 12A3 was a better radio than many of the earlier "Z" 12-tube sets, because they added a second stage of IF amplification.
HOWEVER, we must agree to disagree about the 37-116 vs 12A3 comparison.
Really......
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Which part? The easier to restore or the works as good or better - or both?
"I just might turn into smoke, but I feel fine"
http://www.russoldradios.com/
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Easier to restore? Hmmmm.....
37-116 chassis definitely more difficult.
cabinets: a toss-up between the two.
Better radio? MY opinion the 37-116 is the better set
