I really wanted this philco chairside for a restore project this year, always liked them but never had seen one in person or had the opportunity to buy one until now. Very good shape except for veneer on the top areas on both radio and speaker, this will be replaced with new veneer. I haven't looked at the schematic yet but was wondering what the ac plug outlet was for on the speaker cabinet in the rear and the unusual outlet on chassis , I'm guessing that's the power plug for the wall which is different and didn't come with the unit, also the wiring deal on the speaker, don't seem to have ever seeing that before on any philco,s.
Few more pics, doesn't ever look like it was messed with, even the original cans and tubes are there. I think I got H**l a deal at $65 . I wonder how many of these units are still out there? Around 3600 + were produced during the height of depression in 1932, $150 new was a chuck of money back then, that be around $2500 in todays money I would guess. Cant wait to get going on restore, sure will be a nice set up when finished. What da ya think Ron, I did good ( A) Ron! That's Yankee talk Ron, I grew up in Milwaukee
The top has book matched stump walnut veneer, probably French walnut, it would be best if you could repair the existing veneer rather then replace it, hypodermic needle to inject glue under where it's lifting, and the chipped areas of veneer can be patched rather easily if you make the patches irregularly shaped to blend in with the grain of the veneer.
Regards
Arran
I should have shown a picture of the door, it is the worst part. I will find some of the veneer you mentioned and replace it like the same way it came off. The speaker has a big piece missing also but will be easer to replace, its straight grain walnut. There's wood veneer dealers on eBay where I should be able to find that stump walnut and book match it like factory and I will use hide glue.
+1 on nice find and great deal. KCMike beat me to it on the speaker hookup (thanks Mike).
Looks like someone flipped the speaker board around when they replaced the original grille cloth. The large speaker should be on the bottom, the smaller one on top.
Hay Ron, tell me how many of these sets you may think are still be around, I haven't see any before and don't ever see them on ebay, or for sale at auctions, I don't ever see them brought up in this forum or ARF. I wana say the pretty scarce if you ask me. Don't know why I got it so cheap at the auction, that's a killer set up and going to be very beautiful when I get done with it.
Philco Furniture History states 3,650 14LZX sets were made, not a large number considering popular Philco models were made in the high tens of thousands or even in the hundreds of thousands.
How many might still be around? I have no idea. I have seen the chairside radio part here and there, but the speaker cabinets are very difficult to find. Some of the speaker cabinets may have been repurposed as hi-fi/stereo speakers, then later tossed. That is just a guess. I really don't know why most of the speaker cabinets have disappeared over the years. So you are lucky indeed to have found a complete set.
19LZX was mere 2,500 pcs.
I have a 16RX speaker cabinet that was separated from its head unit decades ago. The guy who had the speaker said he got rid of the radio 40 years ago because it didn't work, but kept the speaker because it was a nice display stand.
Mine looks identical to your speaker cabinet, Fred, except it only had a single speaker in it. I sold the speaker to someone who needed one for a 16B; I plan to put my McMurdo Silver Masterpiece II on top of (and in) the cabinet.
The 19LZX speaker cabinet looks even more like a 1933 McMurdo Silver Clifton cabinet than a 14LZX cabinet does. I wish I'd found one of those.
