The PHILCO Phorum

Full Version: CL leads me to a Philco 51 lowboy/Results
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The kid said his dad wanted $15 for it. It seemed so small and cute; it's only moneyIcon_lol. It has a good Philco 80 globe, at least. Any words of wisdom on this set?
Early superhet. Not complicated. An attractive set.

Might be a good set to try putting all globe tubes in, as there are only five of them. Only pricey one will be the 47 tube.
(04-30-2012, 07:49 PM)TA Forbes Wrote: [ -> ]Early superhet. Not complicated. An attractive set.

Might be a good set to try putting all globe tubes in, as there are only five of them. Only pricey one will be the 47 tube.

The 47s aren't as bad for price as the 80s are at the moment, too many audiophools think that a globe type 80 will make their amp sound better. But then again they think tube rectifiers in general make their amp sound better then a silicon one, including mercury vapor ones for some reason.
Regards
Arran
Quote:Might be a good set to try putting all globe tubes in

I had the same thought. One under the shield is a globe.

Quote:Only pricey one will be the 47 tube.

Yeah, I checked eBay right away. Icon_eek Maybe someone will donate one to me?Icon_e_wink

This radio requires the wires to the speaker to be un-soldered to pull the chassis. So I pull the chassis and the speaker. My initial transformer checks are good, so I decide to do a huge speaker cone rip(s) repair first. This morning I jumper in the speaker and bring the set up to 70 volts. It works! So with seemingly no repairs ever (the copper can filters look old), although the two 24s are not globes and the 47 was missing, this old radio still works. Isn't that amazing? The audio isn't great, so it will only get better.
Better replace the electrolytics and wax/paper caps before you play it much more, as you may damage other components like your power transformer.

(05-06-2012, 12:23 PM)TA Forbes Wrote: [ -> ]Better replace the electrolytics and wax/paper caps before you play it much more, as you may damage other components like your power transformer.

For sure! I just did the electrolytics and 2 of the bakelite blocks. I like to power up half way after each replacement, though, to make sure I haven't made it worse! I love when I do the one that makes a big difference.