The PHILCO Phorum
Barn Fresh Apex 46 - Printable Version

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Barn Fresh Apex 46 - Jayce - 09-20-2014

Stopped in at a sale this afternoon on a whim while doing some errands and found this radio up for sale. Price tag said $50 firm, but when I asked about this set the lady said I could have it for $30 as no-one else had showed any interest and she was wanting to thin things out. Not in pretty condition, but I find anything US Apex, Apex, or Gloritone near impossible to find around here and it is complete. Kinda goes with my Mantola 27 and Gloritone 27 tombstone sets.

   

   

RE: Barn Fresh Apex 46 - KCMike - 09-20-2014

The cabinet is a little rough but I like the style of the speaker grill. The tubes if good probably worth your cost.
If I would have seen one like that I would have bought it also. I think it's a good find.

RE: Barn Fresh Apex 46 - Arran - 09-21-2014

I always thought that those U.S Apex model 46 consoles would be a good complement to a Philco lowboy, especially the 1930-31 versions. The orientation of the grain in the control panel is very similar to a Philco 96 lowboy, whilst the grill cutouts, skirt, and faux carving, are similar to a 1929 lowboy cabinet. Since it has seven tubes I guess the performance would be similar to a Philco model 76.
Regards
Arran

RE: Barn Fresh Apex 46 - Jayce - 09-21-2014

The U.S. Apex lowboy does compare favorably well to the 1929 Philco lowboy cabinets. One thing I love about the Philco lowboys is that the legs seem to be rather well attached, even though they lack a stretcher, I have yet to fine one with much wobble in the legs. The Apex has also faired well leg-wise, with very little wobble and the whole cabinet is still pretty solid. Turns out they also made a type 48 chassis that went in this same cabinet that had an extre type 24 tube, bringing it up to 8 tubes grand total. Seems to be as high as U.S. Apex went during the 1929-1930 period.

RE: Barn Fresh Apex 46 - Arran - 09-22-2014

Jayce;
  U.S Radio and Television seems to have focused their efforts at designing and building table sets, since they were a smaller company they probably wanted to limit the amount of engineering they needed to a minimum rather then coming up with a completely different line for the console models. That would probably explain why these consoles stopped at a count of 8 tubes, that seems to have been the upper limit for most cathedral and tombstone sets at the time, other then from the bigger outfits like Philco or RCA/G.E. From what I can recall U.S Radio and T.V was actually a pioneer in the development of television, they did just tack that name on for marketing purposes, they were very much involved in mechanical TV in the early 1930s.
Regards
Arran

RE: Barn Fresh Apex 46 - Jayce - 09-22-2014

Interesting... I do have an 11 tube console US Apex that needs gone through again. Had it working for my dad years back, but it just ended up getting damaged by the cats we had at the time and no longer works. That is the radio that got me into this whole thing. It sat silent in our living room for years when I was a kid and I was always curious about it.

RE: Barn Fresh Apex 46 - OldRestorer - 09-23-2014

Ohhhh,

  There was one of these in the burn pile at K-town with a perfect grill.

Glad you have a complete one.  

RE: Barn Fresh Apex 46 - Jayce - 09-23-2014

Erg! That cabinet they burnt really doesn't look any worse than the one I currently have.

RE: Barn Fresh Apex 46 - Arran - 09-24-2014

Jayce;
  Have you posted about the 11 tube U.S Apex before? Is it one of those sets where they had dual chassis, one for the power supply and amp, and another for the tuner/RF? I've noticed that Philco was somewhat different among manufacturers in the 1928-31 period in that they would use a single chassis for everything regardless of model, come to think of it the only models I can think off with dual chassis are the 690 sets, but those are 1937-38 and have 20 tubes. 
Regards
Arran

RE: Barn Fresh Apex 46 - Jayce - 09-24-2014

No, I haven't posted anything about it on here, yet. There was another US Apex lowboy from the same year as my Dad's big console that sat on display at a local restaurant for years. Was in perfect condition until the day some elderly gentlemad lost his balance and plowed head-first into the grill. Grill was toast and the guy ended up going to the hospital. So, you could say that the only antique radios I was regularly exposed to as a child were US Apex models!
On to another note about my Apex 46: It has pot metal issues in the tuner. When you get to about 800 on the dial and below, it scraps like crazy. Grrrr potmetal! GRRR! GRRRR!