New guy with old 42-1012 - Printable Version

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New guy with old 42-1012 - Guest - 02-13-2007

Greetings all,

Just checking in after reading a lot of informative stuff here.
I bought our Philco console at a yard sale around 1985. The radio was (and is) intact though missing a knob, but the turntable, grill cloth and speaker were long gone. The folks I bought it from said the intention was to use the bottom part of the cabinet for a bar, but I had other things in mind
I've never plugged in the radio (I dislike the idea of "smoke testing" unknown electronics ;^) but cleaned up the apparently original finish and have been using it as a TV/HiFi stand.
I can't post pictures directly, but do have some older ones on another site I can link to:
[img]http://www.integracoustics.com/MUG/MUG/pix/BrianBennett/MG3A's_MyeStands.JPEG[/img]
[Image: http://www.integracoustics.com/MUG/MUG/pix/BrianBennett/Gain_System.JPEG]
Currently, I still use it in our living room locate the TV but the base now houses the center channel and subwoofer speakers (instead of the CD player and power amplifier shown above).
I don't have any plans to restore the radio, as the unit is aquitting itself quite well by adapting to modern needs....and with almost 13,000 made is far from a rare bird. I figured if nothing else you guys would enjoy seeing the old set lending its deco influence to a very 21st century use.

Cheers,
Brian

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- bill T - 02-14-2007

Brian , I think it is a good job of retrofitting . Pretty cool, better if the TV wasn,t there. 13,000 units in a country of 250,000,000 is kind of rare .But your right not really enough to up the dollar value of it .Some people would object to seeing this type of use for a Philco. I don't because there is not going to be a mad rush of people doing what you did and robbing restorers of a chance to restore. There are those amoung the restorers that object to the way a restoration is done .I think you did a decent job and if anything preserved part of the unit anyway. Above all else if you enjoy what you did with it thats what counts ! The cabinets are great . I think you did a nice job on cleaning that up. Some people paint them .I just clean mine up . Everyone to their own . The contrast of the old and new is drastic . Buy some grill cloth from Radio Daze and it will look even better. Thanks for the look !
Bill

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- Guest - 02-14-2007

Bill, I completely understand your points.
I would have considered a full restoration to original specs if it hadn't already been partially cannibalized. The 10-tube 'code 121' radio seems to be unrestored and intact, but like I noted above the rest was gone when I found it. I realize there were Bar/radio sets made up (mostly a prohibition item I think ;^) but figured continuing to use it in a home theatre system was more true to its original intent, and since I'm a HiFi nut anyway the plan came together easily.
I've since rebuilt the flanking speakers and updated them with black grills, so have removed the cloth from the Philco to match (sorry, don't have a way to post those pictures....but it does look better integrated, even with an LCD TV sitting on top now).

No offence intended, believe me!
Brian

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