[Arran]

Dont think it was refinshed grill cloth replaced for shure  is anybody selling the correct cloth for this? BTW only put one picture because I could not get them out of photobucket. Thank you Norman

  Well somebody did something to it, it looks amost a burgundy colour, perhaps they overcoated the cabinet with shellac? If so then alcohol will remove it by leave any lacquer beneath it alone. There is supposed to be a Philco decal above the dial, if it's missing then someone very likely did refinish the cabinet.
Regards
Arran

[kiwi_steve]

Norman, first of all thats an awesome looking console... very nice find.

As to photos: you can add photos here directly from Photobucket as I do that all the time.  Simply open the photo in Photobucket, and to the right are some lines with titles and then some code.

This option will put a big photo in your post that should resize automatically:
- choose the box on the right called DIRECT - click that
- and it will briefly turn yellow and say "copied".  
 - come back to the forum to the post you are making and press the photo button at the middle top of the text window where you type your message in (looks like a photo and when you hover over it you see 'click here to insert an image')
- In the box that pops up, click inside the top text field (called URL) and delete the bit that says http:// 
- right-click in that now-empty field and choose paste (OR normal click in it and press Ctrl-V )
- Press INSERT at the bottom of that pop-up box and it will put your photo in your post

The slightly easier (but slightly less pretty) way I've found is to choose the IMG line in photobucket, then just click in your post you're writing here on the forum and go Ctrl-V (or right-click and Paste - these are the same thing)...

Hopefully that works for you

Steve

[vaguy22]

thanks for the tips folks.Arran: the Philco decal is still there I think you are right and someone put laquer on it.

[morzh]

I can see the decal, it is blurred but visible. Probably because it has been lacquered over with a darker lacquer.

[vaguy22]

Here are a few more[Image: http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq183...srgcfg.jpg] pictures of the 680 from photobucket if i can get them to work.

[vaguy22]

here is another one  will try to figure out how to put multiple pictures on one post.[Image: http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq183...rdkt1d.jpg]

[vaguy22]

one last one sorry for multiple posts.[Image: http://i446.photobucket.com/albums/qq183...pwa73n.jpg]

[kiwi_steve]

I want one

Can anyone shed some light on the performance of the passive radiators? How much of a difference do they actually make - or are they a marketing gimmick? I can't see how they can do all that much without a sealed cabinet (although I guess if the radio was up against a wall then higher volumes are going to have some effect using the wall as a pseudo-back-panel.

[vaguy22]

I vaguely remember another hi-end Philco with a slant front Don't know model # sorry, that had passive radiators and it had a heavy cardboard back. used 3 8 inch radiators. Norman

[Mondial]

There is some evidence that the radiators are effective in reducing low frequency resonances in the cabinet. 

Rather than actual passive radiators, they are more like damping elements, which are tuned to the resonance of the enclosure. They have a lossy material mechanically coupled to the back of the cones, which absorbs the sound energy at the resonant frequency.

Here is a link to the actual Philco patent, which goes into a lot of detail regarding their operation. There is also a graph of the bass freq response, with and without them installed.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=paten...059929.pdf

[morzh]

They are just tuned dampers.
I doubt the effect is profound. But could be an improvement.
I could only say my 37-116 sounds very nice.
But then the cabinet is very massive. Unlike those for many other consoles.

I would say a good test would be taking two 37-116 chassis and driving two teledial cabinets with them, one 37-116 and one any other teledial with the same speaker installed.

[Arran]

 I think that the dampening material is a strip of rubber across the back of the passive radiator that suspends the center of the cone, at least on the 9'' sized ones. The cones in those remind me of the cones used in a balanced armature type permanent magnet speaker so the design was probably based in part on one of those. 
 Unfortunately it looks like the rubber perishes sometimes, on one of the ones Ron was selling it had actually melted, but even if it had not done that I'm sure that the condition of the rubber would have deteriorated enough that it would not perform as well as it did when new. It would be an interesting project to rebuild a set of those passive radiators, though I haven't run across a 3116X, 37-3116, or a 38-3116 for sale in my area yet.
Regards
Arran

[kiwi_steve]

Great info... the Philco engineers tried all kinds of cool stuff... some worked, some didn't (Thanks Mr. Grimes)...

If there is anything nearly as interesting as one of these models here in NZ its doing a great job of hiding from me...

[morzh]

I am sure if one is keen on achieving the original acoustic parameters of the cabinet and the dampers are bad,one could try other means of doing it.

[vaguy22]

I don't think a 680 had a back, did it? I am toying about putting a back on mine any ideas? Good,bad????