[PTurney]

Hi,

I've just completed the restoration of a Philco 19LZ (the one with the speaker built into the tuning cabinet) and have since been wondering about how the sound is meant to come out of this thing. http://www.tuberadioland.com/philco19LZ_main.html

When placed against an easy chair the loudspeaker faces directly into the side of the chair, muffling the sound. Not too bad if the chair has open arms, I guess. However this raises the question of others in the room - it occurs to me that since the radio has grilles on all sides, that they should be open. When I restored the set, without so much as a thought I covered all the grille openings, except the one with the speaker, with cloth mounted on a continuous sheet of cardboard.

Does anyone know whether all or more than one of the grilles should be open acoustically, thereby allowing sound from the rear of the speaker to enter the room and not get muffled into the side of a chair? I know the sound can come out the bottom, but somehow that's not the same.

The grille boards and cloths were not present when I came by the set, so I was not able to tell how it was originally set up.

Incidentally, this unit has surprisingly nice sound quality when placed in an open area.

Paul

[jayoungs]

Hi Paul,

They all should be open. I'm currently restoring a 19LZ and have the grille cloth backers out of the set and about to make replacements for them. If you like, I'm happy to scan one and send to you with the dimensions marked if you like.

Joe

[PTurney]

Hello Joe,

Thanks for the reply. I was fairly sure that would be the case - I'm just surprised it did not occur to me earlier. The scan would be very helpful if it's not too much trouble. paul@tuberadioland.com

Thanks again,
Paul

[jayoungs]

No problem at all, I'll send in the next day.

Joe

[gary rabbitt]

Hi guys,
NIce looking refinish Paul. Those are quite unusual. I saw the one Joe was going to work on.

Joe, I was just thinking about how you're coming along on your set. Sounds like you are moving right along.
Will check back later.
Gary.

[Ron Ramirez]

Hi Paul

I've had a couple 19LZ sets pass through my hands, and still own a 91RX (same cabinet). I can verify that all four grilles should definitely be open.

Just looked at your 19LZ page - very nice! The 19LZ Joe is restoring is one I sold to him recently. It, too, has a four-point tone control. My guess is that Philco made this change very early on, or perhaps the 19 always had a four point tone control but it just wasn't documented? Joe's 19LZ is a Code 122, I believe (AM only). It has the AC socket in back, as does yours. Philco documentation mentions that this socket was removed later in production.

[jayoungs]

Hey Guys,

Paul - email sent with scan of mount and all dimensions marked. Mine are in rough shape, so am in the process of making new ones from 1/8" fiberboard. It works great and is much more stable. Please let me know if anything is unclear or I can be of further help.

Ron - hi, hope all is good and you're settled in from the move! You were right, I quickly found a replacement for the missing tube shield and have a "complete" set now. Mine does have the socket on the chassis back - any idea what this was for? Assuming maybe plugging in a lamp or something? I don't know if this grille cloth mount scan w/dimensions would be helpful for the site, but happy to provide if you would like.

Hey Gary - good to hear from ya. I've stripped the cabinet, reglued all the loose veneer edges (a lot was loosened on the trim over the speaker slots), almost done rebuilding the grille cloth mounts and already built a new speaker board (old one was warped pretty badly), and am currently scratching my head trying to find matching "tiger veneer" to repair the two corner veneer chips on top. Hoping I can find some old scrap somewhere that I can repurpose. Not sure what it is about this radio, but I really like it and want to get it as perfect as possible.

I haven't done much of anything on the chassis except cleaned it really well and tested the tubes (after first restoring the tester I bought a year ago off an auction and had been sitting in a corner... ).

I'll post updates along the way. Any unsolicited advice is always welcome to keep me from screwing something up!! 8)

Joe

[PTurney]

Hi,

Thanks to Joe for the scan & to Ron and others for their comments. I'll use the info to make three new grilles for my radio, though unfortunately I'll probably have to get new cloth. I'll also use a darker backer board this time too! I had run out when I was doing this set and after having it in pieces for months was impatient to get it done, so I ended up using packing boxes that I had on hand (though at least they were dark on one side white on the other).

Paul