[Doug Houston]

LOL, this is gettin' to be the Magnavox division of the Philco Phorum. While I've been a Magnavox owner for some time, Just had another lugged home here last night. This one is a prewar Maggie Belvedere. The cabinet styling is just about identical to the postwar model The Belvederes traditionally used he same chassis as the Regencies, and those models resembled the postwar jobs as well. There was even a prewar Windsor. I'll try to get some pictures here, soon's I can get my camera and other computer going again.

This set had a single chassis with Push-Pull 6L6 power amps, driving two 12 inch speakers. I hven't dug into it yet, but both of the 6L6's are the early big glass jobs; possibly even originals, though it isn't important. It appears that the 6L6's are transformer coupled from the previous stage. A look at the Magnavox book will tell that. They will probably put out 18-25 watts.

Cabinet is very nice, with a few little pieces of the decorative fretwork missing. The speaker grille cloth is totally missing. I sort of think that a previous owner might have had a cat, that finished off the cloth. I'll check John Okolowicz (grillecloth.com) for a match or near match for pattern.

The original changer is in it. It's a Garrard, possibly RC-60. It appears to be intact, so hopefully, it will be in working shape. Now, I'm beginning to wonder if the original changer in the prewar Regency might have been the same thing. Knowing that Magnavox had also used the Webster-Chicago 3 post changer in 1941-42, I had just thought that they had the W-C in that model too. The service book should sort that out.

While I have favored Philco and RCA strongly, there are many more examples of Philco sets around, and almost as many RCA jobs to be found, as well. But, there were fewer of the more expensive marques to be had, for reasons obvious. Magnavox served some very delicious offerings, and while the postwar models are more abundant, the prewar models intrigue me a lot. I already have a Chairside, a little Playfellow portable, one of the table phono models (model?), a couple of end table phono combos and a table phono combo, again, model?.

Our pal, Randy Bassham is quite an expert on Magnavox, having been a service guy for a Magnavox dealer. I'll have to get a few questions for him on a few items that puzzle me.

[Ron Ramirez]

Doug

Great find! I am curious...is the chassis in your prewar Belvedere a CR-177 or CR-181, or something different?

My very first radio was a Maggie CR-181 chassis and the two speakers, no cabinet. That was 37 years ago, and I no longer have it.

I may be wrong, but I seem to recall that the CR-181 used an autotransformer to drive the 6L6 grids.

[Doug Houston]

Looks like it'll have to be a 181. I just had a quick look at it this afternoon, and there is a transformer of some sort next the 6L6's. There are two speakers. One 6L6 appears to be original, with the RCA Radiotron stamp on the base.

I have the prewar Magnavox book, and when I get a chance to catch my breath, I'm going to study the set. I believe that this has the same chassis as my prewar Regency, which I re-capped a few years ago. They surely did put out some nice stuff. I'm anxious to get into that chassis.

The Buick is back home now, but the transmission connections to the radiator are a hopeless mess. That's the fault of the guy who installed the radiator a while back. There is a transmission cooler on each side of the radiator (It's a cross-flow), and BOTH coolers were connected to the trans cooler lines, originally. The guy took a short cut, and used only one side. that was the beginning of a major fiasco, which I have to get straightened out now.

I'm also anxious to get into the Philco 37-650 sets, and get them performing properly. The one that we had in Detroit was a wonderful radio, especially for the price that father paid for it. I've never heard the phonograph model......heck, this one is only the second one I've ever seen! I plan on getting pictures of all three of those sets. There is no phono model in your book. In fact, there isn't a "B" model either...(?).

Now, next question. Was there a chairside version of the 37-650? In general chairside cabinets had smaller chassis in them because of the poor ventilation of that cabinet design. Can you just imagine the 15 tube Zenith chairside and the heat it must have put out?

[Ron Ramirez]

Wow, Doug, if I had the room and the $$$, I would love to have a prewar Belvedere with a CR-181 chassis. Congratulations!

Sorry to hear about your Buick.

According to the information I have, the only chairside Philco produced in the 1937 model year was the 37-620CS.

http://www.philcoradio.com/gallery/1937a.htm#29

No, the 37-650 radio-phonograph isn't in that book, but all three 37-650 versions (tombstone, console, and radio-phonograph) are pictured on my website. I've only seen one 37-650PX radio-phono, and that was in the late 1990s, the only time I've ever been to an AWA-Rochester meet (so far). I seem to recall that you were there, Doug, and that we talked at some length while there. Anyway, someone had a 37-650 radio-phono there, and asked me to photograph it. It's on my website:

http://www.philcoradio.com/gallery/1937a.htm#46

[Doug Houston]

OK, then,that's the other one that I saw. I'd forgotten that we were both there and saw it. Fred Rice bought it. His family had owned one, and he'd never seen one until that one surfaced. So, as they would say (about everything) in eBay, it's rare. So, the one I have now (for $30) is the second one I've seen. Danged glad I bought it.

I recall seeing an occasional chairside with the 37 or 38 dial, and simply guessed that it was a smaller chassis than the 650. Zenith didn't display the engineering schmartz that Philco did. Their 15 tube chairside is sort of a holy grail, but I'm not that thirsty.

Maybe you remember that there was also a 1936 model phono combination there also, and possibly with the same vendor. It wasn't exactly sharp, but the vendor busted it into toothpicks, and either took the rest of it home, or sold it naked. I had toyed with the idea of buying it, but it was trashed before I could act.

I have the chassis from a central sound system that was made by Philco. There is a radio chassis that was derived from, I believe, a model 91. It has a separate power amplifier that used a pair of 50's for power amps. There is a motor board by RCA, and a selector panel for a lot of speakers, with a speaker on the panel, probably or a monitor. It's the only place I've ever known Philco to use 50's. I sure wish that I'd gotten the cabinet with it. It was probably pretty big.

[Ron Ramirez]

Yes! It was Fred Rice who invited me to take pictures of it. I remember now...he had just bought it.

And, yes, now that you mention it, I do remember that 1936 radio-phonograph. Only when I saw it, it was an empty cabinet, and in very poor shape. I also thought about picking it up, but decided it would be more work than I was capable of to bring it back.

Seems like I've seen pictures of the Philco 91-based central sound system you speak of. I think I even have the photos around here somewhere. I'm sure it was big...I have a photo of a complete Philco-IBM system that had been installed at a high school in my hometown (Kansas City, MO). It had what appear to be two 37-660-based chassis inside, with two large, separate power amplifiers.

It's shown here:

http://www.philcoradio.com/history/othrphil.htm

I wonder whatever happened to that unit. My parents and I left KC when I was 12. I think Southeast High School is still in use...maybe I should go check it out, next time I visit KC.

[Doug Houston]

Sorta funny. Times have changed. I'd have probably been game to tackle that '36 phono combo. I'm not any more. Some people my age still have lots of steam, but I think that the bout I had with a ruptured appendix last year was what took a lot of life out of me. Had I been 30 years younger, a complete recovery might have been possible, but having it happen at 80 years is another program. I still get a lot done, but I have a lot of it bought.

The sound system I have is loads smaller than what's shown in those pictures. It's also far earlier, having used the P-P 50 power amps. Philco really did some sensational stuff. They had good building blocks to do it with.

[Doug Houston]

Back at it, Ron.

I don't go downstairs often, though it's no problem. I have a chairlift, and I can breeze up or down like nothing. Last night, I pulled out the prewar Magnavox book. It covers their products from 1937 through 1942. They had an amazing amount of radios and phono combinations in many more forms than we might expect.

There were several chassis in the book, that resemble the one in the "new" Belvedere. They used two 5Y3 rectifiers in some of them, with the P-P 6L6 outputs. The cased transformer next to the 6L6's is the output transformer. The inputs to the 6L6's are R-C coupled. The plate winding on the OP transformer is split, and those chassis had some rather elaborate feedback circuitry. I have to get back into the garage unit where the Mag is, and get the CR number off of it. Some of, but not all of the P-P 6L6 chassis are: CR161; CR 179C. There are some others. In my 37-42 Magnavox book, there is a chart, like in the post war book, which tells which chassis, changers, and FM chassis are used in each model. for some reason I can't understand, there are probably 10 model numbers for each named model. Thus, there are several model numbers for the Belvederes like I have. There is a similar page for the Regencies like yours. Oh, by the way, the prewar Regencies were called: Regent; not Regency. That book has pictures of the prewar sets, as does the postwar book.

The postwar book is not complete. Bill Cahill's chassis is not in my copy, for instance.

While I was in the basement, looking at some of the Magnavox things, I thought to look at my Windsor. It has the FM band on the main chassis. I sort of expect that all of the Windsors were that way. I wish I knew more about those sets. They were the hilltop of fine radios, right up there with the Philco 690's, the RCA D22's and Berkshires, the Capeharts, big Strombergs and the Scotts. I don't condemn the guys who like the pink plastic clock radios, but I pity them for not having experienced the really good stuff.

At one Elgin meet (year?), the Kleinschmidt boys did a presentation about the finest radios you could have bought in 1948. They showed chassis and changers of the sets. One was a Scott 800C, Capehart, RCA Berkshire, I can't come up with a fourth. Anyhoo, I commented to a friend: I have all of them. That stuff takes up space, but the cars take up more, yet!

[Ron Ramirez]

When it comes to Philco sets, I like a little bit of all of their models - table models, cathedrals, tombstones, and consoles. I tend to avoid the plastic table models of the 1950s, and don't really have any interest in those plastic clock radios. I also have a great appreciation for high end, high tube count consoles.

I don't have very many consoles anymore due to space constraints, and I think the one with the lowest tube count is this Philco 41-610 radio-phonograph, and it has 10 tubes.