[Uffda]

Ok the shadow dial is going to have to wait. I couldn't resist the local 90 cathedral on ebay. Visions of another box of smashed history keep me from long-distance temptation, but the beauty next door....

So, if I can load the link, right how about some opinions on the condition/originality of the set? No soft soaping-I'm a big boy.
And if you think I got took, that's ok too.

I wanted a decent original finish that I can live with and preferably no modifications. Is this the early '31 version?

http://cgi.ebay.com/180226674265

P.S. I figure the lowboy behind as a '32 89L/19L with missing grillwork.
What say you?

[Ron Ramirez]

Hi Phil

Congratulations on your fine acquisition. Looks like you did very well indeed to me. And since you can pick it up locally, that is an extra added bonus.

Definitely an early version 90 - note the toggle switch at the back of the chassis for "normal-maximum" performance. Only the early 90 receivers have this switch.

I can't tell what is behind the 90 in the pictures, but I run my monitor at 1280 x 1024 resolution so the photos in the auction ad are a bit on the small side to me.

[Uffda]

Thanks Ron. I'm relieved you don't see anything obviously wrong with it. This will probably be my only cathedral and I can't wait to see it in front of me.
Some radios just have a presence that can't be conveyed through pictures. My Stromberg 1A and Federal 142 just blew me away in person.
Something tells me this may be another.

[exray]

Looks good Phil.

-ex

[Doug Houston]

The 90 has an interesting time line. Ron can confirm it, but the P-P 45 output must have been in the first series sets. Then, they "improved" it by using the latest, sensational 47 in the output. That's the one I have.

I've never heard a good answer to this, but I have a 90 console with P-P 47's in it. Someone (possibly Ron) told me that table sets never has the push-pull 47 chassis in them.

Do I have that right?

The big craze in 1931, or whatever year it was, was the use of the whoop-de-do pentode: the 47. Looking at the tube charts, what we gained with the 47 was power sensitivity, and inherent distortion (Pentodes are quite non-linear, and triodes are quite linear). They sounded OK, but ears were not critical in those days, so the "breakthrough" was acceptable. The power output of P-P 47's was comparable to P-P 45's only with added distortion.

The addition of inverse feedback would have cleaned up the 47 audio, but nobody ever would have heard it.

[Ron Ramirez]

Hi Doug

Yes, the early Model 90 receivers had push-pull Type 45 outputs.

Then Philco switched to a single ended Type 47 pentode output.

Finally, in early 1932, Philco changed the 90 again, to use push-pull Type 47 outputs.

I honestly do not remember if I ever said that the cathedral 90 sets did not have push-pull Type 47 tubes; but if I said that, I was wrong.

Examples do exist of Model 90 cathedrals with push-pull Type 47 outputs; enough so that not all of them could have been switcheroos from 90X consoles.

[Uffda]

I just got home with the 90 and it's a beauty. I asked if he knew the local club president who I met at a swap meet. Turns out that is the guy he bought it from 20 years ago.

It has the 45 tubes so it must be one of the first ones. The transformer looks huge.

-Phil