[Section10]

I found a Philco radio in the big bullet style. The cabinet is great and needs nothing. Problem is the speaker is missing along with a couple of tubes. I expect the tubes would be available, but is it very difficult to find a correct speaker for this? Inside the chassis looks very good and as near as I can tell it appears clean and not tampered with. I think the price is fair, but I don't want to be stuck with something that's missing critical parts. I'm not up to a whole lot of heroic effort when it comes to fixing these.
thank you
Jim

[Warren]

If this hasnt been messed with then you will need to replace all the paper capacitors in it at the very least or it can be dangerous. One of the caps could explode and cause a fire at anytime. They are very old. As far as the speaker, someone here can let you know how hard they are to find.

[morzh]

If you are not into a full recap and such, you better get out of restore hobby and start just doing collecting. You could collect for looks, or you could let other people to fix radios for you if you want them sing. But if you are to restore one, it is though not heroic will be somewhat time-consuming, so if you do not enjoy soldering, restuffingm, cleaning....nothing bad about it, just find the way to not deal with it.

[Section10]

I intend to work on radios when I feel a bit more competent. Right now I'm in the basic learning stage. I'm on line a lot and I'm reading and trying to educate myself somewhat first before I attempt something. I've bought some radios and I'm trying to restrict my purchases to what l hope aren't very ambitious projects. At least at first.
Jim

[PAradiogeek]

Tubes should be easy to come by. Not sure about the speaker, but my sense is that that may be a little harder to come by.

More generally though, I think that a 37-610 might be an ambitious project for someone starting out. I believe this would have the separate RF chassis which can be difficult to work with based on things I've read here. I recommend you find yourself a couple of simple AA5 radios to cut your teeth on.

Of course you can always do what I did. Last summer, after only 3 months in the hobby, I bought a 37-630. I knew at the time that that radio was waaaaaaaay beyond my abilities, but I just thought it was beautiful and needed to be rescued (the owner was threatening to burn it). I decided to put it aside until I had the necessary skills. Still not there yet, but getting closer. I'm in no hurry.

Good luck whatever you decide.
Jon

[Arran]

The biggest issue is going to be finding an original Philco speaker as a replacement, the tubes are fairly simple enough though shouldered versions of 6A8s, 6K7, and 6Q7s are harder to find then the metal and tubular types. Fortunately, unlike the 1938 models metal and glass tubular types will fit into the tube shield bases they used in the 1937 models.
The bullet styled cabinets are fairly collectable, though the cheaper versions used a faux wood grain on the front panel, so that is something to look out for, if it's messed up that will detract from the value. You can work around the original 8'' Philco speaker being missing, but I would try to pay as little as possible for any set with it gone, on some of those the bolt pattern is different from a normal 8'' pincushion style. Aside from that you will need a replacement for the field coil of the original speaker, so it will need either a filter choke or a resistor with two filter caps that are of a larger value then the originals.
Regards
Arran

[LASJayhawk]

I'm assuming we're talking a 37-610T so An S-7 speaker. Cribbing from Ron's spreadsheet it was used on:
60, 260B, 37-60, 37-61, 37-62, 37-610B-T, 37-620B, 37-2620B, 38-62, 38-9T, 38-10T, 38-60, 38-620

Looks like an S-12 used on 66B and 66S or an S-14 used on 610F, 610T, 620, 625 should work as well'

Link to Ron's speaker spreadsheet: http://www.philcoradio.com/phorum/showth...hp?tid=215

it is the aptly named spkrs.zip file

[PhilcoJohn]

I have a tombstone 37-610 radio and it gets great reception on all shortwave and broadcast across the dial. A good solid radio for your listening pleasure!

[Tom Hamilton]

Hey Jim,

I would suggest that you check out You Tube and the videos of Joernone. He's currently repairing/restoring a Philco 37-2670. His videos are geared towards beginners and he shows all the little things you need to know. On You Tube, look up Philco 37-2670 restoration and you'll see the series. He also goes into great detail on replacing the capacitors and one almost impossible-to-get resister in the RF section. I'm not that experienced myself, but I'm following along and restoring my 37-670, which is almost identical.

Good luck, Tom

[PhilcoJohn]

Tom thanks for posting this. I will watch this video. Thanks again.