[Jayce]

This should have really been no contest, but things haven't turned out the way I planned. I got the RCA 19K rebuilt and was going to use it in the house for my bedroom console over the winter. Sadly, it seems this radio will need to be cracked back open once the weather warms up again. It plays, but is very touchy on the tuning and makes a lot of noise between the stations. In comparison the 'barely restored' Crosley 819M I have basically wipes the floor with this RCA the way things stand right now. My antenna for it is just bunch of thin wire connected and dropped into a heap beside the console and it is sucking in stations all over the dial with very good selectivity on all bands. Also, the small transformer on the 19K warms up a lot quicker than I'd like, meaning I will need to get a resistor installed to drop the modern voltage for it. Seems RCA was taking a note from Zenith's book in 1940 and using rather small transformers!
Really, the 819M would almost be a choice for my bedroom radio over the 19K even if the 19K was perfect right now just due to the design. No transformer to overheat and I think it's a cheaper radio to run tube and power demand-wise. Unfortunately, the Crosley is almost 30 inches wide! That's three inches wider than the 19K which sort of doesn't fit where I want it. Well, that and you can't really put anything on top of the Crosley due to its shape. Hmm... maybe a rethink is in mind. I really do like the beast...