[MrFixr55]

Hi Roy,

First off, welcome to the Philco Phorum. Please take a moment to read the Rules and Regulations, and "What NOT to post". Don't forget to stop in at "Old Ron's Bar and Grill for a brew, a burger and to shoot the breeze with the gang.

If you can, please post a link to the schematic you are using. Neither the 96 schematic posted in the Philco Library nor the one posted in Nostalgia Air indicate voltages.

You state that the 1st Audio stage is distorting. By 1st audio do you mean the stage whose plate is driving the interstage transformer that drives the two '45 output tubes or are you describing the tube right after the detector? The diagram describes the 1st audio as the tube that drives the interstage transformer. To have about -18 volts on the grid of the 1st audio stage and 180V on the plate is not really out of expectations. This has a rather interesting detector stage. The 2nd IF transformer is not a transformer at all but a choke and condenser.

There are 2 stages to the detector; the detector rectifier and the detector amplifier. The detector amplifier is biased by the output of the detector rectifier by the output voltage of the detector rectifier, which also provides AVC voltage. This can explain why the voltage gets more negative when a signal is tuned in. If the signal at the volume control is clean, the detector rectifier and detector amplifier are good, and you need to troubleshoot the "1st Audio amp" circuit.

Try swapping tubes around. A gassy tube will cause distortion.

Good luck and keep us posted. We are all happy to help you. Once again, welcome! We're glad you are here!