[thirtiesradio]

Both Zenith and Philco made fine sets. One thing I hear often, but will never believe is the Waltons TV show is mostly responsible for the Zenith craze. The motor drive, robot dial, as well as other features all in a table top set make the Walton radio a very attractive package... if in a TV show or not. The 9 and 12 tube Waltons are fine performers as well and a pleasure to tune. I'd like the Zenith sets even if John Boy never had one. I collect many brands of radios and most have their good and bad.

Zenith had many sets with doors. They had some of the finest cabinetry ever made for a radio chassis. The 40A, Spanish deluxe, Chinese deluxe, English deluxe, 563, 16EP, 37A, 54 and many others all had doors and arguably the finest cabinets ever produced by any radio company. Some may be guady but seeing them in person you quickly realize the quality that went into the early Zenith sets. Zenith had some of the finest sets available and didn't lower the quality of their cabinets until after 1935. I'd say their electronics peaked that same year with the Stratosphere and the 835 table top set.

Comparing top of the line table sets like the 1937 Philco 37-670B with the Zenith 10-S-130, I find the 10-S-130 much more stylish. It was originally 84.95 compaired to Philco's 99.50 price. I do have both sets and although the Philco is not restored I'm guessing it will be a better performer. I do find the big dial on the 10-S-130 to be nice while tuning and the sensitivity and selectivity are as good as one needs. RCA, Patterson, GE, Pilot, Atwater Kent and others made incredible performing, highly engineered radios. Performance in a set is great but what about the 99% of the time that the radio is not playing? Although I perfer the great performing sets, there is nothing like a great looking set that performs well.

I think Philco really hit it big with the 37 and 38 automatic tuning sets. Great styling and attractive, large and busy dials.
With everything said, and as much as I like the Zenith line of radios I'd pick the 37-116X over most 15 tube Zeniths. The 116 has great styling and performance will be top notch. Just buy what you prefer as they are both fine radios.

One other thing is the Midwest sets. I don't care about the bloated tube count stigma when a radio looks as good as many of their sets do. I don't own one but have listened to at least a half dozen. They are great performers and the sound that comes from a correctly restored Midwest console is hard to beat. They have a very clear and deep sound that is hard to explain. And look at the 1935 and 1937 Midwest console dials