[Arran]

I think it would take a side by side "shootout" to really narrow it down.

I agree. But since I do not own a Philco 118 or 650 console anymore, I had to rely on memory.

I was just revisiting the 9-S-262 schematic, and I think a better "apples to apples" comparison would be to compare the 9-S-262 to a Philco 144 or 630. Looking at the 9-S-262 schematic, it has separate mixer and oscillator tubes and separate 2nd detector and 1st audio amp tubes. It uses a tuning eye where Philco used shadowmeters. When you take out the eye tube, combine 6L7 and 6J5 functions into a 6A7, and combine 6H6 and 6F5 into a 6Q7 (75), your 9 tube radio becomes a 6 tube radio.

The 630X sounds good (as with the others I mentioned, I no longer own a 630X), but I would have to say the 9-S-262 sounds better.

I thought the Zenith speaker looked like a Magnavox, but I could be wrong. I think Magnavox became one of Philco's suppliers after 1938 when Philco stopped making their own speakers and began buying them from outside sources.

 Whilst it seems like tube stuffing a chassis on brand Zs part having separate oscillator and mixer tubes is actually a meaningful improvement to a radio. Having separate tubes for the mixer/detector and local oscillator reduces noise and allows more stable operation at higher frequencies then a pentagrid converter like a 6A8 or a 6A7. However the G versions of each have a higher inter-electrode capacity then the metal versions of each type, not that any of this matters at anything 22 mc and bellow.
  With regards to the 6H6 second detector/avc and the 6F5 that may or may not an example of tube stuffing depending one how the 6H6 is connected. More often then not though they wired both diodes in the 6H6 in parallel or connected the plate and cathode together on one side so it didn't do anything, in such cases it was a waste of a tube socket really since a 6R7 or a 6Q7 would have done the same job. I do have a set where they rigged up the two sections of the 6H6 as an AVC voltage doubler though.
Regards
Arran