[PhilcoJohn]

For the last couple of weeks a lot of subjets have been written about people owning Philco 38-116 consoles. I have one myself, I love mine and I was thinking....out of the ones made how many are still alive and well? Just recently a lot of message have come out about the 38-116. This console is one I would not trade or seel for anything....Just want to know what everyone thinks........

[PhilcoJohn]

In the post I asked about the Philco 38-116. I wrote in the post of a 39-116 ....missed the 8 and hit the 9... Sorry guys. Asking about the 38-116 and how many of us on this website have them.........

[vinzer]

I have one and found today that the output transformer was shorted primary to secondary took it apart got it fixed

[Ron Ramirez]

I corrected your post, PhilcoJohn. You can also edit your own posts by clicking the Edit button in the lower right corner of any of your posts, and make whatever changes you need to make.

We know Philco made 25,600 of the 38-116 sets. How many remain, I have no way of knowing.

[TA Forbes]

One of them lives here.

[Jayce]

And I have one in my collection now. I would say there are probably more of them left than any other make of 15 tube radio from that year.

[dixierat]

I have one. It was much work to restore but well worth the effort.

[SteveJB]

I found two last year and Im restoring the second now. There were several others I missed last year on CL.

They sound great.

Steve

[Arran]

I have a theory that regardless of the production number itself, the fact that they were higher end sets, both in performance and price, meant that they were looked after and maintained more so then a cheaper set. The kind of people who could afford a 38-116 were likely older to start with and could also afford to look after things. The fact that they also made 25,600 of them as well probably explains why so many seem to have survived, while that isn't anywhere near as many produced as lets say a 40-180 it's still a lot for such a high end set.
Regards
Arran

[RoyG]

I have one. Bought it a few months ago. Haven't had time to get started on it.

[PhilcoJohn]

I did not realize that Philco made so many of the 38-116 because it was a large tube set. Mine works great but still could use a little work... Does not tune correctly from about 660 to 1200 on the AM band.

[Tim Tress]

I have owned one for almost 40 years, and it is now getting a complete restoration. The biggest issues were a defective audio driver transformer and a cracked dial; both have been replaced.

[TA Forbes]

Agree they are a fine set. When right, their reception AND sound is comparable to any top of the line set.

Comparing the 38-116 to the 37-116, in my opinion the 38 sounds better, BUT both are equivalent receivers. I attribute the better sound mainly to the larger cabinet, but it could also be the output circuitry.
The 37 had 6B4Gs driven by a 6F6, and 6F6s can be noisy. The 38 had 6L6s driven by 6J5s, which is, again, in my opinion, a slightly better system.

[PhilcoJohn]

The numbers of 38-116 radios being found out there are growing every day.

[Tim Tress]

John, the 38-116 seems to be fussy about the 6A8G oscillator tube. On mine, the tube was a bit weak, and the increased current (due to lower grid voltage) pulled the screen voltage down lower as the dial was tuned lower. I have one in mine which works better than the others which I tried, but I am scouting around for a couple of NOS 6A8G tubes for it.