[rocklandman]

I am actually thinking of removing the leaf cloth and putting on the real deal whiskey cloth, I have a large piece that will look perfect !!!
Rock

[morzh]

Good idea. Leaves are Philco....yet a wrong one and does not look right on a cathedral.
Don't discard the cloth, it might serve as a patch one day.

[GarySP]

Hi John. I have the early style model 20. It was my grandparents home radio, then became my dad's garage radio. The delicate grill is it's selling feature, and also it's Achilles heel. Very delicate woodwork to restore, and almost never seen intact. I'd have all three if I can find a 70 and a 90. The shortcoming of the 20 is that it is a TRF reciever, with no tone controls. The K-type speaker can be rebuilt easier since it's wiring is bolted in instead of pressed on. In my opinion, the 20, 70, and 90 were the sets that made Philco an early success story. Especially the 20. Think about it...over 300,000 sets sold as the Great Depression was at it's worst. That says something. Take care, Gary.

[morzh]

It's not a shortcoming. It is a feature.

After all we collect not always for sound quality : todays radios will often outperform the old one acousticlly, but we just collect them....cause they were first, they are still around and they work.

Personally I do not care much of the sound as long as it is what it should be, I also do not intentionally improve on the original sound.

[PhilcoJohn]

Guys, thanks everyone for your ideas. Is there a cathedral radio with the shortwave band also? I really do not want a radio that just has the AM band.

[Ron Ramirez]

Sure. If you really want good SW coverage, look for a 16B cathedral. Big, heavy, pricey. 11 tubes, AM and four SW bands.

And then there is the 44B. Not quite as big, AM and three SW bands, six tubes. Good performer.

You also have three 1935 Philco models to choose from - 144B (chassis nearly identical to the 44B); 118B (8 tubes, AM and one SW band tuning from around 4 to 12 mc).

One more choice - 43B from 1932 (AM and three SW bands, 8 tubes). A bit harder to find than the others mentioned above.

I purposely did not list cathedrals such as the 60B, 14B, 18B, 19B and 89B since they do not have a true SW band.

[PAradiogeek]

"It's not a shortcoming. It is a feature."

Morzh, I think you should be in marketing

My vote would be a 19. Dual band, shadow meter, and a beautiful cabinet.

[palegreenthumb]

I personally am a fan of the fall '34 16B. But if I were going to have a more traditional (beehive-style) Philco cathedral, I think I would try to find a June '34 18B at a reasonable price. Or I'd stretch the definition of cathedral as far as I had to for a 37-665B.

Somehow I've never been a big fan of the cabinet style that started with the 71B and 91B in June '32. Just looks a bit phallic to me.

The only beehive-style radio I've put in my collection so far was an Apex 7A.