My oldest daughter has been after me to restore a radio for her since she saw my Philco 66 cathedral sitting in my living room. I've been looking at EBay lately and I get depressed seeing what even a trashed out cathedral goes for these days, so I was wondering if any of you have suggestions about a cathedral with halfway decent sound and reception that is also aesthetically pleasing that I could purchase and restore for under $200 including purchasing the radio, electronically restoring it myself, and doing some hopefully minor cabinet work?
I should say that I've been doing this hobby for about two years, now, have a decent number of tools and test equipment, so I don't anticipate having to farm out any of the labor (besides that is sort of the point).
Philco is, of course, my favorite, but I'm open to anything.
For ideas, here (imperfect as it is) is what she fell in love with:
Small radios have small speakers so the sound won't be grand.
Tombstones have better speakers and are not too bad price-wise.
You could try for a cathedral but if you want good sound it should not be 70 or 90, or 20 ( let alone the fact they will be above your target price).
18 or 118 can be good.
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
No, don't. You'll spoil her rotten. If not already.
Ebay alway has something to offer.
Or CL.
Or your local swapmeet.
Or maybe she would like a console. Those can be inexpensive, beautiful and sound nice.
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
With all due respect probably not, but likely over $200, but after refinishing and electrical restoration it will be up to or over $400. What's more, as Mike stated, model 90s are not particularly good sounding sets, in large part because of the stiff spider in the speaker, the one my uncle had was always a bit muddy sounding. I think that a model 18 or 118B would be a winner, push pull triode connected type 42s, it will blow any 90 out of the water, plus it has AVC and one some 118s short wave.
Regards
Arran
Sam, the real problem here is that I have TWO daughters, and they both like that 66. If I start gifting radios in my small collection, one of them might have to settle for a Crosley 72AF or a Zenith 8s436 because the rest is all 20s sets, and they have no interest. Plus, I want that whole Christmas surprise thing to happen. There is no particular hurry, but I'd like to get started on it by October at least.
My vote would be for an 18B/118B, a 19B or an 89B. The 18B and 118B are super performers but will be pushing the dollar limit. The 19B and the 89B are still very good performers and will probably be closer to your dollar range. Personally, I would be right on the 19B with the $99 BIN price. If the 90 on Ebay does happen to sell in the $200 range, that would be a steal. It does have a reserve, that will tend to hold the price down.
If not already.
Plus, I want that whole Christmas surprise thing to happen. There is no particular hurry, but I'd like to get started on it by October at least.
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