1931 Philco 90 Baby Grand Cathedral Radio - the Paragon of "Radio", Restored, Serviced and Working

In a Nutshell
The most recognized Radio of all times, the new 40 pound "midget" of 1931

Introduction:
The timeline of Philco radios is found in ref.1 below. In 1931 Philco started to produce "midget" radios - table radios, the name of which sets them apart from console radios, which were the norm until then. They were also advertized as console radios in a table cabinet. Today these radios are called cathedral, beehive and tombstone style radios. In June 1931 the two models 70 and 90 with 7 and 9 tubes, respectively, were introduced, both based on the new Superheterodyne principle released by RCA, and both housed in new cabinets designed by Edward Combs. Philco built model 90 in 3 versions, cathedral, and the consoles lowboy and highboy with doors (see also pict.35). The early version (before serial number 237000) used two type 45 tubes in the amplifier and had no Automatic Volume Control (AVC), the second version used one 47 and has AVC, and the late version, introduced in Jan. 1932, used two 47 tubes and kept the tube count at 9 by combining the local oscillator and the mixer into one tube. My radio has serial number 635820, is of Type 2 and was produced end Sept. 1931, at the peak of the production.

Additional information:
ref.1: http://www.philcoradio.com/
ref.2: http://antiqueradio.org/philco90.htm
ref.3: http://www.tuberadioland.com/Philco90_type2_main.html

About my radio:
The radio is in near mint condition. "Near" refers to the fact that the cabinet has been refinished, not by myself. A wonderful and very conservative job, avoiding the glaring color contrasts one often sees. The cabinet has no cracks, hairlines, chips, scratches or heat burns. The chassis is in perfect condition too (pict.s 17-27), with a mains transformer looking almost like new (pict.23). The speaker (pict.s 31,32) has no repairs, the speaker grille cloth is a NOS replacement readily available from several sources. The knobs are the original set (pict.15, I asked both Philco gurus, Chuck Schwark and Ron Ramirez), and new washers have been installed (pict.13). The radio comes with all ST shaped tubes (pict.28), all testing above average on my EICO 666. A few components had to be replaced, partly hiding them in the old Philco bakelite capacitor shells (pict.27). The radio plays nicely (see movie by clicking on thumbnail 38), with good sensitivity and selectivity, when attaching a long wire antenna to the antenna plug. Please e-mail me (Kris) for any questions, ich spreche Deutsch, je parle Français.

For Canadians only:
When I sold my Philco 70 (pict.35), I wrote this note: The radio has been made in Canada. As usual Canadians make things differently, mostly they outdo their American mother companies. Look at the type plate (pict.30). It's not paper, it's metal! Look at the backside arch (pict.17). It has a finger hole to carry the 30 pounds. I got a lot of protests from south the border. This time too?

Here are the specifications:

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