EH scott philharmonic with a missing amp / power supply

[Christopher Yurewick]

A few months ago I had bought a philharmonic in a warrington cabinet for 100 dollars, and it's missing the power / amp section.  It's supposed to be the one with the two 5z3's and four 6l6's . Does anyone have one and be willing to sell? I'm about ready to start this restoration and I was directed to this forum by the antique radio forum. Thanks, in advance...... Chris

[David C. Poland]

Good - you found to the Scott site I suggested on ARF. A lot of information here. First in the SCOTT INFO ARCHIVE  section above, choose set folders and select Philharmonic.  there are 3 different owners manuals. Click on the one with the pointer dial model on the cover which is the 3rd one over, and print it. Then page through this 22 page document notice the several illustrations and then read through it to learn about your radio.

The feature laden Philharmonic is arguably the greatest home radio ever built. Worth restoring.

There appears to be some light surface rust shown in the photos you put on ARF. I recommend Turtle liquid chrome polish. Vacuum first and use a small artists brush to dislodge dust and dirt. Use small squares of old bath or hand towels as polish applicators. Grit and rust will build up in the cloth and may start to scratch the chrome, so change to a new cloth square  a couple time. Suggest you polish one side of the chassis, a tube shield and one of the big coil covers on the right side that just pull off. Then you will know what you are dealing with appearance wise.

The socket on the side of the pedestal speaker is for the Scott optional tweeter pair . The tweeter in your cabinet is not a Scott tweeter, and I would disconnect it. The Scott tweeters have a 2 MFD cap in series acting as a crossover and match the 38 ohm voice coil of the big speaker. Your big speaker is correct and has a field coil and the output transformer is inside the pedestal.

The proper amp/power supply has two round sockets, slightly different size - one for the speaker and one for the receiver. Have patience looking for an amp - you want the amp with two 5Z3's (not 5U4's) and FOUR 6L6's.

Note carefully the amp illustration in the owners manual. Avoid the 1940-41 Phantom amp which looks so much like the Philharmonic amp - it has two 6L6's and two 6J5 drivers where as the philharmonic amp as four 6L6's. Tube numbers are embossed  on the tube socket. Your receiver's tube sockets also have tube numbers embossed - look closely.

If you have successfully restored (extensive re-cap) some 5 and 6 tube radios and a higher tube count radio or two, you should be able to deal with a Philharmonic. Take your time. Folks on this site will help answer questions. 

Remember, Scott radios are custom built and there were some small running changes. So, If you find something that disagrees with the 1937  Scott diagram and it looks original, don't alter it without a good reason. When you acquire the amp, don't rush to power up the radio to see if it plays. Do the restoration work replacing filter capacitors and the wax/foil caps that are way past design life. 

Good luck.

[David C. Poland]

There is a search box at the top of this site home page. 

You may find it informative to read some of the other Philharmonic threads.

Philharmonic 6 band models overview.  They all have 2 magic eye tubes in the tube count:

1)  the April 1937 to mid 1938 - the pointer dial model you have. 30 tubes.

2)  the BOL (beam of light) dial model mid-1938-9 much the same electronically but with the Stradivarius dial and no pointer. (The moving light behind the dial serves as the pointer.) Later production have two additional control knobs. 30 tubes.

3)  The 1940-41 BOL with Stradivarius dial with addition of a logging scale. The two additional controls just noted. A number of circuit changes and revised amp using 5U4 instead of 5Z3 rectifiers. 30 tubes. Soon changed the standard 38 ohm speaker somewhat with no the tweeter socket.  Scott introduced the optional 4 unit speaker system (external crossover to feed a large 12 or 15 inch 8 ohm speaker and pair of tweeters)

4)  The August 1940-41  FM Philharmonic AM/SW model. 33 tubes. Familiar BOL dial with logging scale but replaced the ultra high band with the pre-war FM band (now obsolete). Eliminated the volume expander to make room for the tubes for the FM section. Same amp as #3 above. Same optional 4 unit speaker system.

[Ben Hase]

OP - I just happened to have stumbled upon an EH Scott Chassis. I do not know if its the one that you need. Still trying to track down more info. It has (4) 6L6 and 2 (5U4). It has very strange plugs though...

[Kent King]

Ben - That is probably for a later (circa 1941) set, if it has the rectangular "Jones" plugs. It could be adapted for your set, but that takes some knowledge and it will certainly appear to be heavily modified. You might be able to trade that supply for the one you need however...

Kent