Finally got my AM FM Philharmonic

[Karl Sherwin]

I had posted this at the bottom of my post for the Crossover Box, thought I'd put it in a new posting.

After a few false starts (a very long story), I ended driving out 2 weeks ago to pick up the AM FM Philharmonic. The set did not have a cabinet so it wasn't to difficult to load into the CRV. Its dirty, a lot of nicotine, some of the larger cans on the tuner have some chrome bubbling and some of the smaller square cans have some small dents, but once I get it cleaned up it will be OK, not mint, but nice.

Kent, the tuner serial # is LL-471 and inside the Amp chassis is a hand written RR-339.

2 surprises, one OK, the other disappointing. The baffle had a Tauscher board installed. Nice to look at, but akin to putting a curtain over a lighthouse. The other was that one of the tweeters has an open voice coil.  I did talk to Nick Dorazio at thespeakershop.com, he does not have any more materials to redo the cone. His concern is that in removing the cone to re-coil it, the cone could get damaged. Looking for suggestions to have someone "recoil" it and hopefully be able to save the original cone and surround.

The speaker connector on the amp was replaced with an octal, and the speaker plug was replaced with a 9 pin "octal" style plug. The crossover box was long gone, so I can only guess why these plugs/sockets were changed. I'd like to get the amp back to stock, I know the speaker socket was a smaller pin circle than the one for the tuner, and the 2 large pins were opposite each other as opposed to next to each other but could I rework a 6A7 style wafer tube socket which is the small 7-pin for this? Of course if someone has a chassis they are parting out please let me know.

The filter caps were replaced at one point, will try to decipher the info on the cap to get the manufacturer and date code. But they all measure good (capacitance and dissipation). It'll be a while before I attempt to power the set up but will reform the caps first and recheck them before going further.

Lastly, I'm missing one of the round wooden knobs, could use 2 as one is in poor shape. If anyone has some please let me know.

I'll post some pics as I get it cleaned up, and I'm sure I'll have more questions as I dig into it.

Karl

[Brad Winder]

12 41 would probably be the date code for the cabinet build, December 1941. The 533 is likely the numbers from the chassis serial number, possibly?

[Kent King]

12 41 could be the date. I'll bet 533 was the crasftsman's id. My grandfather was a cabinet maker and he stamped his number on things he built.

Kent

[Karl Sherwin]

Thanks guys,

I suspect it is a date code, but there are 2 inconsistencies with that date - if the tuner face board is indeed original to the cabinet it was a 7 knob Philly which wasn't made in '41, and the speaker board does not have the cutouts for the tweeters. I would have thought that all Warringtons for the 9 knob Philly would have the tweeter cutouts.

Thanks, Karl

[Norman S Braithwaite]

I have seen the musical note grill cloth in Scott consoles from around 1940 but not in earlier consoles.

Norman

[Karl Sherwin]

Thanks Norman, I really like that style over the Aztek so I was hoping someone would have a good piece to sell.

[Scott Seickel]

Who knows if it is a date.  Without a picture it is hard to even guess if it is original.  If it is not, chances are that you would be able to clearly see where it was altered to fit.  Tweeter cutouts were the "norm" from the earliest days of the Philharmonic.  If tweeters were not installed, they were blocked, including 7 knob Philharmonics which also were available with optional tweeters. 

Karl Sherwin said:

Thanks guys,

I suspect it is a date code, but there are 2 inconsistencies with that date - if the tuner face board is indeed original to the cabinet it was a 7 knob Philly which wasn't made in '41, and the speaker board does not have the cutouts for the tweeters. I would have thought that all Warringtons for the 9 knob Philly would have the tweeter cutouts.

Thanks, Karl

[David C. Poland]

I suspect some inconsistent handling of tweeter holes.

My Phantom Deluxe remote control  in a Louis XV cabinet had the standard 12 inch speaker.

The speaker board was cut for tweeter pair, with no evidence of ever having tweeters installed, nor wood covers over the hole. I have seen what appear to be factory wood covers over tweeter holes on other contemporary Scott cabinets.

[wayne topping]

Indeed, my AW23 has the tweeter holes 'boarded up', so I have no doubts that my set never had the tweeters.

David C. Poland said:

I suspect some inconsistent handling of tweeter holes.

My Phantom Deluxe remote control  in a Louis XV cabinet had the standard 12 inch speaker.

The speaker board was cut for tweeter pair, with no evidence of ever having tweeters installed, nor wood covers over the hole. I have seen what appear to be factory wood covers over tweeter holes on other contemporary Scott cabinets.

[Karl Sherwin]

A favor to ask of those who have a AM FM Philharmonic in the Warington cabinet with the flange mounted woofer and 2 tweeters - could you take a picture of the back of the speakers as they are monted on the speaker board?

As I mentioned above my Warington cabinet's speaker board did not have the tweeter coutouts, so I will be cutting those 2 openings. I have a good idea of placement based on several front view pictures, but, based on those pictures, the top of the tweeter frames are right at the top of the speaker board. I could use a backside picture as a reference.

Thanks!

[Scott Seickel]

Previous owner made a mess of the grill cloth....

[David C. Poland]

Yes - the tweeters almost touch the edge the big speaker.

[Karl Sherwin]

Thanks Scott, this picture helps a lot. You're right David, when I was laying out the tweeters they were almost touching the woofer frame.