How I chose the radio

Why did I choose this particular Philco model? The reasoning was not particularly scientific, but in retrospect it turned out to be a very good choice.

I'd spent some time browsing (and drooling over) various old radio galleries, to get a sense for what's available. Roughly speaking, here's my impression about the lay of the land:

• Wood radios vs. plastic radios. As much as some plastic radios are beautiful pieces of Art-Deco inspired art, I just didn't like them as much as the wood radios. Some particular brands of plastic radios, those made of the Catalin brand of plastic material, are extremely sought-after and expensive -- as much as $2000 or more for a radio in good condition!
• Cathedral vs. tombstone vs. console vs. tabletop. The console radios are quite large and unwieldy, so they were out of consideration for me fairly quickly. I was somewhat torn betwen cathedral and tombstone design -- I like them both, however, in the end I decided to go with a cathedral design since I find the design more appealing and timeless. The tabletop radios, while very nice in their own right, didn't quite have the vintage look I enjoyed.

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• Manufacturer: Philco vs. Zenith vs. Motorola vs. RCA vs. Sparton. There is very large number of manufacturers that produced radios in the "golden era", most of them gone today. In the end, I decided to go with a Philco radio because it is one of the best and largest radio producers, they also produced many of their own radio parts (similar to RCA), and I quite liked their designs (the Philco 90, in particular, is considered by some "the" classic cathedral design).
• Last but not least: complexity. Since this was the first radio I'd try to restore, it was important that the electronics weren't too complicated. I definitely wanted a vacuum-tube based radio (as opposed to transistor), and also wanted a radio that was made in the late 20's - early 30's (earlier than that may have meant too much compromise on audio quality, which would have been a problem as I'd actually like to use the radio around the house).

In the end, the Philco 80 turned out to be a surprisingly good choice:

• It's a Philco wooden cathedral design. While by no means the most ornate, it still looks very good and embodies many of the design qualities I like.
• It's very simple electronically. It only has 4 tubes, compared to 7+ tubes for many of the "fancier" models. It has modest energy consumption (46 watts), and it is fairly well documented and understood.
• As it turns out, the Philco 80 Jr. was meant to be one of the cheapest cathedral design radios at the time -- which explains the complexity and power consumption above. The radio was introduced for $18.75, whereas other radios would start at double that.

Depending on how this restoration goes, I may look into a tombstone design next, as there are some very good looking radios in that category as well.