I've never purchased a old vintage radio before, but I'm getting very interested in the idea of listening to radio stations from all around the world on a aesthetically pleasing little-machine with great sound. I'm very interested in how these old tube radios would sound.
Hopefully you guys can help me find a good first radio. I would like it have have good reception that pulls lots of stations (shortwave?) easily and that is driven by tubes. I'm new to radio, but after looking at a few threads, the Zenith radios look pretty amazing. I'm also kind of wanting know if there are any good portable radios, or should I mostly be looking at transistor radios for that? Please forgive my lack of knowledge.

Any suggestions and know-how are much appreciated, as I'm kind of confused by the HUGE variety of radios out there.
Thanks!
Peter