Console stereos: 1958-84

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Resurecting this thread, I heard a song today that brought back memories to me.
It actually brought tears to my eyes as I imagined my younger days, living at home....
My mom used to put it on the console stereo once in a while and sit me on her knee and rocked me, to sing it to me.
The lyrics of it back then seemed to come from her heart as she sung along with it, and back then being young, I didn't fully understand as I do now why she loved that song so much.

Close your eyes and imagine your mom singing this song to you....

 
There are many more good ones that follow that song in succession. My parents had a wide range of taste in music. Mom liked Mario Lanza, Chopin, Maurice Chivaliet', Ray Conniff, Streisand, Andy Williams, Billy Extine, Broadway soundtracks, etc. Dad liked Nat King Cole, Chet Atkins, Xavior Cougat's orchestra, Henry Mancini, etc. They also liked Simon and Garfunkel, Peter, Paul and Mary, Mama's and the Papa's, etc.
 
vacerator said:
There are many more good ones that follow that song in succession. My parents had a wide range of taste in music. Mom liked Mario Lanza, Chopin, Maurice Chivaliet', Ray Conniff, Streisand, Andy Williams, Billy Extine, Broadway soundtracks, etc. Dad liked Nat King Cole, Chet Atkins, Xavior Cougat's orchestra, Henry Mancini, etc. They also liked Simon and Garfunkel, Peter, Paul and Mary, Mama's and the Papa's, etc.
Click to expand...
Lotta good music there for sure!
I've got a ton of stuff like that.
 
rinso said:
Those old Magnavox console may not have been the delight of audiophiles, still they were very mellow sounding and perfect for the living rooms of the WWII, "Smoke 'em if you got 'em," generation.
Click to expand...
The one thing about the "console sound" from those big coffin cabinets is how they were manufactured.
Namely, the cabinets themselves.
If they were constructed with thin lumber, as many were, they have a tendency to "boom" or resonate from the bass speakers.
Basically speaking, "that boxy sound".
Manufacturers tended to compensate for that by designing the circuitry in an attempt to "balance" the resulting sound to a pleasing tonal quality.

But naturally, it didn't always please the customer, regardless of how the tone controls were set.

My 1963-ish RCA Victor console has the wood side panels of 1/4" thick wood, which initially gave it that boomy-boxy sonics.
When I tore the system out, I lined inside the side panels with thick 3/4" pine, glued inside to the side panels, along with completely re-designing the internal layout the same way. - bracing, gluing, which naturally added some weight to the console.
This was to install a whole new powerful set of custom tube electronics (total 18 tubes), high quality speakers (12" woofers, midranges, tweeters), and upgraded the record changer to a nice Garrard as well, with a Magnetic cartridge.
I wanted to hear only the speakers, not cabinet resonances. - just pure music from the speakers.
And the results are what I intended, thankfully.
A much better "controlled" performance that closely resembles a good pair of seperate speakers in a component-style system.

top shot new 2018.JPG
 
Yeah, my 1962 Malevolent Magnavox cabinet uses 1/4 inch wood panels all around. What always amazed me is how the 15" woofer right under the record changer, didn't cause any rumble feedback, or tonearm skipping and bouncing. But, in mine, it doesn't. Go figure!
 
rinso said:
Yeah, my 1962 Malevolent Magnavox cabinet uses 1/4 inch wood panels all around. What always amazed me is how the 15" woofer right under the record changer, didn't cause any rumble feedback, or tonearm skipping and bouncing. But, in mine, it doesn't. Go figure!
Click to expand...
There might be a sound blocking panel below the record changer or it's in a compartment away from the speakers which are in another compartment.
They call it a "boom shield" or something like that.
 
phillymatt53 said:
The one thing about the "console sound" from those big coffin cabinets is how they were manufactured.
Namely, the cabinets themselves.
If they were constructed with thin lumber, as many were, they have a tendency to "boom" or resonate from the bass speakers.
Basically speaking, "that boxy sound".
Manufacturers tended to compensate for that by designing the circuitry in an attempt to "balance" the resulting sound to a pleasing tonal quality.

But naturally, it didn't always please the customer, regardless of how the tone controls were set.

My 1963-ish RCA Victor console has the wood side panels of 1/4" thick wood, which initially gave it that boomy-boxy sonics.
When I tore the system out, I lined inside the side panels with thick 3/4" pine, glued inside to the side panels, along with completely re-designing the internal layout the same way. - bracing, gluing, which naturally added some weight to the console.
This was to install a whole new powerful set of custom tube electronics (total 18 tubes), high quality speakers (12" woofers, midranges, tweeters), and upgraded the record changer to a nice Garrard as well, with a Magnetic cartridge.
I wanted to hear only the speakers, not cabinet resonances. - just pure music from the speakers.
And the results are what I intended, thankfully.
A much better "controlled" performance that closely resembles a good pair of seperate speakers in a component-style system.

View attachment 318857
Click to expand...
Yeah, but with those big empty boxes, you could make a 3 watt amplifier fill your living room with sound...
 
pstehle said:
Yeah, but with those big empty boxes, you could make a 3 watt amplifier fill your living room with sound...
Click to expand...
That's stretching things a bit far, unless you like distorted sound.
3 watts doesn't give enough headroom for even driving efficient speakers properly with music that has peaks/crescendos, unless it's done at "background" levels.

My console pictured in post #65, is all tubes, except for the custom solid state RIAA phono preamp.
The custom tube amplifier is capable of feeding the speakers with 34 clean undistorted watts which is enough to annoy the neighbors next door.
 
vacerator said:
Matt, unless the console has auxiliary spear outputs.
Click to expand...
That's true, yes.
However my console doesn't have them.
It does have an auxiliary "input-output" for line level sources.
It's a pair of RCA jacks on the rear that are outputs whenever the console is in "radio or phono mode", in order to record something, or pass the signal on to another system.
When it's in the "Tape/Aux" mode, these same two jacks are line level "inputs".
In fact, I've got a Technics CD player tucked underneath the console on the floor for when I want to play a CD.
 
that is a large,complex boom box-8" woofers? D-cell batts? 1983? :) I have around 6 boomboxes: 2 good size ones, A Sharp from around 1980 and a Magnavox from '85. a small one worth noting is a Russian one made in 1995-all Russian parts. My biggest music machine is an AMI jukebox from 1976,loaded up with mostly era-correct 45s...
 
cfz2882 said:
that is a large,complex boom box-8" woofers? D-cell batts? 1983? :) I have around 6 boomboxes: 2 good size ones, A Sharp from around 1980 and a Magnavox from '85. a small one worth noting is a Russian one made in 1995-all Russian parts. My biggest music machine is an AMI jukebox from 1976,loaded up with mostly era-correct 45s...
Click to expand...
Yep. a pair of 8" woofers.
For a portable with batteries, the thing weighed a ton!

NatPan rx-7200.jpg
 
I had a mid sized 1980 Sanyo cassette/radio only type. It had very good dynamic range and stereo imaging for a box with small tweeters in addition to the main drivers.
 
vacerator said:
I had a mid sized 1980 Sanyo cassette/radio only type. It had very good dynamic range and stereo imaging for a box with small tweeters in addition to the main drivers.
Click to expand...
I may have posted this picture before, it's my 1980 Panasonic Platinum Series RX-5600.
It's got plenty of kick as well, and the cassette deck has some nice features too.
It even has a set of input jacks for a magnetic cartridge turntable!

Pana-RX-5600.jpg
 
Panasonic made great products. I don't remember all the Sanyo features. It was black, tuning dial on top with balance, tone, and volume also. I think I paid $189. I handed it down to my brother.
 
vacerator said:
Panasonic made great products. I don't remember all the Sanyo features. It was black, tuning dial on top with balance, tone, and volume also. I think I paid $189. I handed it down to my brother.
Click to expand...
Sanyo made decent stuff for sure, but Panasonic seemed to go to extra lengths to insure reliability, quality, and must have had strict quality control, along with their design and research department.
Being a servicer for so many years, I've been able to compare different brands, and Panasonic/Technics stuff stood out as always being my favorite choice.
 

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