1965 Magnavox restoration project

[rickr]

The Astrosonic tuner and 100 amp were very tired in my old Magnavox stereo. I decided that rather than try and rebuild the transistor amp, I would go with a 6V6 Magnavox tube amp and tuner. I converted this about a year ago, and I just love it. It sounds so sweet!

The little mic in the camera does not do this justice, but it still sound nice! Take a listen.

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[rickr]

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Here is what it looks like now.

 

[westie2]

Rick

 

That is one nice stereo.  My parents had a 1967 one almost like yours.  Good sound too.

 

[rickr]

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Close up of the new tuner.

And here is what is sounds like, playing with the Sony CD player

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[lovestowash]

WOW!...

I have the same unit...
Did your old amp have the Timbre, Balance, and Squelch Sens knobs?...
I'd love to have a new turntable as well...
Come on down to Atlanta and bring your tool kit...

George

 

[112561]

And it has the Micro Sonic 90 Ultra-Tracking turntable too. Very nice!

 

[rickr]

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And this is what it looks like, before I put the back, back on. Beware, rap music, and the poor little mic was overwelmed...

At least you can see what it looks like inside.

The tone arm is tracking at one and a half grams. I installed an Audio Technica magnetic cartridge with natural diamond with a tip radius of .3x7 nude elliptical stylus, and installed a pre amp to use with this 6V6 Magnavox tube amp.
I used additional lead weight to the counterbalance on the tone arm to make this all work. I am very happy with the results.

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[rickr]

.

Thanks guys! Glad you like it!

Here is the original sales slip from 1965.

 

[rickr]

Hi George, yes it did have the squelch, timbre, ect. Post some pics of yours here, if you want.

Nothing like a Magnavox console stereo. Transistor, or tube type. But I have a preference the tube sound myself.

 

[yogitunes]

Those were the days of great sound and bass.......nothing like a console stereo

excellent job as usual Rick......love it!

these consoles are getting harder to find.....love the sliding top

 

[mixfinder]

Good Grief

You are handsome, intelligent, do the work of 10 men, meticulously care for all the people and possessions in your life, collect appliances, keep a spotless house, have a Sunbeam Mixmaster on the counter and you like Magnavox console stereos. Enough to make me weak kneed. I think its time to turn your attention to cloning yourself so there's enough to go around for the rest of us.

 

[mixfinder]

I Totally Forgot to Mention

You drive a freaking Cadillac. It just doesn't get any better.

 

[aldspinboy]

Rick that is a very nice Magnavox I always like the tonearm hitting the records for indexing.

Cant go wrong with seperate tone controls Im so sick of computer controls for everything lol.

Nice Job as always Rick !

Love to see 45's playing on that turntable..

 

 

 

Darren k

 

[this post was last edited: 2/18/2012-22:59]

 

[a440]

Great Job Rick!
I just love the Magnavox Console Stereos from this vintage.
Your Magnavox cabinet looks mint!
Brent

 

[washer-kid]

Rick,
You are amazing! The pictures brought back a flood of awesome childhood memories for me of the beautiful console stereos....I can hear Dean, Frank , Perry and all the wonderful artists of the 1960's....Sometimes my dad and mom would put on some Motown records and dance in front of me...it was wonderful...

Thank you for bringing back wonderful childhood memories!

Tony

 

[firedome]

Very nice

Maggie! There are numerous threads on them at www.audiokarma.com I have to plead guilty to ripping up a fair number of them over the years for their guts, one even ended up at Bob Carver's in WA in his new tube audio museum. Did the same to a few TOL Fisher and Pilot consoles too, but I wouldn't do so today. While hardly audiophile stuff, consoles, not H-K Citations, were found in most average living rooms back then, and they deserve to be preserved as such.. Kudos on a beautiful job!

 

[jasonl]

Magnetic cart and preamp

Can you show pictures of how you installed the AT cartridge and preamp in the system? I want to do that in my 1968 system as well and put the (still good) EV ceramic cart in the 73 console.

I have an AT p-mount cart that might can fit in the headshell but I'm not sure. It's very bright sounding so it will punch through those horn speakers well.

 

[rickr]

magnetic cartridge installed

Thank you for the nice comments everyone! Console stereos are not worth much as far as $$$ goes, but we really love this one and use it quite a bit.

Kelly, I am really not all that. I do work hard, and always try and do my best. It is very simple. I think everyone should strive to do their best.

Jason, I took some pics for you. It is hard to get much light down in the record player compartment. Hope these help.

 

[rickr]

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Another view.

I removed the tone arm to do this. There are small "braces" inside the tone arm at the front that need to be removed. Those are there to help hold the original Electro-Voice ceramic cartridge in place I just broke them off with a small needle nose pliers. The Audio Technica cartrige will then fit tightly, just pressed in, but I put a small amount of JB Weld on the top of the cartridge, just to be sure it stays in place.