Battle Creek Garage Sale - Fisher Console 1964

[twintubdexter]

third time on ebay, no takers

This interesting vintage RCA @$200 in Chicago just won't sell. I've seen a couple of "distressed" ones sell on CList for more.

 

[twintubdexter]

and this rare Clairtone...

...just sold on ebay for $8,100.00! What would someone do to damage those speaker spheres like that?

 

[twintubdexter]

just tossing this in here...

Newly listed on ebay, this Wurlitzer 950, or what there is left of it, already has a bid of $9,500.00! Maybe they meant $9.50.[this post was last edited: 7/12/2013-14:59]

 

[firedome]

RCA console with the top mounted speakers...

had 2 of these, paid 100 and 35 for them. The electronics are good, decent 6BQ5 PP amp section, but sound is only so-so due to the 3 way speakers which had smallish magnets and all mounted in one large unsealed cabinet with no baffles, so it was neither acoustic suspension or ported, kind of like a '40s console radio. Most of the $ was in the cabinet.

 

[danemodsandy]

Roger:

Those RCA "highboy" consoles were a major lust of mine when they were new. They were expensive, though. My dad worked for RCA, and when I mentioned that I thought we should get one (hey, I was 10 - I thought we should get everything), he quickly let me know that those were for rich people.

 

[firedome]

Love the look of those RCA highboys

aka known as the 3VF61 "Mark Series" and they came in 3 versions: French Provincial/Traditional, Early American and Danish Modern. We had the first 2 of those, and still have the 6 speakers and their mounting board from one suspended from the ceiling over the electronics test bench with leads hanging down to use in checking out amps and receivers brought up on the Gen Rad Variac. As a unit it was somewhat lacking in sound quality as mentioned but fine for the 95% out there who were mainly casual listeners. Still have the factory paperwork for anyone that needs a copy. They were pricey units in their day and would consider one for the den if we could find one with the cabinet close to mint condition, which was not the case with the 2 we had, which were not really restorable, hence their demise as complete console units. The guts, however, do live on.

 

[firedome]

BTW that vertical element

on the right side of the control panel next to the knobs of that RCA is the "Tuning Eye" aka EM-84 tube, which, for the youngun's too recently born to have been there back then, had a aqua colored band with a dark area in the middle that narrowed in when the station was tuned in to it's stongest point of reception by the RF detector. One of the fun and funky features long gone by in the world of electronics.

 

[twintubdexter]

yet another tall Victor console...

...$450 on the LA Craigslist.

 

[classiccaprice]

I like that cabinet!

 

[danemodsandy]

Joe:

That's the exact RCA Mark I lusted after all those years ago. Compared to anything we had or our neighbors or family had, that thing was straight out of The Jetsons.

By the way, note that this stereo console, with a four-speed changer and FM Multiplex available, came only fourteen years after the technologically much more primitive Berkshire Breakfront.

The future used to get here in a hurry. Don't know what happened.

 

[firedome]

RCA highboy in LA

yep that't the Danish Modern version, there was also one on CL in Ohio not long ago, the prettiest of the 3 versions imho. We also still have the changer from one of ours on a shelf in the basement, works fine. BTW the preamp/amp section is excellent and can sound great when teamed up with better speakers that could be installed inside in place of the factory jobs.

 

[ovrphil]

Firedome: ..so, did you add better speakers? I saw that CL version in Ohio and thought it was unusual. I always wonder if the amps or pre-amps are modded today, as a standard course of improvement. I think there's always room to improve these old consoles.

Are the speaker compartments lined with anything to damper reflections or ? other audio distortion or were they just bare wood?

Phil

 

[112561]

Fisher console

A friend of mines father had a 1960 Fisher console with a slide out Garrard and something like a Fisher Coronet receiver over it. I would love one of those, it was delightful. I have a Fisher 500 receiver from 1957, in monaural, paired with a Stromberg-Carlson Labyrinth corner speaker. Also one Fisher tube stereo receiver. Correct me if I'm wrong, but many Fisher consoles had less than adequate speakers. That was tossed around on one of the other collector sites.

Here's what's sitting in my living room, my Christmas 2010 present. It was the most expensive set in the standard line. Magnavox made the Imperial, in solid wood cabinets constructed by Hammond organ to Magnavox specs. They had their TOL receiver, a reel to reel stereo recorder, and a four pole Micromatic changer. They made my set look and sound sad. Those higher end units are sought after by collectors now.

 

[twintubdexter]

My eyes aren't that sharp...

...but this looks like Fisher to me. $100 in Long Beach/on CL. I never cared for that bunched fabric for speaker cloth. It always reminds me of drapes in a funeral parlor.

 

[ovrphil]

112561 (Alan): nice gift..unusual, never saw (model #??) one like that before..does it have a reel-to-reel?...it's not self-evident.

We were talking about the Imperial in another thread, as one was spotted on Craigslist. Like so many other TOL stereo consoles, they're being parted out and sold on you.know.what.bay.com.

 

[112561]

Yes, the French Provincial armoire was my Christmas gift to me! My set has jacks for tape, but tape wasn't included in my model. The Imperial armoire is a different animal, with a premium receiver, reel to reel deck, and four pole Micromatic, in a solid wood construction cabinet made by Hammond Organ to Magnavox specs. Makes the color tv stereo theatres look sad. Here's a link to an album with pics of the "Ramona" Imperial Armoire. I can't for the life of me cut and paste pics on my Google Chrome like I used to.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Magnavoxfriends/photos/album/448144044/pic/1746064145/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc

 

[ovrphil]

It definitely is a fine looking piece. I can see why you gifted yourself with it!
Gotta weigh a ton.

 

[firedome]

ovrphil:

I never subbed better speakers in the RCA Mark console, though I did a test listen with some ADS speakers I had that would have fit in the cabinet, and it sounded great. In fact I'm saving those small ADS jobs for just that purpose should the right console come along. The 6BQ5 (EL-84) output tube is one of the sweetest, the open frame trannies are fairly decent sized (one shorthand way to judge quality of an amplifier) and the RCA's amp/preamp/tuner section is quite decent overall imho. Due to significant damage the cabinet wasn't good enough to pass the "spouse filter", however, so it went away and the electronics were spared.

112561/Alan: you're correct, the Fisher consoles rarely had speakers that lived up to the excellence of the electronics, even the President we had had less than top notch drivers and crossovers, Jensen derived iirc, as the bean counters dictated cost savings there, and in general the really serious listeners didn't buy consoles but instead sought out components that they could tailor to their own specific tastes and idea of good sound so while you didn't get the pretty cabinet you got more flexibility in placement, and the same money went to where it really counted.

The RCA Mark had all it's speakers in one untuned, unbaffeled and unlined compartment, making for a less than thrilling sound, but it was more than adequate for the bulk of casual listeners who mostly used them for enjoying Liberace, Johhny Mathis or Mantovani (all of whom I love, btw) while dining.