Combo stereos 1969-84

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cfz2882

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those "all in ones" that featured AM/FM,phono,and often a tape player or two and seperate speakers. Earliest ones noticed were from about 1969,latest from around 1984 as "BPC"-black plastic crap era was getting underway...lots of cheapo to mid -grade offerings usually from Japan,sometimes US, and starting about 1977,Taiwan and Korea. about 75% had the standard BSR turntable. Amps usually well under 10w/channel,woofers rarely over 8",speaker cabinets sometimes had no damping material for a nasty boomy sound. Brands like Panasonic, Sony, Zenith, could be very decent.
 
That Fisher was probably pretty decent -I think that brand was considered one of the better ones in the early 1960s HiFI FM early days and a 1982 Fisher tuner i have is pretty good(made in Japan by then) I have 7 combos -best one is a 1974 Panasonic that has brands own turntable that has 4-pole motor. All the rest have BSRs including '82 Radio Shack-Taiwan made.
 
Grew up in a house with a Curtis Mathes AM/FM/FM Stereo BSR Record Changer 25" Black and White TV Entertainment
Center. No tape. Had AUX inputs.

Had tubes. Pop out the questionable ones, take 'em to the tube tester in the Camera Department at Sage's Complete Shopping, come back with replacements. A task the boys in the family were trusted with around age 12 (just the testing; Dad yanked and plugged in the tubes).
 
joeekaitis said:
Grew up in a house with a Curtis Mathes AM/FM/FM Stereo BSR Record Changer 25" Black and White TV Entertainment
Center. No tape. Had AUX inputs.

Had tubes. Pop out the questionable ones, take 'em to the tube tester in the Camera Department at Sage's Complete Shopping, come back with replacements. A task the boys in the family were trusted with around age 12 (just the testing; Dad yanked and plugged in the tubes).
Click to expand...
Yes, I do recall the tube testers. when solid state Stereo and TV began to kill the repair trade, an elderly man I know opened a model railroad shop. Digital decoders and controllers hit the hobby, and he already knew what he was doing for customers.
 
cfz2882 said:
That Fisher was probably pretty decent -I think that brand was considered one of the better ones in the early 1960s HiFI FM early days and a 1982 Fisher tuner i have is pretty good(made in Japan by then) I have 7 combos -best one is a 1974 Panasonic that has brands own turntable that has 4-pole motor. All the rest have BSRs including '82 Radio Shack-Taiwan made.
Click to expand...
About the mid-late 1970s, Fisher products like that were all made by Sanyo, who took over manufacturing.
Not bad products though, but they were prone to poor/dry solder joints on the PC boards on occasion.
I repaired plenty of them over the decades for customers.
 
vacerator said:
Yes, I do recall the tube testers. when solid state Stereo and TV began to kill the repair trade, an elderly man I know opened a model railroad shop. Digital decoders and controllers hit the hobby, and he already knew what he was doing for customers.
Click to expand...
Ok, how bout a little-known thing about those "in store" and drugstore DIY tube testers.... and this was countrywide at the time.
Back in the 1960's these testers had a secret, but known to us service techs, contraption hooked up to them.
It was a hidden cord leading to "behind the counter" switch that would force the tester to show that a tube was defective, even if it wasn't.
Sneaky idea that the store owner would use to insure a sale of a new tube!
Again, greed and sales held hands with Snake Oil back then, just like today.
 
cfz2882 said:
Just discovered Crosley makes a retro '70s looking replica of one of these ! : 1975T,~$230. I'd love to poo-poo the hell out of this beyond BPC crap,but probably sounds better than the smartphones everybody uses as a jukebox these days :)
Click to expand...
I'll never give a nickel to a modern Crosley product.
I don't want to sound bitter or snotty, but those garbage products are beneath my standards.
 
#9,That '82 Fisher tuner sure did look "Sanyo"inside and did have a few broken solder joints...
Speaking of Sanyo,I have a big Sanyo receiver from 1978 they built to get on the prime era bandwagon: it has those big black amp modules :) The transformer is quite large,so probably has some power.This is a "high miles"receiver all full of cigarette tar and all the soldered in "festoon"bulbs are burnt out,so probably was used in a bar or shop for a long while. No doubt loaded with dead capacitors,possibly noisy or dead transistor or two,it sits on the repair someday shelf :)
 
Matt, when I replace the stylus on my Ortofon 2M, it will be the blue.
I think I was sent a shibata stylus for my Pickering V 15 micro because it sounds better than when new. I paid $85 for the better elliptical.
I bought a Crosley direct drive turntable a few years ago. It was a birthday gift so I wanted something less expensive and didn't do enough research. Very lightweight although it has suction feet. Quiet accurate motor with strobe, but the tonearm is really light and the counterweight janky with a set screw. You can't add a second weight to the tail so a cartridge heavier than the included AT 3600 conical is out of the question. It has a preamp defeatable. I gave it to my sister. She has small amplified speakers and doesn't listen loudly. It does shut off at the end of the run out after 5 minutes. It was discontinued in 2023. A belt drive version is still made by the same Chinese company that makes the AT LP-140x. I also considered that.
 
cfz2882 said:
#9,That '82 Fisher tuner sure did look "Sanyo"inside and did have a few broken solder joints...
Speaking of Sanyo,I have a big Sanyo receiver from 1978 they built to get on the prime era bandwagon: it has those big black amp modules :) The transformer is quite large,so probably has some power.This is a "high miles"receiver all full of cigarette tar and all the soldered in "festoon"bulbs are burnt out,so probably was used in a bar or shop for a long while. No doubt loaded with dead capacitors,possibly noisy or dead transistor or two,it sits on the repair someday shelf :)
Click to expand...
Just make sure to go over with a magnifying glass all the soldered joints and carefully touch them up.
Mainly parts that tend to get warm like those STK modules, larger resistors, and put in some fresh caps.
Get the service manual too.

The bulbs can be replaced (if on DC) with LEDS and appropriate resistors, otherwise if it's AC, tap into the DC supply
A fun project/modification for sure.
Any of those glass fuse-looking bulbs can be replaced with a LED style that comes in blue or white and can run off of AC power (up to 8 volts AC)
 
I thought about trying LEDs in that Sanyo,but looking at other receivers converted to LED,usually too bright and gaudy-does cut out several watts of heat though. The dial of the Sanyo is supposed to light up warm white with a clear plastic light guide around the festoon bulbs evening out the illumination. A 1979 Rotel sits atop the Sanyo on inactive shelf and that one had(all burnt out) fuse bulbs with slightly blue-tinted glass.The Rotel works,but it is from Taiwan with mostly Taiwanese capacitors that are probably shot by now :)
 
I have one of these. I forget where it’s made, but it’s branded for Sears. It was a gift from my parents, when I was a teenager. That’s longer ago than I care to think about!
It was never “great” sounding, but it served its purpose.
I had it stored in my parents basement. And, when we bought our house, and I went back to get it, I found out that a family member had “borrowed” it without my knowledge. It was trashed, and looked like it had been left outside at some point. The original speakers are missing. I cleaned it up on the outside, and picked up a pair of similar era speakers, although a different brand.
The radio will work, although not well. And, the speakers may not be compatible somehow. The sound is awful. The turntable will turn, but very slowly. And, I’m not going to even bother trying the cassette or 8-track players.
I’d love to have it working again, but I’ve been told that these aren’t repairable any more. So, I should really just junk it at this point. But, I can’t, because it has too much sentimental value to me.
If you ever watched the show Young Sheldon, the family had, I believe, the exact same model as mine, sitting in the background in their living room or den or something.
 
That is repairable, but will be quite a project-these do seem to lose their original speakers quite often, but just about any speakers around 8 ohms will work ok. Poor sound could have several causes-degraded capacitors high on the list, and there are other causes including transistors that have gone "funny". The slow turntable probably an easy fix-oil the motor and platter bearings, deglaze the tire-standard fix on turntables of the era-especially BSR. Tape players probably will need belts and tires. If cosmetic condition is poor, might be best to just stick on a shelf as a keepsake :)
 
cfz2882 said:
That is repairable, but will be quite a project-these do seem to lose their original speakers quite often, but just about any speakers around 8 ohms will work ok. Poor sound could have several causes-degraded capacitors high on the list, and there are other causes including transistors that have gone "funny". The slow turntable probably an easy fix-oil the motor and platter bearings, deglaze the tire-standard fix on turntables of the era-especially BSR. Tape players probably will need belts and tires. If cosmetic condition is poor, might be best to just stick on a shelf as a keepsake :)
Click to expand...
It is indeed repairable, however the cost, judging from the condition mentioned, is likely what the set costed when new.
I've had them come in with multiple issues, it's a lot of work.
 
Well, that’s encouraging. Thank you.
I’m in a really bad place right now, and haven’t been able to work in over five years. So, there’s no fundage for anything like this right now.
Regarding its cosmetic condition, aside from a crack in the radio dial, I think it’s still in quite good condition.
 

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