Concert Grand

[norgeway]

RE Stromberg Carlson

My Parents bought a Stromberg Carlson Hi Fi in 1952,it had 2 speakers as I remember, a 12 facing the floor and a 8 or 10 facing forward, if I remember it had 2 6V6 outputs , it died when I was a kid, but for its day, I think it sounded fantastic, I remember Daddy playing Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman LPs on it, he liked it LOUD and I remember the bass vibrating the windows in the living room..LOL, I would love to find one like it, Mother said people couldn't believe the "Outrageous" price they paid for it....200.00 ...in 1952 dollars!...And they earned 25.00 a week each.....imagine living on 50.00 a week!! Rent was 60.00 a month, minus 10.00 in the winter for firing the coal boiler!!!!Mother saved 2 years to buy a vacuum cleaner, also bought in 52, a GE swivel top...99.95!

 

[ovrphil]

Maytog77 -

Jason - This is extremely generous of you to post something you purchased. Not that I wouldn't equally do this, but thank you from me and anyone else who is looking at this thread. It's a fun brochure and brings back some memories of the many stereo places that existed at one time or department stores that had an array of different brands of stereos.

Just some comments - did you notice how this brochure, as many others I've seen in the 60's as well, are pitching these consoles more as furniture and tend to focus on the STYLE and always a name for the model. What about some details about the TT, am/fm/ amp/speakers on that same page? Similar story:

I have a 1960/61(not sure which year yet) Stromberg-Carlson that I was lucky to find on CL. The brochure for the Stromberg-Carlson 1960-61 is online - don't have the link handy -but below is mine. Notice they emphasize style and you don't ever see the components which happen to be very high end. There are pages devoted to the components but they precede these models and styles(Provincial, Italian, Contemporary, etc....the list goes on) and it makes it harder to visualize what goes with what(no complaints, just noting).

Zenith made some of the best stereos and tv's(my dad bought this brand most often).

Thank you again, Jason - this brochure is awesome; wasn't expecting to get such a nice reply and so many pages. Take care.

 

[ovrphil]

Hans -

I can really relate to your story. My dad hustled on the side to make extra money and the house we lived in had an upper flat (identical floorplan to first floor) that subsidized my dad's fetish for buying new cars every two years. Eventually, he did get some big Zenith stereo, but not til the mid-60's(monster Danish modern walnut Zenith TV/am/fm/TT console 72" long). My mom about had a heart attack when he had it delivered - all she said was, "you don't want to know what your father payed for this", and rolled her eyes. I came from modest means, too, and a color tv didn't land in our house til the late 60's /early 70's. Your story about that Stromberg-Carlson reminded me of the one I found. The second owner, who worked for the man who owned it originally(former Coca-Cola board member), said he would rattle the windows when he turned up the volume - half way!

Back to the Magnavox Concert Grand thread...and I wouldn't mind finding just an Imperial in lieu of a C.Grand.

 

[retro-man]

In the brochure that was posted I was looking at the pictures and I looked into the foyer and there it is #7 The Almonte sitting there. I did not know what year it was from. It is a great sounding console. I changed the cartridge over to a magnetic one along with a preamp for the pickup. I purchased this through a classified ad and paid $10.00 for it. Have had it for about 10 years now. It is at the beach house and gets used daily when we are here. Mostly use the fm stereo in it along with a fm transmitter located in the living room that is hooked into the cable box and listen to the music channels. Good looking unit with great sound.

Jon

 

[firedome]

Phil...

I had a similar '61-ish Stromberg console, and was so impressed by it that I began research on an article on history of S-C for the magazine I wrote for, never finished due to the demise of that publication. The acoustic labyrinth speaker design they had was unique and exclusive to S-C, ahead of it's time. If you take yours apart you'll find that the speaker drivers are in an internally isolated separate box composed of very heavy wax-impregnated cardboard that comprises the labyrinth chamber, itself mounted on thick fiber padding inside of the speaker enclosure part of the console cabinet itself, thus providing superior speaker-to- cabinet isolation as well as incorporating their Quarter Wave-Length Duct version of the Klipsch designed labyrinth acoustical path. No one else had anything like it in a console. S-C also made their own (RF series) speakers, uncommon in the console world, which were of very high quality, with red & chrome frames and large AlNiCo magnet structures. The ASR amplifier and SR tuner in their consoles were true S-C discrete components, identical to the separates they sold, and the RC-88 Garrard and Shure M-7d cartridge were well above average for consoles as well. IMO this S-C console should hold it's own sound-wise with any Concert Grand.

 

[ovrphil]

Stromberg-Carlson

Hi Roger -I did learn something about it, after finding the S-C catalog for 1960-61 online. The individual components, speakers, and consoles - all the choices for 1960-61 are in that catalog. (will send you a brief email later with comments and links). I didn't know about the specific materials used, but I did remove the speakers to transport the console. It doesn't seem to have the available multi-plex for stereo, but I'm not sure how to identify if it has it or not. You've had a world of consoles and components. Thanks for the details!

Phil

 

[firedome]

Welcome!

just love sharing the love of this stuff, being more or less in the profession as writer/editor of an audio publication dedicated to vintage tube electronics (up to mid-60s), in addition to the day job, it was sort of a requirement to have owned, used, and fixed a lot of it, which, after 50 plus years, is a given! Nowadays several roomfuls are down to just a few pieces, which is to the good.
I'll eMail more info.