Console stereos: 1958-84

[cfz2882]

Since we are nicely warmed up on vintage stereo equipment might as well discuss these too: Some of these could be quite high quality and amps over 100w Earlier ones,pre~1965,only the phono was stereo. These consoles were common into the late '70s and the newest one i have encountered Was a Zenith from about 1984-best part was the standard issue BSR turntable-rest of the internals was consumer grade Taiwanese...Saw these all over at the dump in the '90s and would take worthy components or whole thing when found. Most of these after about 1972 were so craptastic i junked them.
A few i kept:
-1959 Zenith: stereo on phono only-got it going,but needs a proper going through.
-1959 Telefunken: big German thing,fair condition needs resto
-1965 Silvertone: Tube chassis
-1969 Zenith: Midline,phono, amfm, 6x9 woofers-mostly works halfway decent
Even crappy,beat down examples of these suddenly are going for stupid prices: Saw a beat up ~1967 lower end( little 6" woofers) motorola priced at $150 sell in a day it did actually play,but looked and sounded tired as the probably badly worn stylus chewed up the record...

 

[vacerator]

Zenith Allegro consoles were everywhere. I think the top end Pioneer Centrex table unit sounded better. Than the Allegro wedge too.
I think the Magnavox Astrosonic was better. If I could find a Zenith Danish modern mid 60s with the 2g tonearm and the wooden directable speaker grids, I'd buy it. They had FM stereo too.

 

[phillymatt53]

Zenith Allegro consoles were everywhere. I think the top end Pioneer Centrex table unit sounded better. Than the Allegro wedge too.
I think the Magnavox Astrosonic was better. If I could find a Zenith Danish modern mid 60s with the 2g tonearm and the wooden directable speaker grids, I'd buy it. They had FM stereo too.

My friend Loretta has that modern style Zenith with the adjustable louvered speaker grilles.
Her late husband Joe who passed away at 90 a few years ago, bought it in 1968 for her as an anniversary present.
I remember it had those 6 by 9 woofers and horns.
I serviced the record changer about 20 years ago for them.
Joe and Loretta loved their Frank Sinatra records.
Sadly, Loretta's alone now, almost 90, I worry about her.
They've got a sweet custom built log home up in Wellsboro Pa, since they both retired here in Philly.
Ah, the memories! - they were like my second set of parents to me when my mom died in 1984, always insisting I come for Sunday dinner back then.

 

[phillymatt53]

Since we are nicely warmed up on vintage stereo equipment might as well discuss these too: Some of these could be quite high quality and amps over 100w Earlier ones,pre~1965,only the phono was stereo. These consoles were common into the late '70s and the newest one i have encountered Was a Zenith from about 1984-best part was the standard issue BSR turntable-rest of the internals was consumer grade Taiwanese...Saw these all over at the dump in the '90s and would take worthy components or whole thing when found. Most of these after about 1972 were so craptastic i junked them.
A few i kept:
-1959 Zenith: stereo on phono only-got it going,but needs a proper going through.
-1959 Telefunken: big German thing,fair condition needs resto
-1965 Silvertone: Tube chassis
-1969 Zenith: Midline,phono, amfm, 6x9 woofers-mostly works halfway decent
Even crappy,beat down examples of these suddenly are going for stupid prices: Saw a beat up ~1967 lower end( little 6" woofers) motorola priced at $150 sell in a day it did actually play,but looked and sounded tired as the probably badly worn stylus chewed up the record...

I kinda doubt that they manufactured "Console" stereos up to 1984.
I've never come across one in the shop for repairs, and never had service manuals past 1980 of them.
Because by then everyone went to "component style" manufacturing.
Perhaps you meant 1979, that would be more realistic.
The record changers used in them ceased to be manufactured by 1977, when the last company, VM, Voice Of Music, closed down.
BSR itself went out of business around the same time.

As for "power ratings" of these consoles, none of them had 100 watt amp ratings, unless they were falsely advertized as such.
Zenith used to advertise a console with a (claimed) 240 watt amp, but actually it only had maybe 25 watts fed to the speakers.
That was marketing hype of the era. - BS to impress, and sell something.
And a TOL RCA solid state console in my shop had on it's rear label "175 watts @117V AC.
That was BS too, I guess to fool a customer. - it only drew 45 watts AC upon testing.

As to the radio tuners in some models, yes, some didn't get shipped with Stereo Multiplex tuners - that was an option, for additional cost, of course, but became standard in most higher-cost 1962 sets after Zenith finally came out with a proven stereo circuit design in 1960 that was to become "the" multiplex design that was adapted by FM stations at that time.

Consumer Reports did a series on Consoles once, I have a copy of the magazine saved.

 

[cfz2882]

that late model Zenith console was in the back room of a swap shop-i returned with a nutdriver and flashlight to peek inside-cassette motor had 1984 date(possibly changed i suppose) and typical early '80s Taiwan components-a few years ago tried to find out when the last Zenith console was made and nobody knew.I know zenith consoles as recent as 1978 were still US made chassis and woofers-i junked one last year,kept all the internal parts for redeployment RCA consoles were still US made parts in 1979(had one, junked it) and that was probably about the last RCA console.1977 sounds right on for last VM changers, but i have combos as recent as '82 with BSR. There was a mid-later ;60s console i ogled over as a kid: i think it was a Motorola, that had 15" woofers and 300w peak/150 RMS rated amp-i will see if i can identify what model that was-I did Youtube flyby and found nothing. cool on that '65 consumer reports-I have one from about 1968 for color TVS somewhere.

 

[wayupnorth]

In my rec room I have a late 60's Magnavox console with the extendo speaker and 8 track cartridge player. Still works and sounds fine. My main area has my Denon receiver {not vintage} but hooked to late 80's Bose Interaudio SA 1000 speakers that crank along with a Pioneer equalizer, wooden Pioneer turntable and 2 Pioneer cassette decks. that I hardly use. Now I rarely use anything but Spotify music as that digital sound is so much better.

 

[phillymatt53]

that late model Zenith console was in the back room of a swap shop-i returned with a nutdriver and flashlight to peek inside-cassette motor had 1984 date(possibly changed i suppose) and typical early '80s Taiwan components-a few years ago tried to find out when the last Zenith console was made and nobody knew.I know zenith consoles as recent as 1978 were still US made chassis and woofers-i junked one last year,kept all the internal parts for redeployment RCA consoles were still US made parts in 1979(had one, junked it) and that was probably about the last RCA console.1977 sounds right on for last VM changers, but i have combos as recent as '82 with BSR. There was a mid-later ;60s console i ogled over as a kid: i think it was a Motorola, that had 15" woofers and 300w peak/150 RMS rated amp-i will see if i can identify what model that was-I did Youtube flyby and found nothing. cool on that '65 consumer reports-I have one from about 1968 for color TVS somewhere.

You maybe right about the cassette motor, I've had to replace quite a few over the years.
Also some 8 track motors that seized up.
The one Zenith that my neighbor had was a 1980 credenza model.
Cheap record changer, likely a BSR leftover stock model.
Just because BSR and VOM ended manufacturing, they sold off all their remaining units to liquidate and clean house, in order to go with the component style, single-play turntables that were starting to be marketed.

That Motorola I'm sure wasn't near 150W RMS, trust me.
Ya gotta watch the internet sources and see the exaggeration of a lot of things.
In fact, it wasn't until the late 70's when the "power wars" started, that the component receivers and amps were nearing that kind of wattage.
You see, those tube consoles drew a lot from the AC plug, and people assumed it was the amp power listed on the back label - wrong assumption.
Yet on the internet/youtube, they spill that misinformation regularly because they don't know better.

 

[phillymatt53]

In my rec room I have a late 60's Magnavox console with the extendo speaker and 8 track cartridge player. Still works and sounds fine. My main area has my Denon receiver {not vintage} but hooked to late 80's Bose Interaudio SA 1000 speakers that crank along with a Pioneer equalizer, wooden Pioneer turntable and 2 Pioneer cassette decks. that I hardly use. Now I rarely use anything but Spotify music as that digital sound is so much better.

That Magnavox console probably had a 600 series Micromatic changer in it.
They were great machines, I sold one mounted on a standalone wood base a few years ago to a guy.

 

[phillymatt53]

This was what my parents had in our dining room.
Bought back in 1963 for $620.
An RCA Victor "Hutch Style" monster. - 12 inch woofers, 5 by 7 midranges, and 3 inch tweeters.
It had the best 18 tube tuner and amplifier chassis that they made at that time, and could blast you outa the house.

 

[justjunque]

Hey! I have one of these, as well! I would estimate it being from the mid 1960s.
It’s trashed worse than my Sears combo system from the other thread.
It belonged to my parents, originally, and I grew up with my dad playing his real country and western records on it.
Every year on Christmas morning, one of the first things that happened was Mom putting Christmas albums on, then we started opening gifts.
I had such fond memories of it, that I had to try to save it when it was on its way to the curb to be scrapped. Ironically, by the same family member who trashed my combo system!
My parents had the console cabinet refinished in the ‘70s some time, to match their dark colored, early American living room furniture.
Now, it’s been sitting in a shed for several years. I’m sure it’s beyond help at this point. But, just like with my Sears…sentimental value.
I’ve never really been sure who it was made by. I believe the branding says Masterwork. And, I thought I remembered my mom saying that it had some sort of connection to Columbia Records. Does any of that sound familiar?
The turntable is a Garrard. No tape decks of any kind. Just AM/FM and the turntable.

 

[cfz2882]

I think that big Motorola console mentioned might have been an X-300: found pic of amp chassis-Transformer and filter caps not big enough for a real 150 watts...a couple press-in rectifier diodes on a heatsink had 6618 date codes,could not see the transistors.Woofers were in sealed enclosures. Germanium transistors are common in earlier solid state amps and i have heard they can be trouble-whiskers develop internally and short out-i have not had that happen to any of my stuff yet.BSR made 8-track transports: all i have are from 1974.

 

[phillymatt53]

I think that big Motorola console mentioned might have been an X-300: found pic of amp chassis-Transformer and filter caps not big enough for a real 150 watts...a couple press-in rectifier diodes on a heatsink had 6618 date codes,could not see the transistors.Woofers were in sealed enclosures. Germanium transistors are common in earlier solid state amps and i have heard they can be trouble-whiskers develop internally and short out-i have not had that happen to any of my stuff yet.BSR made 8-track transports: all i have are from 1974.

Yep!
The early germanium transistors suffered of of that occasional "Tin Whiskers" disease.
The tin inside would grow or leach across connections to the metal can, causing all sorts of problems.

In order to produce anything above even 50 watts/channel, you need power supply filter capacitors of at least 82,000 MFD, rated for at least 75 volts.
Along with a hefty power transformer of course.
These days, in high-powered class A/B amps, if honestly made, would use some beer can sized copacitors of around 15,000 to 25,000 MFD, or more.
The Pioneer SX-1250 that I serviced for a customer, a 160W/channel receiver did put out the rated wattage, and had 22,000 MFD/80V filter caps, which I upgraded to 25,000 MFD/100V.

 

[vacerator]

Wow, that RCA hutch! Right up my aunt's alley. She loved that style, but they got a spinet piano for the family instead of a stereo.

 

[cfz2882]

Cool on the confirmation of the Germanium transistor problem-that brings to mind the small Japanese transistors that get noisy and otherwize "funny" in Japanese equipnent especially around 1972-75 era,certain type #s(that i do not recall) especially known for this.Then there is that yellowish glue(might be PVC ) that Japan used to stabilize parts and connectors that can go rancid,acidic,and become conductive...I have had trouble with this phenomenon...

 

[phillymatt53]

Cool on the confirmation of the Germanium transistor problem-that brings to mind the small Japanese transistors that get noisy and otherwize "funny" in Japanese equipnent especially around 1972-75 era,certain type #s(that i do not recall) especially known for this.Then there is that yellowish glue(might be PVC ) that Japan used to stabilize parts and connectors that can go rancid,acidic,and become conductive...I have had trouble with this phenomenon...

Brendan, I've spent many TEDIOUS hours in the shop de-bugging audio equipment over the years.
Carefully removing the glue which became conductive, and corroding parts and the PC boards.
Even "high-end" stuff had that nasty glue splattered among parts - I remember a very complex and expensive home theater receiver, I think it was a Rotel brand. RSX-1582 comes to mind.

 

[phillymatt53]

Wow, that RCA hutch! Right up my aunt's alley. She loved that style, but they got a spinet piano for the family instead of a stereo.

If you look carefully at the control panel-preamp-tuner on that tilt-out drawer, That's the same one I had salvaged from that model console that I had in my shop, abandoned.
That, and along with a heavily modified (by me) amp chassis (which was under the record changer) is now housed in my own customized RCA console.
I even added back-lit LED illumination to the row of knobs to make it sexy.

A few Pics.......