Ge Bookcase Sterep from Richmond - The Larchmont

[bobofhollywood]

Well...I got it....

Love it. Works as new in original condition, with owners manual & even turntable paper platter cover.

The story is....Father was sent out to purchase a hassock for his easy chair and came home with this...which was forever after referred to as 'the hassock', but the official Ge name for it is The Larchmont!

It even came complete with 2 boxes of Lp's..all gems, including 2 Wurlitzer pipe organ recordings, which I just adore.

Thank you thank you for offering this great piece.
I'll have better photos later. These are from my cell phone.

And NO, there is no vacuum cleaner in the arm, veg. Where'd you get that idea...I've never heard of such a thing...

Holla from Hollywood.

Bob

 

[bobofhollywood]

profile shot

There are 6 speakers in this unit...2 on each side on one at each end of the front.

That's two TWEETERS on each SIDE...and one 6 x 9 at each side of the front...it's kinda wimpy, actually..and a truly odd arrangement of drivers. I guess that was one idea of the sound of the 60's though..

Also...the paperwork mentions that a TV was optional for the cabinet below, which on this model offers record storage.

 

[bobofhollywood]

another view

Straight on from the front.

One good feature of this unit is the tape input jacks which give me a place to attach the ipod, which is likely to sound more true and accurate than the voice of music turntable with ceramic pickup can do. Both the AM and the FM bands work fine on the radio too.

There's even a low voltage lamp which has a mercury switch that is activated in the turntable area when the player is lowered, but turns off when you close the front cabinet.

 

[bobofhollywood]

STEREP = STEREO

That'll teach me to proof-read a little closer.

Duh.

Bob

 

[toggleswitch]

Have no fear Bob.
Having an "O" or a "P" are in the same vicinty.

 

[lightedcontrols]

....the vacuum!

Bob!

GE (known for sound) did make a few high end models of record players that did have a vacuum tube (hose, I mean) that went through the tonearm, and actually vacuumed the record as it played! The only problem with this was the noise of the vacuum was usually louder than the record playing, so GE didn't make many of them. I had never heard of it either until Roanoke Robert showed me one of his. What WILL they think of next?!?!!!! Mark

 

[lightedcontrols]

PS

Beautiful Stereo! Mark

 

[jasonl]

The tonearm looks big enough to mount a magnetic cartridge. Considering GE was making them in the 50s, you'd think they'd put them in their TOL stereos. If it is a 1/2" mount, then you can do it. You just need a good preamp.

 

[Cybrvanr]

NEATO! Glad you were able to get the stereo and transport it to your home! Looks really nice there. Was sorry I wasn't able to meet you when you picked it up. I had an opportunity for a free week's vacation in Nag's Head last week at a friend's cottage in repayment for refinishing his hardwood floors.

Although I heard that system play, I never took a good look at the tonearm to see why exactly it was so big. One of those Wurlitzer organ albums I believe was of the Byrd Theater here in town.

RCA used an interesting system where there was a 1/2 inch wide felt pad that rode on the record just ahead of the stylus. This did two things, it cleaned dust and debris off the record just before it passed under the needle, second, it carried the weight of the tone arm and dissapated it over a larger surface area to minimize wear on the record. The cartridge/stylus assembly "floated" loosely in the tonearm. Only the weight of cartridge was placed on the stylus, which was barely a gram or so. This also absorbed any rumble or other mechanical shock that would get transferred into the stylus...gotta love American ingeniuity! Does the GE use that setup? It looks like the tone arm is wide enough to use a similar style setup.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

Interesting that it has the tweeters on the side with the woofers in the front. My Grundig has that arrangement, opposite of a Magnavox.

Note that the record changer is a VM in disguise. And yes, there was a vacuum arm version, quite rare, but they made them.

Every GE stereo console from the 60s I've ever seen has a ceramic cartridge, but usually a decent one.

Ken

 

[veg-o-matic]

Here's where I got the idea...

I knew I wasn't crazy (not about this, anyway.)

Yodel from Owings Mills

veg

 

[petek]

It's a beautiful looking set Bob, lucky you. Can you post a pic of it all closed up as well.

 

[bobofhollywood]

vacu-magic

I just love learning new things here!
Thanks for providing the printed proof, Veg.
It's easy to see how from external appearances you'd think my model might have had the vacu-magic. That must be why that arm is so WIDE!

Coolio! I bet that system really sucked though, and not in a good way.

Bob