Look - you DON'T have to spend $14,999 for a hi-fi!

[turquoisedude]

For anyone who hasn't seen the post about a restored vintage Hi-Fi console for sale, I've copied the link below.

I much prefer the price shown in the photo, though...

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?46890_12~1

 

[turquoisedude]

Presenting...

The GE console radio/turntable I found in Stanstead yesterday at a house contents sale!

The finish is rough and in need of TLC, but the style is quite nice!

 

[turquoisedude]

It has a four-speed GE-branded turntable. Check the spindle attachment for 45 RPM records! I haven't seen one of those in eons.

 

[turquoisedude]

The tuner knob is missing but all the other controls are fine.

Best of all, everything still works! The volume, bass, and treble controls are all smooth - no 'crackle' when trying to adjust them. There are ports for another pair of speakers and input/output for a tape deck. I'll use that for a CD input, though. And even better, there's a light at the side of the turntable to help you get the needle in the groove in a low-light environment.

For $10, as if I could say no!!

 

[philr]

Nice style! And nice find for a GE fan like you!

 

The bad thing about it is that it's size! It takes the space of a few washers!

 

Is there a part of the lost tuning knob remaining on the shaft? Is it a round shaft with splines? Send me a close-up picture of it. I might have something that fits there...

 

[hydralique]

Great Console . . .

Elegant cabinet design, it would look best in a room with a nice pair of Maytag A906s!

 

[whirlcool]

One of my uncles had that same set. When waxed properly it is a very striking design. His did crackle and pop whenever any of the amps knobs were turned. I always felt that the unit was hindered by the cheap cartridge GE used in these. If the cartridge was upgraded I imagine these would sound great! Plenty of bass.

 

[112561]

If I can't have a Magnavox, then I'll get a General Electric. I love those things, wish I still had mine! You'll find out that's the best ten dollars you ever spent!

 

[firedome]

Cool GE!

Circa '66-69 I think, Has the Porta-Fi feature, that allowed easy alternate placement of accessory outboard speakers, often MIA, but should not be too hard to find.

 

[firedome]

BTW

when present, "crackle & pop" is easily eliminated by a bit of DeOxit 5 spray applied to the volume, tone control and other pots (behing the faceplate & knobs).

 

[whirlcool]

These units came with the amp output jacks for Porta-Fi, but the Porta-Fi unit was an optional feature. What you did was plug the Porta-Fi amp into the proper output jacks on the amp. There was a space for it inside the console. Then you plugged the Porta-Fi amp into the wall. Then you took your Porta-Fi exgternal speaker and plugged it into any power outlet in your house and you had sound!

I don't know of anyone who ever used the Porta-Fi system, but I am sure somebody somewhere did.

BTW, when these units are cleaned up the grill cloth is black and the wood is a nice walnut veneer. I believe my uncle bought his in 1964 or so.

 

[yogitunes]

I grabbed one a few months back....for around 20.00......it a magnavox....I love the sound of these console units

 

[newvista58]

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

I'm a Big Fan of Magnavox audio consoles.
I have a few myself.

I would Def get a GE, if I ever came
across one, but for some reason, in
all my collecting, I've never seen
one for sale.

I do however, have an Awesome pair of
Vintage GE Speakers. Lighter Cherry
colored with Tan & Black tweed grille
cloth w/Gold Mylar thread. They sound
Great. I use them for DJ'ing, and everyone
that sees them can't believe the sound,
and "Wants" them.

There are alot of great vintage audio makers.

One should just get whatever it is that makes
them happy

 

[ovrphil]

GE consoles

Yogitunes - nice set!

Enjoying the discussions on stereos...picked up some fixer-uppers this weekend, but ....

Louis(NewVista48), I have seen at least four or more GE's on Craigslist, these past few days of searching CL. I wish I had more links for you to look at , but here's one with two for sale in Athens, Ohio

I'd like to know what it is about GE console stereos...why the interest? You're right, Louis, you don't see many of these.

http://athensohio.craigslist.org/search/?areaID=438&subAreaID=&query=ge+console+stereo&catAbb=sss

 

[maytog77]

well,

ill post my GE find, i bought a 1962 Ge Trimline TUBE portable stereo. i have the TOL in black now i have the one below that. It is Complete including the orginal GE trimline stand, made for GE espcially for the trimlines....

 

[maytog77]

here's the changer.

freshley adjusted and with a new needle..=)

 

[retromania]

Paul

Way to go. Congrats!

 

[112561]

General Electric and Porta Fi

My Spanish teacher, Mrs. Valdivia, had the class over to her house one day, she had a huge Danish General Electric console with the Porta Fi speakers. I know I commented on them, but didn't press any, because I didn't want to interrupt the reason we were there. Many years later, in the Anastasia's Attic, St. Anastasia's church thrift, there were two good sized Danish consoles, both reeking of mildew. Neither of them came home with me, one reason being no space. The same store had a Magnavox color tv console in a Danish cabinet with legs and tambour doors somewhere in that time period, and a set of Magnavox end tables in Contemporary walnut finish, one cabinet had the radio and phono, other had 2nd speaker/record storage for separated stereo. 

 

I had this identical set for a while, G E with Record Saver, Wrist Action tonearm, and solid wood cabinet. It had tubes. It came to a bad end when the third owner's nephew dumpstered it. This set was on Seattle Craigslist. 

 

[112561]

Canterbury Tales

Skagg's Electric was our G E dealer for years. They had this identical set in the back of their showroom, years after its 1960 introduction. It was like new, only being about ten years old. It sounded wonderful. This one was on ebay a few times, starting at $100 and gradually lowered to $50. Vacu-Matic, Record Saver, all the bells and whistles. Another holy grail for me.

 

[firedome]

The consoles to score

are the ~ 1965 and older tube ones made by Fisher, H.H.Scott, Pilot, Bell and a few other makers who produced expensive separate components and stuck them into nice cabinetry, widely popular for its Spouse Appeal Factor, (whereas separate components tended to look a bit clutter-y). About 10 years ago we came across a 1962 Fisher President console for sale that contained an Ampex stereo tape deck, Miracord turntable, SA-300B amp, 400CX preamp, and FM200 tuner. It cost over $1200 new back in '62, when a VW bug was not too much more. That amp/preamp/tuner set will easily bring close to $4000 today, as they are superb stereo components. Even McIntosh and Marantz components were very occasionally found in custom console cabinets such as Barzilay. The problem with the dept. store mass market consoles was that the bulk of their cost went into the cabinets, and bean counter electronics with wimpy transformers were used. That said, they're all still fun and not bad sounding generally if one is not burdened with Golden Ear Syndrome.

 

[112561]

Ampex made a stereo console for a while too, I found one in our local antique mall, but someone had put some sick '70s Brand X receiver in it. That would be another one to add to the list of higher end consoles. General Electric made really kicking components (not repackaged console gear) for a while too, not just their magnetic cartridges.

 

[tolivac]

Oh es,forgot about Ampex Hi-Fi gear.They did make a limited line of it-they were focusing most of their efforts on their recorders.Ampex machines were WORKHORSES in the broadcast and recording industries.Ampex analog decks are still prized by many recording studios today!Ampex 350 and 300-esp with the orig tubed Rec-Pb amps.I have an Ampex 300 with its orig mono Rec-Pb amp.Worked on a lot of these-great to work on.The 1962 Fisher President Hi-Fi console would be a great find for any Hi-Fi fan!

 

[firedome]

GE

did make a nice separate component line as pictured above... my next door neighbor back in the '60s in Baltimore had GE speakers about the same size as AR3s that he had hooked up to Fisher amp/preamp and a Weathers turntable, and they sounded fantastic.

I've seen a few of the GE components over the years, they didn't sell real well but were decent stuff, however not in the Fisher/Scott league, not to mention McIntosh - still made right here in Binghamton.

RCA also made a separate component line in the 50s, they were tube monoblock 6V6GT based, very nice, and some excellent component RCA speakers too, also their UK division made a monoblock "Orthophonic" line (not to be confused with their US products under that name) that was super high-end, and very expensive if you can even find one today, I've seen only 2 in 40 years.

 

[tolivac]

I am so glad "MAC" McIntosh is still made here.They are classic Hi-Fi gear.Never seen or heard the GE or RCA components-seems like they would be nice!

 

[Thescore]

GE Porta-fi turntable

Question- I just picked up an old GE Porta-fi turntable. I works great and play multiple speeds. Any idea how much it is worth?..

Thanks....I am new at this!

 

[whirlcool]

Used Value

A lot of time with used stereo equipment the value is whatever somebody is willing to pay for the item. I usually tell people to look at completed listings on Ebay to see what people are currently willing to pay for their equipment. Usually Dual turntables.

Is that a GE Porta Fi compact stereo you have? I've never seen a GE Porta Fi turntable as a separate item.

BTW, as far as that first GE console listed above, like the one my uncle had. We could have deoxed it, but getting to the pots to put the deoxit in would take a major work. I don't know what became of the console in the end. That uncle passed on way back in the 80's. But now that I think of it, it had a cheap feel to it. The knobs and switches were made out of lightweight plastic and "metalized" to give them a shiny look. That unit was about $499.00 new in 1964. Not cheap.

 

[112561]

Whirlcool

I imagine your uncle bought one of GE's first solid state sets, and honestly they were nothing like their tube sets. Control knobs, escutcheons and changers were metal, the barest bit of plastics used at all. As stylish as the solid states are, you can feel the difference. I found this set in our Habitat ReStore a couple of months ago, for $60 I wasn't about to leave it there. A date written on the back says Dec. 10, 1968. A lot of folks seem to refer to stereo sets as turntables, Thescore's new set could be anywhere from a console, to separate components. At any rate, enjoy it! My set is the tabletop with Porta-Fi, I don't own anything on the catalog pages.

 

[tolivac]

Some "audiophools" are excited over Single ended amps and pay top dollar for them--esp those that use 845 triode power tubes.Right now at our plant we have a 250Kw SW CEMCO transmitter running 4 of those tubes as cathode follower modulators for the power stage-Grid modulated Doherty RF power amplifier.Bet they would love that!and the triode tubes used in the power amp-water cooled triodes at 300Kw plate dissapation-imagine the SE amp you could make with that!Crank it up until your ears BLEED!!SE amps are really no more than the output stages of most 5 tube radios-just a bigger scale-but the same nonetheless.The CEMCO modulator amp-two 807 tubes driving a 845 stage-then the cathode follower 845 stage-these feed into a 4 winding mod transformer-each secondary has the grid bias voltage flowing thru it to the power amp stages.For SW broadcast use-the modulator can be flat from 50 Hz-10Khz.

 

[firedome]

that's right...

Eric Barbour of Vacuum Tube Valley magazine used to refer to modern SE amp designs as basically clock radio output stage ripoffs and he was right! IMO SE is just one more fad swallowed whole by the electronically illiterate.

 

[twintubdexter]

love to see all this interest in vintage hi-fi/stereo

This probably belongs in "Shopper's Square," but I thought I'd throw it in here. Nice vintage GE console with a very tasteful contemporary cabinet. Unfortunately the $550 price in not that nice. Over the hill in Temecula. 

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/for/5059922103.html