Meet the Wards Airline Stereo-Danish Modern

[artcurus]

This stereo has been more or less the bane of my existence for a while. We go back to my teen years in the early 80's when I had one of these stereos that inherited from my grandmother. I played Journey,Pat Benatar, all those greats on this stereo. The sound was actually decent, with horns for mids and highs, and 12 inch for Bass. However, I KNEW that it had a problem, it needed caps, but being an early teen, I was just lazy, in addition to the turntable problematic. The caps finally shorted completely, taking the output transistors with it. You know what they say about hindsight, but oh well. Now that I'm a bit older, I realized the mistake I made.

I managed to find a turntable that matched and paid a fortune to have it restored. It's currently the main TT in my tube Packard Bell stereo.

What's so strange about this unit, is that they go for crazy prices, and are highly sought after. He will probably get what he is asking for that stereo.

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[rp2813]

That one looks a bit later than my parents' French provincial '62 Airline multiplex stereo console, which for style alone was and still is absolutely worthless.

 

[artcurus]

correct RP.

Any other style of this stereo nobody wants them. This Danish Modern version shows up about once every five years on Ebay, and like I said, the seller will probably get what he is asking.

 

[arbilab]

Word on Antique Radio forum is that most consoles end up converted to wine racks or aquarium stands. Hard to imagine a Wards-- MOL electronically at best-- would be a 'collector item'. I mean, if a tube Magnavox or Packard Bell--which actually worked pretty well even by today's standards-- is worthless, why is a Monkeyward transistor not 'pay someone to haul it away'?

 

[tolivac]

Sometimes old Hi-fi consoles are used as flat screen TV stands-and you can connect the TV sound to the "stand" if the Hi-fi aux inputs work.

 

[danemodsandy]

Rick:

"Hard to imagine a Wards-- MOL electronically at best-- would be a 'collector item'."

Sometimes the damndest things end up being prized by collectors. A major example is the spherical Weltron 8-track player with AM/FM radio that brings in big bucks when a nice one comes up for sale. It's a cool-looking '70s design, true, but it was originally sold in Woolworth's. It was no great shakes for its sound or its electronic specs, and yet collectors drool over it today.

Just one of those cases of, "Go figya."

 

[polkanut]

<span style="font-family: terminal, monaco; font-size: 12pt;">I just chucked an early 1970's Mediterranean style Zenith console stereo.  The turntable was non-functioning but, the radio demonstrated how good the speakers still were.  It needed to go to make room for an Eastlake style marble top lamp table instead.</span>

 

[artcurus]

@arbilab,

I think it has something to do with the looks. The MW stereo is actually a decent performer.

Speaking of Packard Bell, here's my restored 1963 Packard Bell with it's Wards Airline changer.

 

[112561]

I do know, transistors are garbage, tubes rule

I don't know about the specific stereo on ebay, but believe it or not, Magnavox made Airline consoles for a couple of years. My idea is, if whatever it is you have works to it's original capacity and output, enjoy it. I own four tube consoles and several tube radios and receivers by the way.

It's interesting that the lowest level consoles are prized as long as they have the Danish and contemporary cabinets. Bradford comes to mind. If it works, and you enjoy it, don't apologize because it's not a tube Scott or a Fisher Electra.

 

[artcurus]

@112561

Tubes do rule for the most part. The ironic thing is that MW stereo had germanium outputs.

These older xsistors have been likened to a 6V6 push pull in sound quality.

However, there are limits, $400 for a particle board/plastic monstrosity with a 3 watt amp from the mid 70 to the mid 80's.

As for tubes, I actually use them in my DJ service, two RCA theater amps with 6550 push pull/100 watts. Nothing like an 11 year old (even girls) asking "What's that?" That's usually followed by the warning "That's hot, no touch!" ;-)

The funniest thing to ever happen was when I playing a party for an Elementary school, and I was recording my dances using an open reel Teac deck. I was using NOS Maxell tape with the "M" stamped on the reel. Eight year old girl was fascinated and sat there following the spinning "M" with her finger for almost five minutes.

 

[firedome]

That MW console

IMO kind of pushes the limits to be called Danish Modern, it's a bit over-ornamented for true Danish design, but nice looking nonetheless. We have 60s teak Danish in the LR. Am guilty of gutting over 20 consoles over the years, but always gave away the cabinets, when they merited saving, to be used as everything from liquor cabinets, LP storage, bookshelves, linen storage, you name it. The only consoles that I now regret gutting were a Fisher President, a Fisher Executive, and a nice Pilot 2 cabinet unit... and wouldn't do it now, but that was 15-20 years ago. I won't touch a console that isn't tube, but some non-germaniun (silicon) SS units were decent, however typical cabinet quality declined rapidly after the mid-60s in the SS era.

 

[112561]

I'm never going to pretend that anything in a console is worth having, even I have my limits. Interesting input here.

 

[firedome]

the one shown above...

is a Magnavox, they typically had the tweeter fire out the small openings in the front and woofers out the side. Also they typically had the sliding top doors, a Micromatic changer. Amps used small-ish open frame output transformers, and usually 6bq5 or 6v6 output tubes in push-pull (4) or single ended (2). We've been saving the amp out of one to use is a custom setup someday.

 

[whirlcool]

Bass is omni directional. That's why you can put a subwoofer in any part of the room and it will sound pretty much alike no matter where you put it.

A friend of ours has some Danish modern dining room set he bought while living in Denmark back in the 70's. You are right, decoration on the china cabinet is kept to an absolute minimum. It's all done in teak, which he oils several times a year. Being in a room with teak everything in it is kind of shocking the first time or two you see it.

But then I see people calling Danish Modern "Eames Era" all the time!

 

[kenwashesmonday]

The Magnavox shown in the post made by 112561 above has the same cabinet as mine.  Mine has 3-way speakers and push-pull 6BQ5 output tubes, but I understand that not all the units with this cabinet have the same innards.  It's not the biggest or most powerful Magnavox ever made, but I just love the way it sounds.

 

Ken D.

 

[artcurus]

@ 112561

A high end console that everything matches and it tuned properly can give many component systems a run for their money. Magnavox was one, in fact, some of the higher end models actually used air suspension speakers in a foam cube. Some brands, such as Fisher or Stromberg Carlson, simply put their component amps in a wooden console, using changers such as Garrard or Glaser Steers with magnetic carts.

In the case of Stromberg Carlson, the speakers were more or less standalone in their own case.

The Holy Grail of Magnavox, the Concert Grand, had 42 tubes (using 16 6V6 in the output) for a total of 100 watts.

I believe that the Packard Bell tube amps were based on a design by Bob Carver.

 

[twintubdexter]

It's great to see people take pride in and enjoy their stereo consoles, not all that long ago often advertised as "at the curb, come and get it before the garbage company does." Some of them have very high asking prices on ebay and Craigslist. I wonder what they actually sell for?

 

[brib68]

Danish Modern-ish

The middle picture in the catalog image 112561 posted might not be strictly considered Danish Modern (it IS from Montgomery Ward's, after all) but the legs are a very good copy of Lane furniture from the era.

We have a 1950's Grundig console that we paid $25 for stocked with random LPs. It's a very handsome piece, even it it only ever gets used by the cats as a birdwatching perch.

 

[firedome]

Stromberg Carlson consoles

mentioned had their speakers mounted in separate air-suspension cabinets, within their main console cabinets, that were actually made of heavy cardboard! Took one apart once. The electronics were regular top quality S-C components, as were those found in Pilots, Fisher and Scott consoles, sometimes accompanied by Miracord, better Garrard, or Dual turntables. All were among the top consoles ever made.