Other Weird Stereos- Hutch Models

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firedome

firedome

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Per the other thread on coffee cable stereos, another alternative to the typical long console wall model was this hutch configuration... I have seen these fairly TOL RCAs in a Danish Modern style as well as this Early American model (one is in transit to us from Ohio, hoping it gets here undamaged!) These were higher than wide as a space saver, had a tilt-out control panel, and a stereo amplifier with 4 of the ever popular and sweet EL-84 output tubes, with EM-84 closing bar-type tuning tube for pinpoint station selection! Yet another early '60s console type.

firedome++9-8-2012-15-19-39.jpg
 
That looks just like one I saw at an estate sale in Ohio last year. The auctioneer couldn't get anyone to offer even $5 for it; I don't know what happened to it.

Here are a few photos I took with my phone.

retropia++9-8-2012-16-40-15.jpg
 
Danish Modern Version:

Does anyone have a photo of the Danish Modern counterpart to the Larchmont model?

It was very widely advertised at the time ('62, just as Alan said), but I'm pretty hard-pressed to find photos now, almost as if it never existed.
 
Danish Modern RCA

I had one that was very much like brand new....unfortunately, my experience with RCA electronis has never been good, I had it completely restored, and while it sounded Ok, it was nothing compared to the three channel Motorola I also had.But it was the nicest looking cabinet you could imagine.
 
Danish Modern RCA

one was for sale recently on CL in Ohio just W of the Pittsburgh area iirc.

These particular models are not sonically TOL, and few consoles were, except some of the Fisher, Scott, and Pilot models, those because they contained their discrete components in a console format. Even a Magnavox Concert Grand could not stand comparison with a Fisher President. Most people bought consoles for their look, and much of the cost was in the cabinets, the electronics being bean-counter engineered. The transformers are the giveaway. Serious listeners rarely bought them... we have '50s and 60s tube component systems as well, but we also love the look of consoles, particularly the hutch types, so we have to have at least one!
 
Found this newspaper ad from 1962 for a GE hutch-style console stereo, appears to be Danish Modern style. It's not a great drawing, but it gives you a general idea of what it looked like.

retropia++9-10-2012-15-24-56.jpg
 
Many Thanks.....

I really appreciate everyone's help - I have been looking for the RCA model's photo for a long time.

My dad worked for RCA back then, as a service tech, and I let him know at the time that I thought this was the swellestest, most bestest stereo anyone could ever have, and that we should get one.

He told me right then and there that this model was for people who drove Cadillacs and Lincolns and lived in ritzy neighborhoods. Translation: We aren't ever getting one.

And we did not.
 
Ritzy & Tony:

Are like toma-to and tomah-to - the mean pretty much the same thing.

"Ritzy" comes from the Ritz hotels founded by Swiss hotelier Cesar Ritz, whose establishments founded modern ideas of luxury in hotels. The name eventually came to mean almost anything that was a cut above, or something its owner wanted you to think was a cut above. I doubt M. Ritz would have approved much of a certain cracker, for instance. And in case you're wondering, yes, today's Ritz and Ritz-Carlton hotels are corporate descendants of M. Ritz's empire.

"Tony" derives from "tone" or the French ton, meaning the quality or character of something, usually a party or other gathering, i.e., "The tone of the Duchess's ball was enormously elegant." This has also come to mean, basically, anything swankier than usual, not that you could find any genuine swank in today's world with an electron microscope.

Yes, I'm a curmudgeon. As you can see from the story I posted, my father raised me to be one. :)
 
General Electric and Magnavox

offerred end table stereos. Magnavox's last one was 1970. You could use the main unit with its own speakers for passable stereo sound, or add two other speakers for another room or get the matching end table with record storage. I found the contemporary main unit a few years ago, even earlier I found both units, but couldn't get both at that time. Still kicking myself.

112561++9-11-2012-05-19-11.jpg
 
My Dad built a
homemade" hutch cabinet for his Hi-fi system circa late fifties-early 60's-Music Master TT,Radio Shack Tonearm, Shure mag cartridge(don't remember the model)Dynaco St70 Pwr Amp,Dynaco PAS3 preamp.Stephens 15" coax speakers in homemade bass- reflex cabinets-built to plans provided with the "raw" speakers-a lot of homemade speaker cabs in those days-sounded really nice.system got lost in the Rapid City flood of '72-only the power amp was found-I did restore it to working condition-it looked like hell-but worked.One of my bothers used it for awhile.
 
Nice those end table units.  I've only seen one in real life 2-3 years ago at the Goodwill but I can't remember the maker, more than likely it was GE than Magnavox which weren't common at all here if they were the only two makers. I'm pretty sure it was more octoganal shaped but again my memory of it isn't there other than I saw it and I'm totally wrong. 

 

Dads first hi-fi in the 50's was mostly Heathkit he built into a discarded 50's tv cabinet. I've gotta have a picture of it somewhere in the background of an old livingroom family pic so I can scan it. 
 
The RCA Danish model

above pictured by Retopia is the one for sale I saw on CL, I called them about a month ago and they still had it, it was at an antique dealer.

The restored one that disappointed was probably not restored properly, if done well, including all new caps and replacing drifted carbon resistors, new stylus, FM alignment, it should have sounded pretty good. No Fisher, but I'm pretty picky, having been a writer and editor of Vacuum Tube Valley magazine when it, and the Publisher, were still alive. http://www.vacuumtube.com
 

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