This stereo would make a nice project...

[twintubdexter]

...especially if you like things that are, as a friend of mine says, meda-rane-eean. It keeps poping up on the Orange County Craigslist with no takers. The turntable and speakers are very respectable. The $180 price seems respectable too.

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/fuo/4465097925.html

 

[scoots]

The problem is...

Nothing's original except the fine Mediterranean cabinet.

 

[twintubdexter]

Exactly what was "original?"

 

[tolivac]

No mention as to what the "original" components were??and like how the tweeters are mounted on the BOTTOM of the speaker baffle boards!!Bet the unit would sound GREAT if you are laying on the floor in front of it.The TT,Speakers and amp are pretty nice.And the price is reasonable.

 

[tolivac]

Another thought on that "mystery" Hi-Fi console-since we really don't know what it originally was-the replacement components may well be better than what it had originally.

 

[whirlcool]

A 70's Rotel Receiver and a 60's ELAC turntable were pretty good for the time.

I wonder if the console itself was from a major name mfg, or was one of those custom cabinets you could buy from Allied Radio. They had quite a nice selection of them.

http://most Likely Better Than What Was In There

 

[tolivac]

And in the early days of Hi-fi from when these components were popular-magazines such as Popular Mechanics,And most Hi-fi magazines had plans for building your own cabinets back when lumber was reasonably priced and just about every householder owned tools of some sort.Some of the home built cabinets could rival the prebuilt ones in quality.And with the homemade cabinet you could build it Exactly to the components you were putting in it.

 

[twintubdexter]

that's why I kinda think this was...

...one of those cabinets you purchased and added your choice of components. It could have been home-built by someone who was very talented too. It looks like there's a lot of real wood there. I'm just guessing of course since the only thing I'm an expert on is how to gain weight.

 

[tolivac]

I have built speaker cabinets-but not consoles-esp ones as ornate as that one shown-indeed that would have to have been built by someone who was talented and had the RIGHT tools-that can make a BIG diffrence!For the most part speaker cabinets are just boxes-but have to be built very sturdy-so you don't get buzzing at high volume and to the size as outlined in the raw speaker components plans-these used to come with "raw" speakers as were installed in that console.Now raw speakers for Hi-Fi are rare-mostly raw speakers are sold for the replacement-musical instrument trades.And raw speakers sold to cinemas,too.Usually subwoofer replacements.HF horn drivers are another cinemas buy.