Anyone else into old console stereos?

[Dmitry]

I like 'em, but this one is a piece of crap.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&rt=nc&nma=true&item=110649690222&si=BiYILIBFZIOnkG2mbjaA3BZhi5s%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&afsrc=1

Snappy titles - welcome!

[Dave James]

I like 'em, but this one is a piece of crap.

I don't know much about console stereos, but I would guess that anything from that era with an 8-track tape player probably fits this description.

[Larry Kart]

I climb into one whenever I get the chance. My preference is Capeharts:

http://www.myvintagetv.com/updatepages1/capehart/capehart.htm

[jazzbo]

I had an old Magnavox bought from a thrift store that was fun to play with, warm and fuzzy sound, not at all accurate but forgiving. I always had a better stereo and have a stereo now light years better, and for a while the console was used as furniture. Now it's just serving as a base to stack a lot of things on in the middle bedroom.

A friend's dad had a great one in the 'seventies, really nice sound for the time.

My dad uses a specially built cabinet with full range Electro Voice drivers that has had Dynaco and then Pioneer and now Onkyo components housed in it. The build of the cabinet and the drivers really make for a nice room-filling sound. I always enjoy it whenever I go home to Ohio.

[Shawn]

I used to own a Pioneer console unit with the turntable and 8-track. That stereo sounded awesome for what it was, 1970's Pioneer was a different animal.

[JSngry]

I climb into one whenever I get the chance. My preference is Capeharts:

http://www.myvintage...rt/capehart.htm

If records could have sex with record players (and they do, don't they), this is what group sex would look like:

I'd be tempted to climb into that myself!

[jazzbo]

I actually was trying to avoid the picture.

[Tom in RI]

Thanks for the link, Larry. The videos are cool.

[Dmitry]

It's amazing that people spent upwards of a $2500 for home stereos in the 1930s-1940s. One could buy a house for that money then.

Incredible how our realities change in only just a few decades. A $10 watch will show just as good a time as a $10,000 watch. A $10,000 car may outlast the $100,000 car. Etc.

[EyeSpeech]

The more things change, the more they stay the same. You can still spend more on a stereo system than a house, and expenses/lifestyle always seem to rise to whatever one's income will support.

[Dmitry]

The quality of the mass-produced items is exponentially better than it was then. You can have a car for 10k or you can have a car for 100k, both will last. Same with watches. In the 1940s, if you bought a watch for a $1, it was garbage. If you buy a $10 watch today, it'll last years. 'Things' have become a lot cheaper to buy, at least in America. Not so much in other first world countries still.

[Jim Alfredson]

I like 'em, but this one is a piece of crap.

http://cgi.ebay.com/...AX%3AIT&afsrc=1

Snappy titles - welcome!

Can't believe nobody actually bought that.

[Dmitry]

One thing to remember with old tube gear that has been sitting untouched for decades - never switch on that estate sale Bogen RP series receiver until it has been refurbished by a certified technician. Leaky capacitors will fry the transformers, and sayonara. Even if sounds OK, and even good as is, those paper capacitors are leaking with every passing second.

[Teasing the Korean]

My Dad had a great 1950s mono two-speaker tube hi-fi. I think the companies were Garrard and Pilot. Does anyone know of these?

The larger of two speakers (Pilot?) contained the turntable, which was I think Garrard. Then there was a twin speaker, a little narrower because the top part was not taken up by a turntable.

In addition to the usual bass and treble settings, there was midrange dial that read "flat" when it was full on; you could pull the midrange back to at least five different positions.

It also had EQ presets that various radio networks used, like NAB.

By the late 70s, early 80s, the years had taken their toll, and it was hard to find anyone at that time who knew anything about vintage tube gear. Sadly, he ended up getting rid of it only years before the rekindled interest in tube gear.

Over the years at second hand stores, I have seen the identical turntable that was used, but I have never seen those speakers or the amplifier.

The tone arm, naturally, used a flip stylus that played LPs in one position and 78s in the other.

I will never, NEVER , forget the sound of my Dad's Capitol 78 of Sinatra's "I've Got the World on a String" blaring through that tube system. No LP or CD of that tune played on solid state equipment will ever come close.

I wish I still had this. I can only hope it went to a good home and that someone restored it.

[sidewinder]

I had an old Magnavox bought from a thrift store that was fun to play with

Last I heard (which is well over 10 years ago), these guys were producing ruggedised military comms kit !

Not sure if they are still in business as such or taken over by one of the big prime contractors these days.

[Chuck Nessa]

Magnavox was bought by Philips years ago.

[jazzbo]

Garard was/(is?) a British company. They were imported to America fifites through seventies I believe and I've seen a lot of them over the years. The first turntable I ever bought myself was a Garard. I'm pretty sure Pilot was an American manufacturer but I'm not certain. I've seen a few components over the years but never have been able to hear them.

I did a Google image search for "Pilot Stereo Console" and this picture came up. I don't think it's a Pilot stereo console, but who cares?

http://homepage.mac.com/johnhuber/AK/Girl_Console_Radio.jpg

[JSngry]

As I understand it, Garrard was an audiophile/high-end brand until the early 1970's, when they, like many other nameplates, entered the "consumer market".

[sidewinder]

Garrard (or an offshoot) are still in business from Newbury, UK and selling reconditioned versions of their turntables in new plinths. They do them with top-end SME arms too.

[.:.impossible]

Thanks for that ad Lon. That is a nice looking piece of furniture. And functional. Dig the analog clock!