TODAY I STOLE ME A PIECE OF GEAR!
EndersShadow
Posts: 17,590
Today was the day I finally got an AWESOME SCORE. For the last few years I’ve been semi seriously looking for tubed stereo consoles. Mostly because it’s a cheap way to get into tubes provided the amp works, or doesn’t need a ton of work. Today the Karma gods smiled on me.
I was going to Walmart to get some random stuff, and I saw a garage sale literally two streets down. So I did the normal, quick scan as I drove by and I saw what looked to be the back of a stereo console of some sort. I made a mental note and continued on my way to the store, got what I needed and impulsively took out 20 bucks just in case.
On the way home I stopped by and took a look. First thing I looked for was tubes, and Check, Check and CHECK. It had a TON of tubes, it appeared both a tube pre-amp and some sort of tube amp.
Second thing, what brand was it….. Motorola…. Ok, decent brand…… A quick google of the model number came up blank… but a higher model popped up showing it was likely built in or around 1960…
Third thing, was it beat up or stripped down…. Nope everything was inside and looked to be in good condition….
So I ask the guy….. what are you looking for on it? 60 bucks is what he replied…… Internally I thought, nah I don’t wanna pay that, likely its not working and I only want the tube amp out of it anyway……
Then he goes, want me to plug it in? It all works, just needs a new needle on the turntable……. Internal voice says… "F#@#KC, now your in trouble buddy.....you don’t want to do this without talking to the wife first, but you know you WANT THIS....
“Well, I may be back, I gotta go talk to my wife about this”………… Well my wife has been kinda wanting one of these for a long time too, both as a nice piece of furniture to tie in the dining room, and also because its easier to use that when we don’t want to watch TV and just listen to the radio.
So without any pictures to show her I described it and basically said, "I'm going to go buy it.
its the smallest stereo console I've seen in a bit, its supposed to work, and its down the street. The stars will NOT ALIGN again like this.... Also, he's asking 60 but I bet I can get it for cheaper…. I’m gonna try to get it for 40, plus have him help me get it inside the house since…"
"OK" she says, "but if you think its worth 60, just pay 60 if he wont go lower"
So, back I go. “Well you made it back I see”…… “Yup, can we plug it in and see how she sounds”….. “Sure”…
Well we got it plugged in and then both of us being young… and dumb, couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working… First of all, WTF is AFC? It had "Off", AM, FM, AFC on the radio dial.... We put it on FM, tried to dial in a station that had a decent signal but no sound was coming out of anything…… This was when I realized it had a cool tuning sensor eye under the radio...
After playing with the buttons for a couple minutes I remembered that older gear doesnt normally have a “VOLUME” knob as much as a “LOUDNESS” knob. So turned that knob up a bit and everything came alive. Only went to 2, but everything seemed fully functional, and it sounded FRIGGIN AWESOME!
Internally the debate started…. You cant just buy this and strip the tube amp out of it… it looks pretty good, its real mahogoney and just needs a bit of touchup to really stand out… keep it the way it was….
So OF COURSE we know what happened next, I STOLE it for 40 bucks……… He threw it in his truck and helped me unload it in my front entrance. Then straight to cleaning it up a bit with a quick wipe down with some Murphys Soap Oil, followed by a hit of Lemon Oil to shine it back up.
I took the back off to wipe it down and get a closer look at the tube amps and got a SURPRISE… the ORIGINAL manufacture tag and QC control tag was in place, along with some NOS TUBES, and a copy of the owners manual WITH SCHEMATICS! I continued on to vacuum out some of the cobwebs and wipe down a couple places where I could but I left everything else alone.
It appears I've got a tweeter and mid per side, and then a 10 or 12" driver in the middle.
I also discovered that it appears I’ve got a blown mid driver on the left side that I need to replace. The tweeter is still working so I’m thinking it’s the driver, but I’m gonna have a buddy take a look here in the next week or two to help me figure out if it’s the driver or part of the amp. If it’s the driver I will just try to find a NOS replacement, if possible, or something suitable that will work with it.
I've had it since about 2:00 PM, and its been running non stop on the oldies station here and my kids, wife and parents have all been enjoying the heck out of it.
Now onto the pictures!
I was going to Walmart to get some random stuff, and I saw a garage sale literally two streets down. So I did the normal, quick scan as I drove by and I saw what looked to be the back of a stereo console of some sort. I made a mental note and continued on my way to the store, got what I needed and impulsively took out 20 bucks just in case.
On the way home I stopped by and took a look. First thing I looked for was tubes, and Check, Check and CHECK. It had a TON of tubes, it appeared both a tube pre-amp and some sort of tube amp.
Second thing, what brand was it….. Motorola…. Ok, decent brand…… A quick google of the model number came up blank… but a higher model popped up showing it was likely built in or around 1960…
Third thing, was it beat up or stripped down…. Nope everything was inside and looked to be in good condition….
So I ask the guy….. what are you looking for on it? 60 bucks is what he replied…… Internally I thought, nah I don’t wanna pay that, likely its not working and I only want the tube amp out of it anyway……
Then he goes, want me to plug it in? It all works, just needs a new needle on the turntable……. Internal voice says… "F#@#KC, now your in trouble buddy.....you don’t want to do this without talking to the wife first, but you know you WANT THIS....
“Well, I may be back, I gotta go talk to my wife about this”………… Well my wife has been kinda wanting one of these for a long time too, both as a nice piece of furniture to tie in the dining room, and also because its easier to use that when we don’t want to watch TV and just listen to the radio.
So without any pictures to show her I described it and basically said, "I'm going to go buy it.
its the smallest stereo console I've seen in a bit, its supposed to work, and its down the street. The stars will NOT ALIGN again like this.... Also, he's asking 60 but I bet I can get it for cheaper…. I’m gonna try to get it for 40, plus have him help me get it inside the house since…"
"OK" she says, "but if you think its worth 60, just pay 60 if he wont go lower"
So, back I go. “Well you made it back I see”…… “Yup, can we plug it in and see how she sounds”….. “Sure”…
Well we got it plugged in and then both of us being young… and dumb, couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working… First of all, WTF is AFC? It had "Off", AM, FM, AFC on the radio dial.... We put it on FM, tried to dial in a station that had a decent signal but no sound was coming out of anything…… This was when I realized it had a cool tuning sensor eye under the radio...
After playing with the buttons for a couple minutes I remembered that older gear doesnt normally have a “VOLUME” knob as much as a “LOUDNESS” knob. So turned that knob up a bit and everything came alive. Only went to 2, but everything seemed fully functional, and it sounded FRIGGIN AWESOME!
Internally the debate started…. You cant just buy this and strip the tube amp out of it… it looks pretty good, its real mahogoney and just needs a bit of touchup to really stand out… keep it the way it was….
So OF COURSE we know what happened next, I STOLE it for 40 bucks……… He threw it in his truck and helped me unload it in my front entrance. Then straight to cleaning it up a bit with a quick wipe down with some Murphys Soap Oil, followed by a hit of Lemon Oil to shine it back up.
I took the back off to wipe it down and get a closer look at the tube amps and got a SURPRISE… the ORIGINAL manufacture tag and QC control tag was in place, along with some NOS TUBES, and a copy of the owners manual WITH SCHEMATICS! I continued on to vacuum out some of the cobwebs and wipe down a couple places where I could but I left everything else alone.
It appears I've got a tweeter and mid per side, and then a 10 or 12" driver in the middle.
I also discovered that it appears I’ve got a blown mid driver on the left side that I need to replace. The tweeter is still working so I’m thinking it’s the driver, but I’m gonna have a buddy take a look here in the next week or two to help me figure out if it’s the driver or part of the amp. If it’s the driver I will just try to find a NOS replacement, if possible, or something suitable that will work with it.
I've had it since about 2:00 PM, and its been running non stop on the oldies station here and my kids, wife and parents have all been enjoying the heck out of it.
Now onto the pictures!
"....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
Post edited by EndersShadow on
Comments
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Very cool! Get some pics up while I can still remember.
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three typical flavors of amplifiers in the Maggotbox stereo consoles of the late 1950s/early '60s: single-ended 6BQ5 (the "entry level" models), push-pull 6BQ5 or push-pull 6V6. All three are remarkably good given their phenomenally modest design parameters (i.e., they were built on the cheap).
I still have one of the PP 6BQ5 amps (with a console still wrapped around it) and have done rehabs on the others.
You doubtless know that the amplifiers will benefit from, and very likely require, some rehabilitation. 50-60 year old capacitors ('specially electrolytics) are usually kinda tired. Failures can have fairly drastic consequences, too.
Not trying to harsh your mellow; you done good for forty smackers!
John Dorsey of Soundscape in Baltimore had a Maggotbox console when I was a regular customer there in the 1970s -- and not in an ironic way, as far as I could tell
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Your dysfunctional MR driver may well be a borked NP electrolytic crossover cap. You probably knew that, too
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Those nos tubes are likely worth more than the 40 you paid....nice
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Those nos tubes are likely worth more than the 40 you paid....nice
Trust me.... I am WELL AWARE of that fact.... when I saw the boxes inside the console hidden I said... WELL HOT DAMMMMNED!mhardy6647 wrote: »Your dysfunctional MR driver may well be a borked NP electrolytic crossover cap. You probably knew that, too
Yup... THAT one at least I knew about... AMC I had to google.... its apparently a signal lock once you dial in the FM signal you want as the consoles tended to drift the signal while they warmed up....mhardy6647 wrote: »three typical flavors of amplifiers in the Maggotbox stereo consoles of the late 1950s/early '60s: single-ended 6BQ5 (the "entry level" models), push-pull 6BQ5 or push-pull 6V6. All three are remarkably good given their phenomenally modest design parameters (i.e., they were built on the cheap).
I still have one of the PP 6BQ5 amps (with a console still wrapped around it) and have done rehabs on the others.
You doubtless know that the amplifiers will benefit from, and very likely require, some rehabilitation. 50-60 year old capacitors ('specially electrolytics) are usually kinda tired. Failures can have fairly drastic consequences, too.
All of this already known, I have a local tech that can handle all this stuff in his sleep and I am hoping to have him stop by the house in the next week to just give me a super quick once over as he's not taking any new work for the next two months....
I plan to give him a PDF copy of the schematics and get a list of what he'd replace and the total cost to do so to bring this baby back up to spec."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
Also fella's, I will need some help on knowing what to use to clean up the faceplates on the gear. Its not "bad" but it could use some cleaning. The pictures are uploading from my phone as we speak....."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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Cleaned up:
Some pics of the manual and tube/speaker info
NOS Tubes:
Model Info and Serial Number
Other Misc Internals:
Post edited by EndersShadow on"....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
Pics??
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Cool! Looks to be in really nice shape!
On-board BT, Airplay and streaming services, I presume.
Have you thought yet about how you could turn it into a sub? Don't lie.I disabled signatures. -
Derp. I thought you said it was a Maggotbox. It's a Motorola. Sorry 'bout that.
Looks to be single-ended 6BQ5 stereo; 4 wpc (give or take).
5GH8 -- innerestin' That - of course - is a 6GH8 with a 5V filament. Does the amp (or tuner) actually have a 5GH8 (or more) in it someplace?
By AMC, I am guessing you mean AFC = automatic frequency control. In essence, it was built into most later vintage FM tuners/receivers (although still switchable in some). Generally one would leave AFC "on" unless trying to listen to a weak station at a frequency near a strong one. The AFC would 'pull' the tuner to the strong station otherwise.
AMC =
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Derp^2 It's got a 'center channel' (woofer) amplifier, too... PP 6BQ5, by the looks of things(?).
I should just stop postin' and concentrate on readin'...
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The woofer's a Jensen -- EIA code 220.
The "124" means it was made the 24th week of a year ending in "1" -- probably 1961
I like those "Golden Voice" Motorola pincushion basket midwoofers -- I believe they're twincones (i.e., they have whizzers).
Sorry, I'll stop now -- I am just vicariously excited for you for your new to you console!
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Holy crappola, that's a pretty cool piece! Enjoy!
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That cleaned up nice....way to go2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC
erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a -
txcoastal1 wrote: »That cleaned up nice....way to gomdaudioguy wrote: »Holy crappola, that's a pretty cool piece! Enjoy!
Yup, its a cool A$$ piece and it sounds PHENOMENAL, even WITH a non-functional mid....
It really didn't need much. Now its got a LOT of small dings you can't see, but nothing a touchup marker cant fix, and the dents and dings are from being USED so they kinda just add to the vintage vibe.mhardy6647 wrote: »Derp^2 It's got a 'center channel' (woofer) amplifier, too... PP 6BQ5, by the looks of things(?).
Looks to be single-ended 6BQ5 stereo; 4 wpc (give or take).
5GH8 -- innerestin' That - of course - is a 6GH8 with a 5V filament. Does the amp (or tuner) actually have a 5GH8 (or more) in it someplace?
By AMC, I am guessing you mean AFC = automatic frequency control. In essence, it was built into most later vintage FM tuners/receivers (although still switchable in some). Generally one would leave AFC "on" unless trying to listen to a weak station at a frequency near a strong one. The AFC would 'pull' the tuner to the strong station otherwise.
Yeah, I fixed it to AFC.... My dad had a AMC Packard when I was a kid, along with a Ford Pinto and a Gremlin.... he knew how to pick em
I'm not sure how the center channel part works, but as you stated its got a total of 5 drivers.....
As to what its got in it where, I plan to scan the schematics tomorrow at work using our high rez scanner and I will post them for you to go through and tell me WTH I have lol.....
Anyone know how I should clean up the faceplates? I dont want to use any chemicals that will tarnish the finish, but would love to get in there and really clean that up, especially the inner bezel that has got a ton of crumbs and dust and whatnot, and I'm not wanting to have to bring in the compressor to hit it with air, but that is an option."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
Basically it is stereo, with two "midwoofers" and two tweeters, and a single (mixed to mono) center channel ("sub")woofer. It was actually a fairly common configuration in smaller consoles in the early days of stereo, although the lesser amplifiers did not have a separate amplifier channel for the single woofer; they "derived" it at the speaker level outputs for the two stereo channels.
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Only you can fall in fecal matter and smell better. Way to go pal envious of your shopping excursion.
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Nice score.Pio Elete Pro 520
Panamax 5400-EX
Sunfire TGP 5
Micro Seiki DD-40 - Lyra-Dorian and Denon DL-160
PS Audio GCPH phono pre
Sunfire CG 200 X 5
Sunfire CG Sig 405 X 5
OPPO BDP-83 SE
SDA SRS 1.2TL Sonicaps and Mills
Ctr CS1000p
Sur - FX1000 x 4
SUB - SVS PB2-Plus
Workkout room:
Sony Bravia XBR- 32-Inch 1080p
Onkyo TX-DS898
GFA 555
Yamaha DVD-S1800BL/SACD
Ft - SDA 1C
Not being used:
RTi 38's -4
RT55i's - 2
RT25i's -2, using other 2 in shop
LSI 15's
CSi40
PSW 404 -
Only you can fall in fecal matter and smell better. Way to go pal envious of your shopping excursion.
LOL..... Thanks.... I think....
PS regardless of if I fall into it and get out and smell better we both know I'm still full of it.
Next GTG you can take a gander on it for yourself.... I'm hoping for a late August meet if possible...."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
mhardy6647 wrote: »Basically it is stereo, with two "midwoofers" and two tweeters, and a single (mixed to mono) center channel ("sub")woofer. It was actually a fairly common configuration in smaller consoles in the early days of stereo, although the lesser amplifiers did not have a separate amplifier channel for the single woofer; they "derived" it at the speaker level outputs for the two stereo channels.
Thanks. I was thinking this was what it was, but wasnt sure. I'm gonna go take a harder look at the schematics..... because I'm a nerd and thats what we do... RTFM
"....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
EndersShadow wrote: »because I'm a nerd and thats what we do... RTFM
Coolio, learned a new acronym
Can we use it to reply to new OP's
......
2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC
erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a -
txcoastal1 wrote: »EndersShadow wrote: »because I'm a nerd and thats what we do... RTFM
Coolio, learned a new acronym
Can we use it to reply to new OP's ......
LOL...... You never heard that one before? And we "could" but it "might" get us in trouble "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
Nah' virginto that one 2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC
erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a -
Wipe the cabinet down multiple times with water and a very little bit of dishwashing detergent to remove that nasty vegetable oil based Murphy's oil soap you used, then throw the bottle in the trash. Get a mahogany and/or dark walnut touch marker, hit the spots that need it and apply Guardsmen furniture polish.
For the faceplate stuff, original Windex.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
LOL....you knew that was coming Dan....listen Jesse,
He know's his wood
In Dan's defense Jesse, Dan is a froogle cheapa$$. After knowing Marvin for all these years, and Dan coming to LSAF...I think Marvin's met his match
2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC
erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a -
Wipe the cabinet down multiple times with water and a very little bit of dishwashing detergent to remove that nasty vegetable oil based Murphy's oil soap you used, then throw the bottle in the trash. Get a mahogany and/or dark walnut touch marker, hit the spots that need it and apply Guardsmen furniture polish.
For the faceplate stuff, original Windex.
I figured the Murphys oil soap was what to use since I used it on the Infinity RS-II at folks suggestions and it turned out good.
I will go and undo what I just did.
And was the lemon oil also a bad idea? Or can I use that in place of the Guardsmen furniture polish?
And will do on the Windex on the faceplates, gonna clean em up right now....txcoastal1 wrote: »LOL....you knew that was coming Dan....listen Jesse,
He know's his wood
In Dan's defense Jesse, Dan is a froogle cheapa$$. After knowing Marvin for all these years, and Dan coming to LSAF...I think Marvin's met his match
I'm not cheap.... I'm "cost effective"...... "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
Some pics of the TT which in sure is nothing special except it does all the LP types I'm aware of.
Needs a new needle but I'm not in a rush to play LPs on this "just" yet.
"....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
Throw the lemon oil away too, more junk.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Nice score! I grew up listening to my parents Magnavox console.SDA 2B-TL (Sonicap/Solen/Mills, Erse Super Q, Rings, Spikes, No-Rez)
1000VA Dreadnought
Dared SL-2000a (Siemens & Halske TM 12AT7WA's, Brimar 5Z4G)
Jolida JD-100a (Sylvania BP TM Gold Brand 5751's), NAD C275BEE, Blue Jeans
RTiA3, Onkyo TX-SR605
