Anyone ever heard of these? It is local and pretty cheap. Not sure if it is tube or not, but it is only $20. Should I go look? John

My guess is single ended EL84s, so yeh, for 20 bucks, I'd check it out.:yes:

Very cool mid-century modern styling on that console. I really don't have room for one, but if I did, I'd want it to look like that.

Heck, I'm bettin old John would have that dude gutted before he left the pickup spot.:yes:

Yeah I'm gonna go see it. Looks to be small enough to not piss of the wife too much too. I like the styling very much. Stay tuned, I will post photos tonight. Hope it has some good tubes in it.

Some of these used a "hot" chassis and used a 50EH5 or 50C5 for the outputs, which will give you about 1.5 WPC. I'd try to check this out before I bought it.

Some of these used a "hot" chassis and used a 50EH5 or 50C5 for the outputs, which will give you about 1.5 WPC. I'd try to check this out before I bought it.

Thanks. I am going to look in about an hour. With a hot chassis I assume I will not see 3 transformers inside? I will be sure to bring a flashlight and screwdriver with me. If it has tubes I can use, like el84 etc, I may just grab it for the tubes. I could also clean it up and mount a Ballad or something in it. I like the look of the cabinet. John

It is a cool looking cabinet.:yes: If you decide to keep it intact, AES has a nice assortment of grill cloth.:thmbsp:

Thanks. I am going to look in about an hour. With a hot chassis I assume I will not see 3 transformers inside? I will be sure to bring a flashlight and screwdriver with me. If it has tubes I can use, like el84 etc, I may just grab it for the tubes. I could also clean it up and mount a Ballad or something in it. I like the look of the cabinet. John

You'll likely see two puny little output transformers. Something like what you'd see in a regular old 5 tube AM radio. If you see tubes like 35C5, 50L6, etc., it will be a series string hot chassis set. If it uses a power transformer, the tubes will likely be something like 6BE6, 6BQ5, etc. The exception might be if there is a 12AX7 in there. They were used in both transformer operated and series string sets.

OK. It's in the driveway. As soon as get enough strength, I will haul it into the garage. It is a P-1906. Sadly on techpreservation.org there is a P-1905 and a P1907A, but not this one. Looks like it might be a hot chassis type, I still have to remove the back cover. There is a 12AX7, 4-12BA6, 12BE6, 12AL5, 2-50C5, 12DT8 as per the rear panel label.
The cabinet is in nice shape, speaker cloth is shot.

Yep, that's likely a hot chassis set. The 50C5's were the same output tube used by your basic '50's/'60's AM table radio and is good for about 1.5 watts. I've seen a few of these types of consoles that sounded pretty good for what they were; but, don't expect ultar hi-fi sound or window shaking volume from this model.

More importantly than the sound quality is the safety issues here. If you power this up with the chassis exposed, use caution. Like I said, the chassis will be hot, meaning that one side of the AC line is connected to one side of the chassis. It may be a direct connection or through a capacitor. It would be best to use a line isolation transformer when servicing this stereo.

OK. I will have to get or make one. It has pretty bad hum at this point and sound from only one side. Unfortunately almost all the markings are gone from the faceplate. The volume dial appears to be a dual ganged type. Only the outer portion of the knob is still there so the sound problem could just be dirty pots, or an adjustment issue. I'm really not sure what to do with it, but for the price I could not pass it up.

The hum is likely caused by bad electrolytic caps in the power supply. If that thing uses a selenium rectifier, change it to a 1N4007 silicon diode and add something between a 68 and 100 ohm @ 10 watt resistor in front of the diode. You'll recognize the selenium rectifier as being a square metal finned looking device. They can short and stink like crazy and can also become weak, producing low output. Would also be a good idea to spray deoxit in the controls and tube sockets. If there are any old paper caps in there, change them, even if they are plastic or ceramic cased.

if thats like other emersons I've come across, you'll have someMullards in there -maybe the 12ax7 even :D :banana:

Most are marked Emerson. The 12ax7 is a not a brand I have seen before. One thing I hate about these consoles... The smell! It's gonna need a good hoovering and fabreese!

Cute little console! You'll need really efficient speakers with that 50CE SE output stage.... Klipschorns would be great ;-)

Cute little console! You'll need really efficient speakers with that 50CE SE output stage.... Klipschorns would be great ;-)

yup - a blisterijng 1.5 watts per channel running downhill :D

'course, the best part is, once you find speakers that'll sound good with that power, it'll be an easy transition to a 45 SET :thmbsp:

So are you guys suggesting I pull the amp/tuner and do something with it? I was hoping it would have el84s and I could do something nice, but no. Since it was cheap I just couldn't pass it up. I was thinking to either recap it and leave it intact with the speakers that are there, or mount another amp in it entirely. If I built a new faceplate, I might be able to put the HK Ballad I have into it and a CD player. The bad part is the width of the center section is only 16 inches wide, all my CD drives are more like 17. Not sure if I can use the TT inputs for a CD player either. I need to find a schematic. John

BTW-Tubes are Dumont/Emerson and look pretty much like they are the originals.

Cute little console! You'll need really efficient speakers with that 50C5 SE output stage.... Klipschorns would be great ;-)

I have a cute little RCA 50C5 console amplifier with a 12AX7 driver. No power supply transformer, and the usual heated right from the wall series strung heaters and dropping R's.

IMO, just by the nature of the design, this little amp is just flat noisy. I'm sure there are ways to make the little amplifier quiet, but it would require a full blown tear-down and re-design to the circuit to actually be acceptable with high efficiency speakers.

I listened to this RCA 50C5 amplifier with my Klipsch Cornwalls for a very short period. It was akin to plugging my speakers into a wall socket. The damn thing growled louder than the output of music it could put out.

I'm pretty sure thats 90% heater growl. 50 volts heated AC through a pair of highly sensitive speakers.
It ain't pretty........

I bought a little RCA console record player at a yardsale for 25 bucks that had that amp in it.

Don't feel alone in the purchase, John. This RCA 50C5 amp sits in the back room, with me wondering what to do with it.......
Here's a 50C5 amplifier circuit that I always wanted to cobble up and try.....maybe using the existing RCA chassis and a isolation transformer.

http://www.lacieg2s.ca/w3terra/ols/flingpoo-fleabreeze.htm

Do you have a isolation transformer? If you don't, then make a rule: "Don't touch the Chassis."

Prob best to just restore and use as-is as a period piece... great den or BR unit!

Prob best to just restore and use as-is as a period piece... great den or BR unit!

That would be my suggestion if you have the room and you like it's looks. Here's an idea concerning an isolation transformer. Go to Radio Shack and buy a couple of 25V transformers. I think these are rated for 2 or 3 amps. Anyway, get the largest amp rating you can. Now, take the two transformers and wire them back to back. That little mock up should be able to handle that chassis since it's not a real powerhouse.

Come to think of it, I've got a little mono Emerson AM/FM phono console buried somewhere. It's a hot chassis with 50C5 as well. It's was one of those pieces that I bought because it was cheap. And, I usually buy these lower end consoles if the price is right if for no other reason than to rip out the record changer and speakers. Those items come in handy for tube radio repair. Just this afternoon, I was given a BOTL Silvertone solid state console in a particleboard cabinet. The cabinet is trash and I probably won't even plug it in. I'll just strip it and throw out the cabinet.