Oh. My. God.
All the way over I'm thinking, OK, so the chassis will be covered with rust, it'll have drugstore tubes in it, but if I just get a working on/off volume control it'll be worth more than $18.
So we chat a few minutes in the driveway, and he pulls out the speakers first. Apparently the cabinets had not survived a move from California to Michigan to Illinois, so he only saved the drivers, crossovers, and L-pads, all still with the original wiring.
A pair of JBL Linear Efficiency coaxials, model LE-14C, in absolutely perfect condition. Weigh a freakin' ton. These are the speakers his wife's great aunt had originally purchased with the 500C around 1962. He said he had them last hooked up about 3 years ago and they sounded beautiful. Anybody know anything about them? Luckily the surrounds are perfect. I had done some quick research and apparently they are both hard to find and hard to change.
Oh, yeah. The 500C. Just like every one of you who chase vintage stuff, I have x-ray vision when it comes to simple dust. I can see right through it like it isn't even there. He's carrying it front panel out against his stomach, and my eyes jump from the front panel, which appears to be flawless, all knobs present, to the chassis. Under the dust it just gleams! Paint on all the transformers is a perfect smooth black, not a speck of rust. He sets it down, and I see the tan plastic bases on the output tubes.
So I hand him a $20, and he pauses a split second and asks, "Are we good?" I grinned, and said, "Well, I figure the speakers are worth at least $1 each, so, yeah, we're good!" He laughed, said he was just happy his wife's aunt's stereo was going to a good home, and off I go.
Since he told me it hadn't been more than 3 years or so since the last time it had been on it wouldn't need to be variaced, I got home, took a quick look at things, and fired it up. Here's what I've got so far...
1. Cosmetically, it's near perfect. Front panel, lettering, dial glass...flawless. All knobs present and unbroken, missing brass caps, as is usual for all Fisher gear. Transformer paint is perfect. All tube shields present. Chassis has two small spots of discoloration, otherwise it looks like chrome. I'm stunned!
2. Plays beautifully!!! Slapped a 3' piece of twin lead on the antenna screws, and pulls in a boatload of stations, even down in the basement. All meter and dial lights work. Meters both work. CD through the aux is silky smooth. Phono sounds lovely. Holy crap this thing sounds good. It's the best of my three 500C's, by far.
3. Ear stuck to the speaker on my 98dB Klipsch, Zero, and I mean zero, hum.
4. And finally, the tubes. Apparently the great aunt didn't play it a lot, because every single tube is the original Fisher branded tube. Every 12AX7 is a diamond base Telefunken from West Germany, every other small tube is Mullard/Great Britain, and the original Fisher 7591A's.
Give me a day or two to dust things off, and I'll post some pictures.
Clay,
grinning so hard I can barely type!!!