Fisher console with 610 st chassis

First let me say I don't know a heck of a lot about tubes. I have a Motorola tube console that I really like a lot, and an old Fisher tube preamp tuner that I barely ever use. I enjoy the Motorola a lot and play it regularly, primarily for FM.

I found a Fisher console, I think built in the late 50's, maybe 1959. I pulled the preamp tuner power amp out to evaluate. The chassis is 610-ST. There is also a separate power amp for the second channel for stereo, a 30-A, but I have not pulled it to evaluate.

The 610-ST sounds great, but there is a hiss when the volume knob is turned all the way down. It is present no matter what source is selected. I have sprayed all the pots and checked to make sure the tubes are all seated by pulling them out of their sockets, spraying the socket holes with contact cleaner and replacing.

So what is the consensus on the 610-ST and 30-A? My gut tells me they are decent, and the sound so far is in my opinion pretty good. I'm trying to get an idea about how they are regarded before sinking any repair money into them. I wish I had some way of determining if I have a bad tube without taking the units to my repair guy.

Any thoughts? :thmbsp:

Well I hope you haven't gutted the console.

Rather you like it or not you will have to get in there and replace all the capacitors, they are ticking time bombs. These being bad may cause your hiss, you also want to check all ac cords for cracks, check speaker connectors, rca connectors. Your tuning coils may be dirty, you might even need to get it realigned, you may even have a week tube. First thing first replace the caps..

If you decided not to keep the console, I can take the drive down lol

cooljjay said:

Well I hope you haven't gutted the console.
First thing first replace the caps..
If you decided not to keep the console, I can take the drive down lol

Click to expand...

I appreciate the suggestion about the caps. No I have not gutted the console. Rather, I am considering a complete restoration. I have a soft spot for consoles. They are beautiful pieces of American furniture, as well as functional audio hi-fi.

I guess what I'm really wanting to know is if anyone has any thoughts or experience with this model, which I have identified now as a 1960 Fisher Custom Electra III Provincial. The amplifiers look like they are good quality, but surely someone has the 610-ST and / or the 30-A and has some listening impressions???

I have them....

Pix here....

However, I haven't even tried to turn it on yet. Awaiting restore....:sigh:

Yep, you have the same amps. Your console is in about the same shape as mine. I'll try to post some pictures.

I'm missing a knob or two. Do you have any idea where I might find a replacement? I'll get on those pictures today if possible..... thanks

You've got the same console as my Sister-in-law. You should definitely restore it. Her 1960 Custom Electra III sounded better than my Premiere. It currently needs restoration, though, as it has gotten noisy since I gave it to her for Christmas a few years back. If you find schematics for the 610-ST, I could use a copy.

Those are great pictures. Same amps, same console. I'm curious, what is the "Tuner B" input on the 610-ST?

Sigh....

If you believe this....

I have a copy, labeled as "The Fisher Consolette". Unfortunately, it is buried inside the console, which has the outboard speaker on top of it, and is furthermore obstructed by my wife's car.

Next time I have a chance, I'll pull the car out and "fish" out the paperwork. It might be a couple of weeks though. I am absolutely up to my eyeballs in commitments, work and otherwise this week/weekend....:thumbsdn:

analog addict said:

If you believe this....

I have a copy, labeled as "The Fisher Consolette". Unfortunately, it is buried inside the console, which has the outboard speaker on top of it, and is furthermore obstructed by my wife's car.

Next time I have a chance, I'll pull the car out and "fish" out the paperwork. It might be a couple of weeks though. I am absolutely up to my eyeballs in commitments, work and otherwise this week/weekend....:thumbsdn:

Click to expand...

Great! We'll be looking forward to it!

Photos, with some nudies!

Good news on the Fisher console. After digging through the entire dust filled cabinet, complete with old scratched up vinyl, a half a sandwich from 1968, and of course, the 30-A amplifier, I found the knobs I thought were missing! I've uploaded a series of photos to photobucket. I'm really looking forward to this project now that I know all the parts are there. :thmbsp:

http://s728.photobucket.com/albums/ww285/tlgibbs3/

PS: Just added a photo of the 30-A after replacing a bad fuse and matching it up to my lonely Fisher preamp tuner that has been languishing in storage, gathering dust. Sounds great, so far. I like the 30-A.

Wow. I've had the 30-A hummin' along for a couple hours amplifying the signal from my Fisher tuner preamp 50-C. A couple observations: The 30-A amplifier's output tubes really heat up. The sound is fantastic, and I only have the setup powering a cheap AR-18B speaker! I will be working with the setup, probably bringing in the Altec Bolero's for an audition with all tube equipment. Of course a turntable is requisite, probably my Dual 1237 with a Shure M91ED cartridge.

Damn. Now I understand why people get addicted to tubes. I refuse to call the sound "warm", even though it is. I can only imagine what a really high end tube setup could reveal.....

You asked for it....

You got it.....:thmbsp:









Party on Garth!

analog addict said:

You got it.....:thmbsp:

Click to expand...

Thanks AA.

Thank you very much. :thmbsp:

I just got my Fisher 610 chassis back from my fixer. It had a weak tube, some bad capacitors, and the tuning mechanism needed cleaning. It's been running all afternoon and sounds fantastic. :thmbsp:

A couple questions for the tube and Fisher experts: The 610 only has one set of speaker terminals, a common terminal and another terminal marked 2.5 ohms. The outboard 30-A amp however has four terminals - a common and 4, 8, & 16 ohm terminals. I have 8 ohm speakers hooked up right now, so I used the 8 ohm terminal on the 30-A. But it seems like the 30-A is adaptable to 4 ohm speakers, but the 610 is not, with just the one terminal but why is it marked 2.5 ohms?

Also, the Fisher Custom Electra III console these components came out of did not have the original woofers. I am probably going to try a pair of Altec 406-8C woofers. Anyone have any thoughts on these woofers paired with the existing Fisher mids, tweeters and crossovers?

Also, channel A is left and channel B is right, correct?

Did I mention my amps sound fantastic? :thmbsp:

tlgibbs said:

I just got my Fisher 610 chassis back from my fixer. It had a weak tube, some bad capacitors, and the tuning mechanism needed cleaning. It's been running all afternoon and sounds fantastic. :thmbsp:

A couple questions for the tube and Fisher experts: The 610 only has one set of speaker terminals, a common terminal and another terminal marked 2.5 ohms. The outboard 30-A amp however has four terminals - a common and 4, 8, & 16 ohm terminals. I have 8 ohm speakers hooked up right now, so I used the 8 ohm terminal on the 30-A. But it seems like the 30-A is adaptable to 4 ohm speakers, but the 610 is not, with just the one terminal but why is it marked 2.5 ohms?

Also, the Fisher Custom Electra III console these components came out of did not have the original woofers. I am probably going to try a pair of Altec 406-8C woofers. Anyone have any thoughts on these woofers paired with the existing Fisher mids, tweeters and crossovers?

Also, channel A is left and channel B is right, correct?

Did I mention my amps sound fantastic? :thmbsp:

Click to expand...

I thought the 610ST had an 8 ohm OPT, although I can't tell you why it's marked that way. I've been told on AK that the reason the 30-A has all the different taps on the OPT is because it was used as an outboard 2nd amp with a number of different consoles, such as JCricket's 510ST, and needed the flexibility to match all the possibilities.

As for the Altecs, you may not get an unbiased opinion from me, so I'll just say give them a try, and see how they sound. Biggest issues will be the impedance match (hopefully close) and the efficiency of the 406-8C's as compared to the originals. For a rough ball park idea, you might just want to compare the DCR of both types of drivers.

Lastly, I believe you're correct, A=L and B=R....

(Feel free to correct any mistakes or misinformation....:stupid

Boy, this one brings back memories....

I had a mono only version of this one I picked up for $22 at an antique shop...looked dead on, except mine had a Garrard RC88 changer with an old GE variable reluctance cartridge (couldn't tell what this one has)....I remember shop owner, plugging it in, and IT WORKED GREAT! No hum or other noises, pots smooth...

I also remember that not too long after I got it, a new kitten clawed the bejesus out of the grill cloth assembly- and I found a dead on replacement on Ebay! Seller had no idea what it went to...it looked similar to the one I had...swapped emails for measurements...Eureka! When it arrived in the mail...just undid the old one...and put the new one on- couldn't have been better!

A sad note to the story...when the ex-wife and I parted company, the little Fisher didn't come with me....she was using it as a knick-knack shelf....what a waste of a classic piece....

610-ST not outputting to my 30-A

So, I also picked up one of these Fisher consolettes. I got mine off of ebay for $30. It did not have the 30-A, but it did have the second speaker (the 560?). Anyways, I have been using it in mono for several months, and I finally found a 30-A. Those don't come cheap - it was about $150, but I figured well worth it given how cheap the rest of the set up was. So, now I have a problem where I cannot get the 610 to output to the second speaker. Any ideas what might be the problem? I took the 610 out of the console to see if it had a mono/stereo switch or something like that, but nothing. Anyways, the expertise on AudioKarma would be welcome here.