Fisher Consoles 1959-1965

TheRed1 said:

Jon, since you are the de facto expert on Fisher consoles from this period let me ask you if the following jives with what you've found in your consoles.

My database indicates the K-15 and the K-100 chassis were introduced during the 1957 model year on Fisher's Custom Electra and Custom Electra II consoles, respectively. Both were discontinued by 1958 which would tend to make them rarer than the K-14 which ran from 1955 through at least part of 1957 on the earlier Custom Electras.

Which of these chassis do you have in your collection and what are the differences?

Click to expand...

Well, I'm really not an "expert" on these but I've worked on both the Fisher K-14 and K-100 chassis. I own 2 Custom Electra's with the K-100 chassis. The cabinets are the Normandy model.

About a year and a half ago I met a local man who had a Fisher Custom Electra with a K-14 chassis that he originally purchased in 1955. It wasn't working and he asked me to repair it. I obtained a copy of the service instructions for a K-14 chassis which says "Custom Electra - Series K-14". On the poor photocopy of the service instructions someone had hand written K-15 on the schematic page. About a year ago someone sold a Custom Electra on E*** with a K-15 chassis. The photos of that chassis looked exactly like the K-14 I had worked on. The dial glass on both these models say "Custom Electra" on the glass. There are 4 indicator lights on the K-14: TV, Phono, FM, and AM. The K-14 has 6 knobs but its been so long since I've seen the chassis I'm not sure of the applications. The far right knob controls the station frequency and they made a big deal about the "Z-Matic" control. I didn't feel the "Z-Matic" control did much of anything.

The K-14 chassis has the following tubes:
1. 6BQ7
2. 6CB8
3. 6BA6
4. 6BA6
5. 6BA6
6. 6AL5
7. 6BQ7
8. 6E5
9. 12AX7
10. 6BA6
11. 6BE6
12. 12AX7
13. 12AT7
14. 12AX7
15. 6V6
16. 6V6
17. 6V6
18. 6V6
19. 5U4

The K-100 chassis has the following tubes:
1. 6CB8
2. 6U8
3. 6BA6
4. 6AU6
5. 6AU6
6. 6BA6
7. 6BE6
8. 12AX7
9. 12AX7
10. EL37
11. EL37
12. 12AX7
13. 5V4
14. 6X4
15. EM35

The K-100 chassis has 6 indicator lights: Aux 1, Aux 2, Tape, Phono, FM, and AM. The K-100 Selector switch has 9 positions: AM, FM, AES, RIAA, LP, NAB, Tape, Aux 1, and Aux 2.

The K-100 chassis has 5 knobs: selector switch, volume level/loudness control (4 position), tone control - bass/treble, on/off, and station control.

Both my models also have Presence and a Brilliance controls in the upper left and right corners of the front panel.

On the K-100 chassis the "Custom Electra" words are on a plaque on the wood (I own 2 of these models), not on the dial glass.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Sorry, if this is too much information.

Hi Guys, I've been looking for an amp for my 1963 Statesmen III with no luck so far. I'm running out of time since my wife is getting impatient... she wants it out of the house if I cannot get it to work! Any ideas? There is nothing on ebay or my local Craigslist. Thanks! Diego (dnorri@gmail.com)

Diego; does it not have the amp in it, or does the amp not work. If it's not working, there are guys who may be able to get it working if you put your town and state in your header. See at the upper right hand corner of my post it gives my town? You need to go into your control panel and make the addition.

FISHER Amps are fairly easy to work on but they have the same restrictions with regards to high voltage as all the rest.

Larry

Fisher Premiere

I recently got into the sound of tubes and love the sound. I was looking through CL the other day and saw this console. When I called to ask about it the lady said it had a 500 receiver in it. I will not lie I admit at first I was only thinking of the receiver. When I went and looked at it it was not a 500 it was a TA-600. It seemed to have some issues with the right channel but was in very, very nice condition. She was asking what I thought to be too much for it so I told her I would research it and call back with an offer. In my search I found this sticky with tons of info, thank you very much. When I saw The Red 1,s Premiere all thoughts of robbing the receiver out of it went away quickly, that is one beautiful console. I went back the next day and bought it. I have to admit there is alot about the receiver settings I do not understand but I would like to restore it. I am posting some pictures of it hoping to get some advise about it. These pictures are as it was when I picked it up and have not cleaned anything yet. I am not sure what the little bag of goodies is that was inside the right speaker cabinet as I did not want to open it, sounds like screws.

Don

That is a beautiful console. Glad someone who appreciates it's sonic value got it :yes:

shacky said:

That is a beautiful console. Glad someone who appreciates it's sonic value got it :yes:

Click to expand...

Thanks Shacky, now if I can just figure out the controls I can find out where I am at with it !

TheRed1 said:

Click to expand...

I showed my mother that picture, she said she's seen one of those tambour-door record cabinets at some point in time.

Unfortunately, mine didn't come with a little baggie stashed in the speaker enclosure but I did get a cigar box full of spare tubes, repair receipts and pages of notes on operation, assembly and problem diagnosis flow charts. Depending on what's in your mystery bag, I wonder which one of us got the better deal.

The TA-600 is one of Fisher's great sounding receivers. I would suggest having it restored by someone with a good deal of experience since it is pretty densely populated with components. I have the schematic if you'd like a copy. The 600's FM-AM stereo simulcast receiving feature might take a little explanation - suffice it to say that it isn't very useful in the present. Otherwise, you've got mono FM and mono AM settings and connections for adding an external MPX decoder for FM stereo. Set the selector to FM-AM and use the mono-stereo selector set either to A (FM) or B (AM) which are the regular mono settings. Don't use the stereo setting for radio unless you hook up an external MPX decoder or you'll only have one set of speakers working.

I had a problem in one channel when I first got mine - a crackling sound that turned out to be speaker related. New crossover caps would probably have solved my problem but I decided to replace the Jensen 3-ways with full-range speakers. Stick with your Jensens if you want to keep that warm, nostalgic, magic mid-range that compliments music recorded in the 50s and early 60s so well. You might also try hooking up external speakers for those types of music that the Jensens don't do so well.

I saw another Provincial Premiere a few months ago in the Pomona, CA CL. The seller correctly listed the TA-600 and was asking quite a bit for it. What part of the world did yours come from? I'm very glad and not terribly surprised that you've chosen to keep yours whole. I believe the high-end cabinets for The Fishers from this era were being made by the Widdicomb Furniture Co., of Grand Rapids, MI - probably at their New York plant. I love just looking at mine. Yours looks like it is in as good as (if not better) shape as mine. Take good care of it.

davis419b said:

I recently got into the sound of tubes and love the sound. I was looking through CL the other day and saw this console. When I called to ask about it the lady said it had a 500 receiver in it. I will not lie I admit at first I was only thinking of the receiver. When I went and looked at it it was not a 500 it was a TA-600. It seemed to have some issues with the right channel but was in very, very nice condition. She was asking what I thought to be too much for it so I told her I would research it and call back with an offer. In my search I found this sticky with tons of info, thank you very much. When I saw The Red 1,s Premiere all thoughts of robbing the receiver out of it went away quickly, that is one beautiful console. I went back the next day and bought it. I have to admit there is alot about the receiver settings I do not understand but I would like to restore it. I am posting some pictures of it hoping to get some advise about it. These pictures are as it was when I picked it up and have not cleaned anything yet. I am not sure what the little bag of goodies is that was inside the right speaker cabinet as I did not want to open it, sounds like screws.

Don

Click to expand...

I am guessing it came from Dallas. It was from the original owner. I called on it but i never got a reply. I didn't have the money with out selling other stuff. Glad an AKer got it

Mine did come from the Dallas,Tx, area. I responed to the ad within 30 minutes of posting. Mine has that crackling sound in the right channel as well. I went to hook up Klipsch Heresy,s and was confused by the way it was hooked up originally. I went back and looked at the rear picture of yours and did it the same as you, still had the same problem. My local tech just restored my 400 and it sounds great. I would like to find a manuel or some kind of papaerwork that explains all of the settings to be sure thats not the problem. I used a cd player as a source to elimanate other problems. The sound is very strong form the left and very low from the right. It first sounded like the speaker to me also. The volume control does not move as freely as I think it should. I may try to go in and clean all of the controls. I kinda wanted to wait awhile and try to learn something about this unit first. Could any of the settings on the rear cause this problem ? By the way, yours is way more beautiful than mine at this point. I would like to totally restore it completely but I am not sure how much money to tie up in it !

Some Fisher Console Mysteries Solved

I believe I have figured out the story behind some of Fisher's "lost" consoles. Looking at the chart I created you may notice that certain models appear to have sprung into existence with a roman numeral "II" following their names. Where are the original President, Executive, Statesman, Ambassador, Custom Electra, and Diplomat models?

I've known for some time that the original Ambassador was a 1957 model. And I believe that at $1,195, it was the Fisher's top model prior to the President model. I've also been aware that the original Electra model dates back to Avery Fisher's first company, Philharmonic, back in the late '30s and early '40s.



The Custom Electra probably debuted in 1955 and the Custom Electra II is probably from the 1957 model year. The Custom Electra II was touted as an improvement over the original but they appear to have both been available during the '57 model year and at the same price. The CE II had the new K-100 chassis that was discussed earlier by Jonboy.

About a month ago I found this illustration in a book on the history of the phonograph that was published in 1959. For the 1960 model year, the original Fisher Statesman, model 1010:



Then I heard through a fellow AK member that a Fisher Diplomat D-38 model had surfaced on Yahoo's Fisher Group website. My guess is that it is the elusive original Diplomat from 1963 as shown in this ad from Nov. 62:



My assumption is that the original Statesman and Diplomat models were mid-season (Christmas) introductions that didn't make it into the catalogs that probably came out in September. There may have been individual brochures for these models but I have yet to find one. The '63 Diplomat is listed in my chassis database as having the same chassis as the '64 Diplomat: the 290-T.

The big news is that I believe I may have cracked the mystery of the original President and Executive models. I thought that I might be able to pin down the chassis numbers of the Executive II by getting the schematics for that model. From information in the schematics it appears that the '58 Executive II was merely a '58 Executive with the addition of a conversion kit, P-709, which included a stereo cartridge, two model PR-6 RIAA preamps, and an octopus-like Radio/Phono switch with 8 cables attached. Both the Executive, model 1000 and the Executive II, model ST-1000, appear to be from the 1958 model year. I'd wager that there was a similar conversion kit for the President model.

My chassis database lists the Executive II as having 2 1000 amps and a 1000 preamp/tuner. I'd always wondered about these chassis. Certainly the FM-1000 tuner and the X-1000 integrated were from much later. I'd also read that there was another X-1000 chassis that was actually a re-labeled X-101-ST. Those even say "Executive" on the faceplate. Well, here's a good view of the combined faceplate for the tuner and control amp (pre amp) of the 1958 Executive (model 1000)/Executive II (model ST-1000):



And the backs of the chassis aboard the '58 Executive look like this:



After looking at the schematics I was able to identify the tuner as Fisher's 80-R. The stereo control amp (preamp) and stereo power amp still have me baffled. They both appear to be stereo units on a single chassis - in 1958! The control amp has 5 controls: Volume, Bass, Treble, 4-Position Loudness Contour and 7-Position Input Selector. Its tube compliment consists of 3 12AX7s. The power amp's tube compliment is (2) EZ80s, (2) 12AU7s and (4) EL84s. Its power supply also provides power for the control amp through an octal umbilical on the front of the chassis. All other components have their own power supplies but plug into the outlets provided on the power amp. I think that it is probable that the chassis numbers for the control amp and power amp might well both be "1000" and that they were used exclusively on the Executive console and not sold as stand-alone components (especially considering the rather elaborate power supply interconnections via the octal umbilical which also passes AC to the power amp chassis).

I think the 1000/ST-1000 Executive is probably even more interesting than the President/Presidnet II. With the P-709 conversion kit and stereo R2R it contained a grand total of 50 tubes! The new Fisher Console Holy Grail?

Davis did you get the fisher 400 that was in grand prairie? I would have liked to have had that premier but money and WAF would have been a big problem. I like that it all opens to the front so it would make a nice tv stand

Warrgo : I saw that one but did not buy it. I bought this one from a Klipsch forum member.

Fisher Ambassador IV A-69 Console

Any information on this 1963 console? From what little I can tell it's a tube hybrid? Is that a bad thing? any information is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Tiga

Fisher's model A-69 was the Ambassador VI from the 1964 model year. You are correct that it was a hybrid model and that certainly isn't bad. Still plenty of tubes in there to give it a nice warm sound. The Ambassador fell about dead center in Fisher's 1964 model line-up. It, along with that year's Statesman IV and the Futura V, had the 690-T tuner/pre-amp and the 690-A power amp. The 690-A used 8 transistors instead of tubes in the output section.

There was a Futura V discussed here in this thread not long ago. Everything that was said about that model would also apply to the Ambassador VI. Also some basic information at my website here.

Does anyone know which fisher model this is?

http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/atq/1812342135.html

Thank you.

That's an odd one. Definitely mono, and I would guess 1957 or 58. It looks like the mutant hybrid of my 1958 Contemporary and the 1958 Medalist II I just gutted. The receiver looks to be a K120 or R20, and it has the "brilliance" and "presence" controls like the Medalist and Custom Electra II models.

Something about the receiver panel looks a bit off. I'm going to guess that it's a custom cabinet built to house the parts removed from a Medalist II or Custom Electra II.

Fisher Console Model number P410-P

Do any of you Fisher Console fans know anything about an early Fisher Console, Model P410-P with approximate dimensions of 32'' x 19'' x 36''? It may be prior to 1959, I don't know for sure. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

nelsress said:

Do any of you Fisher Console fans know anything about an early Fisher Console, Model P410-P with approximate dimensions of 32'' x 19'' x 36''? It may be prior to 1959, I don't know for sure. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

Click to expand...

It may be a Fisher Provence from 1958. Also known as a Metalist II.

http://members.cox.net/fisherconsoles/Provence.html

It this it?

The cabinet is definitely the one for a Medalist II. I just dropped one off at the DAV yesterday (sans electronics).