1965 Fisher Futura VI - New to me!

Hey there guys and gals! I'm new to this forum because I just became the proud owner of my Grandparents' 1965 Fisher Futura VI that they bought new in September 1964. I have all the manuals and stuff. My Grandfather was very meticulous about his things so it is in excellent shape! My Grandmother died in 1984 and my Grandfather died in 2005. The console has been in in the basement of his house where my 2nd Grandmother (step) still lives. I picked it up the other day. I remember my Grandpa always playing classical and jazz records on it and in modern times he had a CD player hooked up to it, too.

It hasn't been used in about 5 years and when I got it home and turned it on it powered up but had no sound. After about 30 seconds (maybe) I smelled then saw smoke coming out of the back and shut it off.

Now I know pretty much nada about the innards of this thing but a friend on facebook said...

"caps are probably very dried out. they short out when power is applied. you need a cap job, possibly a retube. hopefully you didn't toast the power tranny when you fired it up."

Click to expand...

Is this an easy fix? Before it went to the basement of their house 5 years ago it worked just fine. As you can imagine, I am pretty excited to have it and any advice is appreciated!

QJ

Your Facebook friend sounds like he knows what he's talking about. The "caps" he is referring to are electrical components called capacitors. After long periods of disuse they can become "deformed" and sometimes short out when subject to sudden high voltage - hence the smoke you observed. While this is not certainly what happened to your Futura, it is likely. And, unfortunately, it's possible that other components may have been damaged when the caps shorted.

Are you any good with a DVM and soldering gun? If so, there are some very knowledgeable folks here at AK that can probably talk you through the diagnosis and repairs. If not, you might be best served by taking it to a reputable tech. Pull out the two chassis, open up the bottoms and take some close-up photos of the circuitry underneath. Then post the photos or links to the photos here and we might be able to spot the problem(s) and give you some idea of the extent of the damage and how easy to repair it might be.

I would suspect that - because it's a family heirloom and appears to be in excellent cosmetic shape - you are probably strongly motivated to bring the old Futura back to life. You should.

VERY NICE CONSOLE in GREAT SHAPE. Hope you get it running and enjoy it as much as you grandfather did.

Actually the FUTURA shown is a 1964 FUTURA V in Italian Provincial/Distressed Walnut. The Tuner is a 690T and the amp is a 690A. The Turntable for the 64 is a garrard "A" as shown in the above picture.

Recap is definately called for. DON'T power it up until at least the Main Filter Caps have been replaced along with the coupling caps for the output tubes. And have ALL the tubes checked before power up also. modify your profile and add your city/state. There may be an AK'er that can help you repair it or even do it for you.

Larry