Fisher 550-T

Hi guys and gals,

Made a nice score at the thrift store yesterday.

Fisher 550-T.

Never thought I'd see a "really old" Fisher show up. I drool when I read about the 500C finds.

I swear I thought it said 500 when I walked up to it.
I prayed it was tube as I picked it off the shelf and tried to turn it to peek in.
I grunted as I tried not to drop it (man, its heavy).

Walnut case, all intact, filthy.
Opened her all up at home and sucked the dust out. It was all dry dust so it cleaned up wonderfully.
Eased her up on a variac.

MUSIC!

Powered her down and cleaned her up (Deoxit). The selector shaft was stuck, that took some attention to get loose. Cleaned the knobs and face, etc...

Got her back together and teak oiled the case and hooked her to a set of Dahlquist DQM-9c (a score from the day before).

Man, oh man! She's a singer! I am a vintage Marantz sound fan (followed closely by Pioneer) and this thing will hold its own or pass that Marantz sound.

I see they go cheap on the auction site so truely "under the radar"! (Or I got a very good one.)

Never heard the Vintage Fisher Tube stuff (yet) but if this is any indication of the sound, I know why they are so desireable! (I drool because of the looks of tube).

Pictures.

I picked up a 600T for dirt a couple of years ago. It's a hybrid. Solid state with a tube FM section. It uses a 6HA5 and 2 6CW4 nuvistors for the FM Front End. It needs a little help though. On mine, if you push the little birdie on the "The Fisher" logo in the front, it opens and reveals a couple more adjustments, or pots. Yours looks similar. Does it do the same?

Here's my 600T

BeerLegs said:

I picked up a 600T for dirt a couple of years ago. It's a hybrid. Solid state with a tube FM section. It uses a 6HA5 and 2 6CW4 nuvistors for the FM Front End. It needs a little help though. On mine, if you push the little birdie on the "The Fisher" logo in the front, it opens and reveals a couple more adjustments, or pots. Yours looks similar. Does it do the same?Here's my 600T

Click to expand...

AH HA! I was wondering what that was all about. It LOOKS like a spring door, but mine doesn't open and there is nothing behind it.

I thought it was pretty fancy mounting for a name badge.

Pics coming

IIRC the only units that had that "TRAP DOOR" were the 600T and 700T. The Pots are used for aligning the tuner or MPX. I wouldn't touch them unless you know how to do alignments on these. They are finicky to align.

Larry

Push hard. It took me several attempts the first time. I don't think it had been open since it left the factory.

And like larryderouin says, it could be receiver specific. I wouldn't know. The logo looks similar to mine.

Mine has issues. But what do you expect for being almost 45 years old. It distorts in both channels. If I turn off the speakers and plug in headphones, it sounds good. The FM works good. It's pretty cool. After you turn it on while on FM, it takes a few seconds for it to warm up and then the FM fades in nicely.

Beerlegs; Recap that puppy. That'll get rid of the distortion. Power Supply 1st. Get the voltages right THEN concentrate on the amp, Tone Control Amp, Equalizer amp, but try and stay away from the FM TUNER BOARDS. These tend to go whacky if caps/transistors are changed in the tuners. Watch the diodes in the Power supply and amp boards, some are germanium as are some of the small signal transistors.

Larry

as found pics

Some of the dust inside.

Pretty "fuzzy"

Under deck shot


Lucky, all the dust was dry so a good cleaning with a vacume cleaner near and a artist brush got almost all of it out. A little canned air got the corners.
It almost looks new inside after I got it un-dusted. A complete deoxit followed that. Then all back together to get her off the bench and out to some better speakers for a listening test.

In play

A shot of it on the "listening" table...



Still impressed with the sound and the fact that it appears to be all original inside. What I found says 1967-1969. That's a long time ago.

BeerLegs said:

Push hard. It took me several attempts the first time. I don't think it had been open since it left the factory.

And like larryderouin says, it could be receiver specific. I wouldn't know. The logo looks similar to mine.

Click to expand...

I had the face off to clean and that's when I noticed the logo door hinge. Since it didn't lead to anything (there is nothing but chassis behind it), I figured it was either something from another model or just a fancy re-badge-able thing. It didn't make sence but "what-ev!" Mine appears to be blocked, there is a brass brace holding it closed that doesn't look to be just a spring. Since there is nothing behind it and I do NOT want to mess anything up. I'm leaving it alone.

Now, I hope dgwojo has a festoon bulb or two for the dial. I have one that's out. AK threads sound like they are tough to find. (might have to improvise).

That wasn't that long ago!!! I still remember having my Bike Stolen, Moving from Ct. to Hawaii and then Back to Calif, screwing up my knee, and I was 12-14 at the time.

Your's looks pretty much Cherry. Love that Point to Point for the caps, etc. Minimal PC boards. That'll make it easier to recap.

Larry

Time

1969-1979-1989-1999-2009-...

I know, it deosn't seem like that was so long ago (I was 9).
I remember moving to town to go to the "good" school.
The 65 ford station wagon mom drove.
the 65 dodge power wagon my father drove.
the first color TV we owned.
2 (count them, 2!) channels of TV!
the news on the TV about Viet Nam.
Bonanza, Gun Smoke, Mission Impossible, Star Trek (original series).
Nancy Sinatra, Raquel Welsh....

Yeah, it was a long time ago.

All the talk about electronics getting old and tired. Caps drying up, etc... makes it a bit amazing that this stills works so well.

Tough to find something now (anything) that you can buy new that will have 40+ years of service in it.

She is in pretty much cherry condition.

Dgwojo doesn't have bulbs (festoons). He suggested 6v fuse lamps with a brass tube "adapter". The hardware store sells the little "hobby" tubes (brass, aluminum) and one of the stock sizes is perfect. A good tube cutter makes short pieces (but "crimps a little so you have to flare it back out, I used a small drift punch and small hammer and roll it on the bench as I tap it out). A tad of solder to make a good contact (quick, its hot, don't toast the bulb) and a little filing on the ends to keep it smooth and let it fit. They "just" fit length wise. Pretty slick. Looks great.

While I had the face off again, I gave it a good polish on the edges. Some jewelry pollish to bring the shine up.

I like quality bass and this puppy really puts out a warm lush throaty bass. Listening to it last night was excellent!

Interesting thread as I just picked up both a 550 and a 600 Fisher receiver yesterday at the antique market along with a JBL C-38 (002 driver system-D-123 12", 075 bullet tweeter and N2600 crossover) a great day for me, lots of fun!! Unfortunately I did NOT get any of these for $2 and 5 bottle caps ;-) but I did get all three pieces for $300 and felt pretty good about it. Unfortunately neither receiver has a wooden cabint, I wonder if they're ever available or being reproduced? Both receivers were missing their feet but I've got some for them. Tested the JBL yesterday and it sounds really good to me. I'm looking to clean up both receivers today (hopefully) and hook up the variac to 'em and see what happens. Hopefully they both pass a signal, I've got my fingers crossed! I'll take some pics today too. As these babies are loaded with caps, when you guys who have recapped them before do that, how do you decide which caps to replace or do you just go through and remove and replace them all (I'm guessing NOT the latter)?? I was also wondering which form of Deoxit you guys have the best success with? I've used the D5 spray but for the tough pieces this solution is too dilute to do much good yet I'm afraid to try to disassemble a pot and brush on the full strength Deoxit. Any suggestions? Thanks guys, I appreciate any input.

blhagstrom said:

I had the face off to clean and that's when I noticed the logo door hinge. Since it didn't lead to anything (there is nothing but chassis behind it), I figured it was either something from another model or just a fancy re-badge-able thing.

Now, I hope dgwojo has a festoon bulb or two for the dial. I have one that's out. AK threads sound like they are tough to find. (might have to improvise).

Click to expand...

I have a 700T and the logo does open but there is nothing behind it. Actually, you can not open it all the way unless the faceplate is off. and yes, he has bulbs that he fabricates for the Fisher. I just bought 4 of them from him.

Great find. I love my Fisher.

Festoon bulbs

Update on bulbs.

I emailed dgwojo about bulbs. He doesn't have the festoons any more. Now you get a fuse lamp and make a bulb. I found brass tubing at the hardware store in the craft type area. One tube size fits on the fuse lamp almost perfectly. A little careful cutting and a little dab of solder and BINGO, a perfect festoon bulb replacement. The length is tight so I have to file the ends to smooth the solder, but it fits.

These early Fisher SS units are not followed as when they came out the counter culture was rejecting what parents would buy; audio equipment wise and even Buicks. But Avery and his team were making some of the best at the time pretty much across the board back then. The 600 hybrid had 2 versions. 1 had the spring out panel and the other did not. Mine had a spring feel but did not open and there was nothing behind it when looking from the inside. I finally sold it but kept the component parts, the TFM300 tuner and TX100 amp. Both need caps but, suspect I'll never get them done at this point in my life. When I got the 3 pieces, they really impressed me as to quality and sound even with the need for capping. At the tome I was concentrating on my Sherwoods or would have sent these off.

The Fisher receivers from this period have 2 weaknesses. First they used wave soldering that was in its infancy and sadly was resulting in cold solder joints and the sourcing for caps and resistors were Germany and the caps were old technology that yielded a good sound but tend to go out of spec faster. After all these years, the cap issue is less of an issue as regardless of source, caps from them are suspect. As to the soldering issue, Fisher did a lot of warranty work but in working on these today it would be a good idea to reflow all the solder points.

On my 500-TX, 550-T, and 175-T, I haven't found that many cold Solder Joints, at least not as many as I saw on a couple of late 80's pioneers and Early 70 Sansui's. The big problems I have with them is the Tuner/Multiplexer. The Rf section on the 175 is screwed, and the multiplex circuit in the 550-T has been tracked down to a transistor (germanium.....what else.). It sounds great in mono, so I'll leave it in mono when in FM. Took the 175-T's Ferrite Bar and grafted it to the 550-T. (It needed a new antenna, and the 175 is now a parts unit.). Works like a charm. Got cinncinnati ESPN on it from the basement. Kind of weak but readable. No fade either.

Here's my 550-T with the Factory Accesory Cabinet.

Larry

Just picked up a 550-T for cheap at a garage sale and am excited to restore it! This is my first project, and I'm looking forward to learning through the process!

blhagstrom said:

The selector shaft was stuck, that took some attention to get loose.

Click to expand...

Mine has the same problem..selector shaft is completely stuck. Do you remember how you got it loose?

buzzingbee said:

Just picked up a 550-T for cheap at a garage sale and am excited to restore it! This is my first project, and I'm looking forward to learning through the process!


Mine has the same problem..selector shaft is completely stuck. Do you remember how you got it loose?

Click to expand...

Sorry no. I imagine I dabbed some light oil around the shaft and carefully wiggled it.

Since those days, I have found that a heat gun can do wonderous things. Be careful though, they can also mess things up too.

Thank you, I'll let you know how it goes!