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small fisher console

kangatoy

kangatoy

Crazy as a Loon
I saw this small console at an estate sale this morning, asking price was a bit high??. But sometime in the first hour of the sale, someone conveniently removed the tubes which were easily accessible from the back on the upper left hand side of the console. I assume they were removed from the amp section, but could be wrong. I felt the cloth on the front of the cabinet , it appears to have stereo, two speaker hole cutouts, but the back sections were sealed so I can't be sure.
Being incomplete this console might now be had for a reasonable price. would it be worth pursuing?
 

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It's a '61 Philharmonic P-22 in the Modern cabinet. More information at the fisherconsoles.com website:

http://fisherconsoles.com/philharmonic p22.html

There's a link to the service manual there. It is definitely stereo and uses ECL86 outputs. I had thought these tubes were hard to find and expensive but I just checked our local Radio Museum which sells tubes to help fund their operation - they have a bunch and they're cheap, too!

The cabinet's certainly nice looking and not prohibitively large . . .
 
Well this little Fisher followed me home today. It will be a few days before I can get it unloaded from the vehicle and get a better view of what is or isn't there. the gentleman running the estate sale said that it was working three days ago because they were listening to it (I hate thieves, they took the poor console's tubes), so it should be an easy fix, lol.
I look forward to checking it out.
 
In addition, the 1st RF tube (6aq8) can be subbed with a 6DT8. The cost of the 6DT8 is usually 60-70% less than 6AQ8. $4. vs $19. I've only found 1 spot that the sub won't work and it wasn't in a FISHER.
 
I took a good look at the amp and tuner.
Seems the amp is missing four identical tubes EL84 6BQ5 and two 7247.
The receiver is missing four ECC83 7025 12AX7

Amp chassis says it is: 105-120 v 50-60 cycle O40 1A
chassis 440A serial # 14356-E

Receiver says : chassis 440 1
serial # 24301 (not sure the ser # is correct, the number is not in line but rather an inch away)

the speakers are a three way system: marked
tweets: LS 830 107 220117
mids: Isophone Lautsprecher HM915/B-1964
woofs: LS 830 105. P12R1. C6958 22011

Not sure if it is all original, I'll post some pictures later today if possible.
So are the missing tubes easy to find. This will be my first venture int tubes, so I'm at a loss.

Thanks for any help KT
 
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So here are the pix taken of my hipster small Fisher Console. Please excuse the variety and quality of them, I handed the camera to my daughters boyfriend to take pictures while we were evaluating the contents.
 

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And the woofs
 

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TheRed1 said:
It's a '61 Philharmonic P-22 in the Modern cabinet.
Click to expand...
Correction: right year/wrong model - 1961 Custom Electra IV. Somewhat similar but some pretty significant differences, too.

1961 Custom Electra IV

1961CustomElectraIV-1.jpg


1961 Philharmonic

1961Philharmonic-1.jpg


The C. E. IV Modern is a really nice modern cabinet with some very nice components tucked inside. It looks exceptionally clean, too. Congratulations!
 
Whoops. I thought it was a Philharmonic too at first. But with the separate amp and tuner, It's a Custom Electra IV.
You can get the owners and service manuals here....... http://www.fisherconsoles.com/custom electra IV.html

All of the tubes should be fairly easy to find. Check with Jim McShane (google him). He tests ALL of the tubes he has to a level that isn't seen anywhere else. And his prices are decent too. Get the Russian 6p14ev for the outputs(replace the 6bq5/el84/7189) Good tubes and sound very nice.

the 7247 is a 12dw7. the 12ax7 replaced it the next year in the amps and is a preferred sub for the 12dw7. Easier to find the 12ax7 too. The 6dt8 for 6AQ8 sub above is good. I've got one(6dt8) in my '64 CE VII and it works fine.

old stock GE/rca/sylvania/raytheon 6AU6, 6BA6,6BE6 are fine. They are the RF and IF tubes in the tuner. the 6eu7 is gonna be a pricy one. Sovtek 6eu7 @ www.thetubestore.com is cheapest new I could find.

I have this phobia on JJ tubes. Old Stock or Sovtek, and Electroharmonix (EH) are good. Chinese tubes are hit or miss.

All total about $150. for inexpensive tubes. Which in the greater scheme of things isn't bad.

You CAN get good sound from this without Mullard or Tele's. (Super Expensive). Start with domestic and russian tubes to get a baseline and if you feel inclined to get Tele's and Mullards, then start saving your money. Only one of my FISHER consoles /receivers has all TELE's and Mullards. I can't tell the difference between it and any of the others. This hobby gets expensive fast. start out slow, and inexpensive, and work your way up if you wallet (and the wife) will allow.

If it hasn't been worked on internally, it will need at least replacement capacitors, and have the resistors checked for out of spec. Put your city state in your profile and it'll show up on your posts. If you're lucky you might have someone closeby to look it over and help you with working on it, or give you some over the shoulder help.

Larry
 
Damn! Red and I were typing at the same time AGAIN! Gotta stop doing that Red, our wives might get suspicious!! :naughty:

Larry
 
That's a lovely little console, with a very tasty amp inside! Too bad some loser stole the original tubes. :sigh:

Stephen J said:
Those Jensen woofs ain't too shabby either...actually a full range I think :scratch2:
Click to expand...

Just woofers. That's a three-way design laid on its side - you can see the mids and tweets behind the amp. Considering how poorly regarded stand-alone Fisher speakers are, their consoles sounded very good indeed.
 
THANKS Red & Larry, You guys are amazing!!!!

I knew the first identification posted didn't quite look right, but didn't know how to find the correct one. I went ahead and checked out the Owners and service manuals, what a great resource.

I don't think this unit has ever been serviced so might need some work to make it safe and sound. It still has the original yellow paper inspection tags from Fisher hanging off the amp section. I imagine that it still had all its original tubes too. I'm sure they made it to the aftermarket the day after the sale, I looked up what original fisher EL 84s and ECC83s go for and they probably will fetch more than the estate sale was asking for the whole console. The thieves seemed to know what they were doing, only took the priciest tubes too.

I'm in the Los Angeles area. It's hard to find anyone who will work on gear here (at least for a reasonable price), but I do know a couple sources to pursue. I had asked my daughter's boyfriend if he wanted to help restore it, he said he has built small amps for his friends gaming systems but that his soldering is not quite of the caliber he saw on these units. He is a hardware/software/systems engineering student at the university, so likes to work designing units for applied use. This certainly could be a learning experience (for both of us).

After the holidays are over I'll take a stab at getting this project going. I probably should have said "I'll take it" the minute I saw it. I was about the third person in the room at the sale, if only I had protected it, darn live and learn.
I went to the sale hoping for a smaller Fisher tube unit with which to drive my JBL C40 speakers but ended up with a totally different project.
 
I'm still amazed someone took the tubes out. What low-lifes! I like to buy used CD's at the thrifts; half of them are missing the disk. Blows me away, CD's are 50 cents each and people steal them? What scum.
 
Yeah. Some people have no ethics, and don't teach their kids either. I volunteer on a sub memorial museum in Baltimore. Every week we have to go thru the boat and check fuse holders on electronic and electric gear we have on the boat. They steal FUSE HOLDERS!!!!! WTF??? Hopefully one day someone will LEARN. Some times I wish the circuits were energized, just to teach them a lesson. 400hz gear hurts!! When we go and strip ships in the inactive fleet, we have to get two 5 gallon buckets of the things just to keep up.
Not saying that New Yorkers or Bostonians are the worst, but we end up replacing two to three times as many after a Yankees' or Red Sox weekend. Jeez!!!
 
Wigwam Jones said:
I'm still amazed someone took the tubes out. What low-lifes! I like to buy used CD's at the thrifts; half of them are missing the disk. Blows me away, CD's are 50 cents each and people steal them? What scum.
Click to expand...

My Goodwill tapes the cases shut and/or puts a sticker on them with a "disc at counter" notice.
 
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