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Newb with a 63 Ambassador V

S

scupbucket

New Member
Hi There! I bought a 63 Ambassador V (modern style) for 75 bucks at an estate sale on a tip from one of my friends heavily into consoles and hi-fi. I had never been into vintage audio **TOTAL NEWB** but glad I listened to him because this thing is AMAZING! I still want to get this pro-tuned up for safety sake but as-is, the sound is incredible! It was well taken care of and played quite often from what I was told… it looks and sounds beautiful. So what's been dragging my anchor is that the speaker cloth is sagging and it bothers the heck out of me each time I look at it. Anyone have any experience with giving these a face-lift? Doesn't seem to be any frame that pops out or anything. I'm thinking I have to attack it from the back? Can of worms? Sweet site guys! :music:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78602627@N06/7035020733/in/photostream/
 
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Generally the speaker board is held in with wood screws from the back - you SHOULD be able to get at all of them to remove the board. Probably best to remove speaker(s) first...
 
First off ,,,, Welcome aboard.

Being that you said you were new to all this, a word of caution.
Remember when your back there taking those screws out, the magnets on the speakers will pull that screw driver and do nasty things to the cones.....
 
Welcome aboard. to back up Tom, the speaker baffle (board) will come off from the back. You'll need a phillips screwdriver, and a 5/16" nut driver (to remove the larger of the speakers. Leave the small ones alone, IIRC they are either in a can or they are solid bottomed. But DO pay attention to the Magnet and screwdriver proximity and which wire goes where.


When you get the baffles out, stretch the fabric slightly and staple the cloth down along the edges on the BACK SIDE! If you have some hot glue that may help also.

If the amp hasn't had any work done to it, it would be PRUDENT to renew the power supply caps, and the output coupling caps. The amp should have enough room underneath to install separate caps to replace the sections in the cans. and the couplers are simple to replace. Find a friend with an electronics background and spend an afternoon working on it with the promise of a few brewski's afterward. If you edit your profile to add a location (county, state) you might get lucky and find an AK'er close by.

Larry

Larry
 
Thanks for the replies and advice fellas. I'm located in little ol East Aurora (Buffalo). Seems like it's pretty straight forward then for the speakers and I'm sure I'll be posting more questions after they look like swiss cheese :).

Larry, you're absolutely right, I'm impressed with how it performs right now but I want to make sure nothing is going to go *ker-poof* and I'm out of music time. I'm going have someone look the components over and make sure everything is safe and sound and tuned the way she should be and I'd like to learn a thing or to along the way... like how to replace all those tootsie rolls and necco wafers in there. I've gotten some advice from a few local shops and surprisingly it's been "if it ain't broke...". I often agree with that mentality but in this case I'll play it safe.
 
I love that veneer work on the front. Its very mid-century looking.


Problem with "if it ain't broke" is that it doesn't quite work out so well once things get to a certain age. If it was used regularly, its probably in much better internal shape than if it had been sitting there since 1967 without being touched but the parts will have degraded after all these years. In some cases, it may have degraded to the point where it risks being unsafe or at least unreliable. Repair shops tend to be just that, someplace that fixes stuff when it breaks. What you need is a restoration shop, someone that will make it work like it did when brand new.
 
Tom's in Rochester. Don't know if he'd be interested in looking at a FISHER, (he's the Stromberg Carlson guy around here) but it might be worth a shot. Usually the "Necco Wafers" or ceramics are fine. The "DogTurds" arethe ones that need to be changed out. Fairly easy to do. One lead at a time, and make sure the values match. The voltages can be the same, but higher wont hurt. I usually put in at least 400V replacements for 125 and 250V originals and 600V for 400v originals.

The amps in theres are quite simple. Once you get into the tuner/pre's then it gets complicated.

Larry
 
Popped a new Stanton 500.V3 on the TT (Garrard Type A), made adjustments, and my old vinyl sounds sa-WEET! Gonna tackle the speakers next week. In the meantime, I downloaded the schematics and immediately went cross-eyed. The only experience I've had with schematics are on my 74 beetle and that was just to run headlamp wires and dome lights. Yikes! I might seek a pro for now but I anticipate the whole "can of worms" theory kicking in and I'l be dying to figure out how to do it myself. So I'm still looking for someone to do restos in the area. I've heard Precision Audio's name mentioned a few times. Anyone have any experience with their work? Thanks for the warm welcome too! :)
 
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