Old console stereos - worth anything?

stormy

retro porch blaster
I see quite a few of these at estate sales - some are very interesting. But they do not sell well for obvious reasons - age, repairs, transportability. The lady said they donate a lot of them. But they have a great unique vintage look and some unique electronics and turntables.

Is there any value in these older consoles. The one I saw today had a Hewlette Packard radio and a Garrard TT with a good needle. The speakers were actually hidden behind a sliding door on either end. Last week the console had orange speaker cloth (retro cool) and Philco electronics.

Opinions? Just wondering...
 
I am currently looking for one with a cherry or mahogany finish. It is the only way my wife will approve the aquisition. If you see any nice pieces, post a pic on here for all to see.
 
There is one right now two doors down from me and i should go look at it but i feel kind of funny as we live on a busy street maybe when it gets to say 8 o'clock i might walk down and give it a look over.
 
The German made units are nice too.
I did a rebuild on a Grundig majestic SO series some time back.
It had both phono and reel to reel. The unit ran a
seperate power amp using 6BQ5 outputs.
Very cool to look at.
 
glen65 said:
The German made units are nice too.
I did a rebuild on a Grundig majestic SO series some time back.
It had both phono and reel to reel. The unit ran a
seperate power amp using 6BQ5 outputs.
Very cool to look at.

I understand that it is very difficult to find parts to repair these. Is that true?
 
I look for older tube units, especially Fisher or Telefunkens. Magnavox units have yielded some nice amps featured here in AK too.
But the solid state units are just too big and not interesting enough for me so I let them pass.
 
We have done several Grundigs and Telefunkens, just replaced the caps and diodes and they worked great. Some of the tubes in these radios seem to only be used in European products though so they may be difficult to find Performance is verygood, among the best of console stereos.

I have seen both good and cheap console stereos...Old Philcos like from the 40's and 50's (mono of course) are pretty good but later Philcos seem to be kind of crummy.

Magnavox, RCA and Motorola tube type consoles always seem to be of good quality, usually using 6BQ5 or 6V6 outputs.

Zenith usually has good radio performance but don't tend to have quite as good of sound quality as the others. The Zenith Allegro solid state consoles of the 70's do have good power and bass.

Some Airline and Coronado consoles use 7868 outputs and seem to have good sound.

There are some cheaper ones like Olympic and Arvin which just use a 50C5 output like a table radio and are pretty puny on sound.
 
I'd picked up a vintage 1954 Voice Of Music Fidelis Console in a gorgeous mahogany finish awhile back.I know nothing of values of this type of electronics but it's condition ws almost as new and complete w/manual and 45rpm spindle,unfortunately it won't spin,powers up but thats all.Saw a blonde one at a collectors go for $450.!!Tube type puts out 5watts per side,manual says it has 500% reserve.
Check this out for more info...
http://thevoiceofmusic.com/
 
Nice one, G. Even got a reel in it! One thrift near me always has at least one, but sometimes as many as five, consoles waiting for love. Each one costs $15 and yes, they're excellent furniture if nothing else. Some even work.
 
These things have a WAF of negative 4.5 - No way is my wife letting that thing into our house! I have a hard time gettin' permission to bring in a SS receiver.
 
Everywhere

In the past couple weeks I have seen several;
Zenith (60"?)
Airline (Wards?)(tube)
Zenith (96")
Curtis Mathis (about 60 or 72")

Not to mention old speakers like my Altec Sevilles if I can ever get them here. I have decided on what to look for now. For the past few years it was 850/1050 Pioneer receivers and now I want to see what I can find like big HiFi speakers or console stereos but let us not forget their true name;

Home Entertainment Centers :naughty:
 
I got one into the house, gutted, being converted to a stereo "rack" and the top will hold the TV, with a wide screen planned for in the future... :thmbsp:
 
Sylvania console

My dad still has a Sylvania console bought new about 1968 or so, tube unit in a very nice walnut cabinet. Has a built in Gerrard table with Pickering cartridge. Also has 2 Sylvania remote speakers as well, all in very good condition. I remember the preamp has a bunch of inputs. Any value to this, or any interested folks? It's sitting unused in Grand Rapids, MI, hasn't been turned on in a few years.
 
billinkansas said:
My dad still has a Sylvania console bought new about 1968 or so, tube unit in a very nice walnut cabinet. Has a built in Gerrard table with Pickering cartridge. Also has 2 Sylvania remote speakers as well, all in very good condition. I remember the preamp has a bunch of inputs. Any value to this, or any interested folks? It's sitting unused in Grand Rapids, MI, hasn't been turned on in a few years.


Go turn it on and let her run awhile. . . I have an old Zenith table radio (tube) that worked perfect. I let her sit about 6 months then pulled her out the other day and nothing but some pops and clicks where the channels are supposed to be. . .
 
Thanks for the replies. I'll keep my eyes open for some of the german makes. I have to admit - that one last weekend was probably worth it. Definitely worth cannibalizing but I don't have the room at the moment. That may change - I think the misses is "hitting the road" so to speak. So maybe I'll go into the retro-console-stereo business. Or, I'll turn our front room into a console stereo museum.
------------------
"I haven't seen my wife in 2 or 3 years - I'm a happily married man"
Duane Allman
 
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