Fisher 800-t - best in my basement until now?

pqrannes

pqrannes

Tubes warm your heart too
Hi you skilled AK's,'

While y'all are getting ready to comment on this Fisher thread: http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=49024
and even on one of my own (totally?) ignored Sansui stories (about my dying monster - the au-9900): http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=49001 I'll tell you this story.

Yesterday, I bought a Fisher 800-t receiver ("The Fisher" it says on the dial plate, I'm driven to tears, it's just so nice) at the scouts weekly garage sale. And do I love this one? Sitting in my basement (3 m x3 m) it is the best amp/receeiver being down there. I'm afraid it beats even my belowed Sansui au-9900. Hooked up to some ol' (80is, not that old) two ways Mission speakers (with their brand new Peerless titanium dome tweeters that I bought here locally last week) the made almost everything shivering (windows etc.) in the basement. And that is good down there

But you Fisher-Kings! What are we looking at here? Not much info is to be found at the web. But the "The Fisher" just looks so fine (pictures will follow!) just sounds so goooooood. And on the back of "The Fisher" I find so many questions. "Reverb" it says where the preamp and the power amp is connected. Help me on this one! And it indicates that a "Centre speaker" is to be connected; what is that? Some kind of Brian Eno-ish ambiant set up?

Many kind greetings from Octoberish Denmark and

Peter
 
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The weather here in eastern Nebraska went from 90F yesterday to the upper 50s today, overnight into tomorrow should drop below freezing. Bummer, but summer is gone--will be nice if we get an Indian summer.
The Orion guide only say the 800 T is from 1968-72. I'd guess it to be about 30 wpc.
Those were good old days for The Fisher gear.
 
The reverb in/out is not the preout/amp in but what would have later been termed a processor in/out. The 800 T I understand was the TOTL 1st gen all SS receiver but the person to ask would be jimmydee on AA who is into the Fisher SS to the point he actually will repair/rebuild them which apparently is a chore. I have an ealrier amp and tuner and so far those who know Fisher go running in the other direction yelling when I ask about having them gone over. It is a time consumng project to replace the caps and apparently these early units were prone to cold solder joints since the company was a pioneer in the use of pcbs with the wave solder baths.

My amp and tuner sound better than much of what I have for receivers but don't want to run them b/f getting a going over. The US Fisher SS gear is only now starting to attract a little attention in the market which surprises me since these I think were some of the finest examples of ss design and construction quality of almost anything save the Marantz 18, 19, and McIntosh 1900 and 4100. The later TX with the varactor tuner was so far ahead of its time and adding the remote makes it a modern functioning unit simply with vintage technology.

COngrats.
 
Hey Pqrannes & all , All I know is , I don't even know with all these receivers pile'n up around here...I've got a "FISHER" 800 (Whoops) "THE" FISHER 800 "Tune-O-Matic" but on the badge it just says 800. I don't remember what I paid for it but , Oh Yea , I remember now. I got it and a 'PIONEER" SX-450 for under $20.00 at Goodwill (all I had). They both worked and I remember the "THE FISHER" sounding surprisingly good. Same with the SX-450 (BIG SOUND from tiny Pioneer I mean) The ol' FISHER" is sittin' with our Non silver gear , but time to get it out and fire it up again....Luv to see pics. of yours pqrannes. I could surely use some info on my "FISHER" 800 tune-o-matic also. Just because I've got A BUNCH of receivers in the collection , I'm only really familiar with the "PIONEERS" BUT WHAT A PLACE TO LEARN !.......... Cheers !
 
For what it's worth, I picked up a The Fisher 440-T at the local thrift for $10. I've never owned Fisher, so what the heck. This is an early solid state receiver from the 60's. Turns out to be the best tuner I have. Better than my HK's from the 70's.

Jim
 
I found a decrepit looking Fisher 400-T in a thrift this spring. Felt sorry for it, so I brought it home to practice rehab. It has the cool Tune-O-Matic. It sounds very warm; I don't know if this is 'The Fisher' sound or capacitor degradation. I guess the next rehab step would be cap replacement, though nothing is leaking or bulging inside.

Tom
 
800-t = 500tx?

HI Mikeymax and all,

Thx for throwing in your two cents. On the front my Fisher says 800 but on backside it sure says "800-t. The pictures are coming up, soon so U all will see. And see how good looking this Fisher really is. I even got some nudies for U!

But I got the Fisher out of the basement today (the whole family is away at the summer cottage!) and gave her a run with the ol' Sansui's. Not bad! But bad is the left side; some distortion after a while. The dear Diana Krall didn't sound allright. I've turn the Fisher off and uses my old NAD as a substitute for everything that's broke down. The Fisher will get another shot when it has cooled down. This kind of distortion (as with my sansui au-9900) seems to come when the old amps heats up.

I might need to get a service manual for The Fisher in order to check the DC-offset and the bias (the only thing I know of, untill now). It seems like the 800-t (no manuals available) is identical with the 500tx (lots of manuals around). Any comments on that?


Cheers

Peter (who yesterday found a Tandberg receiver "Huldra 9" with tubes in the tuner part and a pair of Danish Scandyna speakers identical with the Dynaco - out of the same factory here in Denmark - A-10 speakers with a good reputation).
 
Time for pictures

I promised you all pictures of my new love, The Fisher 800-t (500tx?).

Since there is only little info and pictures on the web on the Fisher stuff it is my time to do some good!

First you’ll get pictures of the beautiful front and the interesting back side:

Peter
 

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More pictures

The next pitures are:
1) A closed up on the "The Fisher" sign
2) The tune-o-matic section with both manual tuner button, preset buttons and the tune-o-matic buttions
3) The name plate of the Fisher 800-t
4) the inputs with the 'reverb' in and out that acts like a preamp out and main in

Now I only need to fiind out if the 800-t is identical with the 500-tx and the 500-tx Service manual will do for the 800-t too. I need to get that DC-offset down to zero and get that Fisher to sing for me.

Peter, Denmark
 
My understadning is the 800 is the export version of the 500TX utilizing a multi-voltage x-former. It should also have a different de-emphasis network that may be switchable internally. Also the 800 has the black upper panel vs the woodgrain of the 500.
 
and with nudies

Thx Brian, that sounds as a good explanation of the 800 vs. 500 tx issue.

I forgot to attache the promised nudies.

Here they are!

Peter,
 

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yet another picture

And here is for the convinience of every one else a picture from the web of the 500 tx.

Peter,
 
I'd dare anyone to tell us that Fisher's heyday did not include the US SS production period. Some of the finest looking guts of any companies receivers were in them by that's only my opinion. Other companies may heve produced one offs but Fisher did it with their entire line for almost a decade.
 
Nice receiver there! Vastly underrated in my opinion...

I was looking at the nudies and there seems to be a little can electrolytic at the left of the output circuit PCB. Perhaps the unit is capacitor coupled. If so, no need to worry for DC offset adjustments. :thmbsp:
 
I can verify that the back panel of my 500-TX is identical to the back panel of the 800-T, except that the 500 only has one auxiliary AC outlet between the cord and the fuse, at it's 120v only.

And it has the champagne colored top half of the front panel the same as the picture of the 500 that you posted.

This is indeed a rock-solid receiver, and, along with the 700-T, is underappreciated and rapidly gaining in value. The last few sales on ebay have been in the $125 range, which is double what they were going for a year ago.
 
I just got home with a mint Fisher 800-T. As mentioned previously, the 500-TX and 800-T are electronic twins. The operating instructions (yes, I got the original operating instructions with mine) are titled The Fisher 500-TX, but have in smaller print near the top "This manual also covers the 800-T receiver."

The manual lists the output at 65 wpc RMS at 1 kHz, 0.5% THD, frequency response 15 to 40,000 Hz at +/- 1.5 dB.

The center speaker jacks blend the left/right signals to form a monophonic signal, useful for using a center channel speaker.

If there is any interest I can scan the manual and send it via PDF.
 
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According to Orion, there were several 'flavors' of the 800.
The 800 (1961-62), 800A (1963-64), and 800C (1965-66) were tube recievers.
 
Photobitstream said:
I just got home with a mint Fisher 800-T. As mentioned previously, the 500-TX and 800-T are electronic twins. The operating instructions (yes, I got the original operating instructions with mine) is titles The Fisher 500-TX, but has in smaller print near the top "This manual also cover the 800-T receiver"

Manual lists the output at 65 wpc RMS at 1 kHz, 0.5% THD, frequency response 15 to 40,000 Hz at +/- 1.5 dB.

The center speaker jacks blend the left/right signals to form a monophonic signal, useful for using a center channel speaker.

If there is any interest I can scan the manual and send it via PDF.
Click to expand...

Hi Photobitstream,

Congratulations on your mint 800-t "The Fisher" and thx for the info.

I hope you like it as much as I do mine. It is a very nice and interesting and good sounding receiver. Mine is back in the basement serving as workshop radio but will be back in the living room as soon as I get my new music room set up. In the basement it is feeding a pair of AR6's with torn woofer but these items of all American vintage hi-fi go so good together. Its hard to leave the basement when The Fisher is singing!

Thx for the info on the centre speaker - it is then the ambient speaker setup Brian Eno suggested on the cover of one of his records.

:tresbon: And yes, I will be very, very happy to get access to a (pdf) copy of the original manual.


Peter, Denmark
 
Give me a couple of days, Peter. I'll be running around town tomorrow gathering info for buying the house we're living in. I should have some spare time by Tuesday, and will send you a PM when I get the PDF together.
 
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