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Advice wanted: Fisher Console (C-800?)

F

frankolumbo

New Member
Hi,

I'm new to the site here and i wondered if anyone could give a music lover with zero electronics experience a bit of advice.

I've inherited a beautiful Fisher console, and from researching this site, it seems to be a 1958 C-800 (it has 'TV' as an input selection option, not 'Stereo'). It's a mono console, with an R-20 amp. It works very well, apart from a rather loud crackly 'bang' when the record player is switched on, but my main concern is hum. When switching on the unit, there is a low-volume hum, then a louder, more troubling hum once you lay the needle on the record. I didn't want to go anywhere near this lovely object with my home's only screwdriver - I did have an unsuccessful go at turning the hum balance thingy in the back but unfortunately, it didn't help.

I was wondering if anyone on the forum knew of a reliable, sympathetic, reasonably-priced engineer in the Pasadena/LA area who could spruce this baby up. I'm pretty sure it's had no replacement parts fitted in it's long life, and i'd like to get the very best sound possible out of it. It's a beautiful piece of furniture too, of course, so I want to be careful about who works on it from that point of view, too.

Thanks, and may I say I've really enjoyed browsing around the site - the love apparent here for beautifully-made machines really is a joy to read.

Frank
 
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It definately needs a recap. Hum is the #1 symptom of dried out caps. Don't run it anymore until after it's fixed.

Fred in San Diego has a lot of experience with Tube and Solid State gear. As it's a combined chassis, you can take it out of the console, and drop it off with a copy of the manual from FISHERCONSOLES.com.

HEY GUYS! GIMME A HAND HERE! I'm DRAWING A BLANK on FRED's LAST NAME and the name of his shop in S.D. He used to have a link in the sponsor section below but i can't find it now.

I don't know of any techs' that are on AK that are in the Greater LA area. There is a Sticky thread in the General Audio or Vintage Solid State forums that should list some techs in your area.


Larry
 
larryderouin said:
It definately needs a recap. Hum is the #1 symptom of dried out caps. Don't run it anymore until after it's fixed.

Fred in San Diego has a lot of experience with Tube and Solid State gear. As it's a combined chassis, you can take it out of the console, and drop it off with a copy of the manual from FISHERCONSOLES.com.

HEY GUYS! GIMME A HAND HERE! I'm DRAWING A BLANK on FRED's LAST NAME and the name of his shop in S.D. He used to have a link in the sponsor section below but i can't find it now.

I don't know of any techs' that are on AK that are in the Greater LA area. There is a Sticky thread in the General Audio or Vintage Solid State forums that should list some techs in your area.

Larry
Click to expand...

Fred Longworth from Classic Audio Repair, perhaps?

-D
 
Thanks Larry and Derek! I really appreciate you taking the time. There's a place in LA called "Rewind Audio" that i found online, and i will investigate them first. I will let the forum know how i get on, good or bad.

frank
 
just an update on "rewind audio" in LA: it seems they don't have an engineer at the moment, but hope to have one on site "soon". they pointed me towards another business in town called "solutions", but the poor reviews on yelp put me off...

so, if there's anyone who knows someone in LA who could be entrusted with giving a 1959 fisher an overhaul, please get in touch. else, i'll have to take a trip to san diego, but i'd like to avoid a long trip with the console.
 
You don't need to take the whole console. Pull the "head unit" out and mark the pilot light and speaker term's. They need it out ofthe cabinet anyway to work on it. So save yourself some labor cost and do that yourself. Make sure you have a copy of the Service Manual/Schematic.

Larry
 
Hi Larry,

Thanks a lot. I found a repair shop down in West Hollywood yesterday. I wrote to them and they said they could work on the console but not the R-20 amp (because "parts are no longer available"). Seems odd to me. Wouldn't there be modern equivalents to the capacitors? Unfortunately, I don't have the service manual.

I'll have a look at detaching the amp (the "head unit" is the amp, right?), but I'm not good with this stuff, and am a bit worried about damaging anything.

Again, thanks for taking the time to answer.
Frank
 
Many folks do not know how or are unwilling to tinker with tubes. It currently works, so the chances of some difficult to find part being bad are pretty slim. All the rest of the parts can be fairly easily obtained. Honestly, its better to be told ahead of time that they won't work on it rather than end up with a ruined basket case because someone who shouldn't have been tinkering with it got their hands in there.

The console itself is just a box. Not quite sure what they mean when they say they can work on the console, but not the electronics. That doesn't make a lot of sense unless they do furniture repair or something.
 
Even if a repair shop doesn't work on tube gear, stating that "parts aren't available" reveals that they're either hopelessly uninformed or jerks, IMHO. Better customer service would be to simply say "we only work on solid state equipment" or whatever else is appropriate.
 
Yeah, thanks guys - that's my feeling on that place, too, although I'm glad they told me straight out. The hum problem in my console is actually only on the record player side of things (and it gets louder when you drop the needle onto the record). I was wondering if that could be a cartridge problem. Is it still possible to get a replacement/equivalent cartridge for the player? Right now, it still has the original. Also, could someone tell me what the cream-coloured attachment that is secured to the top left of the turntable is?
 
Cartridges are available. I use www.turntableneedles.com for stylus' for all my cartridges. Sounds like a grounding problem in the headshell. The headshell is removable. Pull straight off, you'll need to wiggle it a bit. Clean the contacts on the end of the headshell. You've probably got a GE-VR or VR II cartridge on it.

The manuals for the C-800 (Owners, Schematic and parts list, and supporting documents.....get them all) are available on www.fisherconsoles.com . It's got a lot of information you need to know on how this unit works.

The Circular attachment is the 45rpm spindle. Pull the regular spindle out and put this one in. Now you can play 45rpm singles.

The Head Unit is the Amp yes. There are a bunch of AK'ers in the Los Angeles area (you'd have to start a thread in the General or Tube forums to find them) that are able to repair your unit for probably a 6 pack or a 24 pack (depending on whats wrong) for minor problems or for small $$ for a rebuild or at least help you get started repairing it yourself.

MARTY, SOCAL is one of the guys I'm thinking of. Socal Sam is another.
If you were close to Baltimore I'd come over. But I don't fly any more. Too many morons calling themselves Airport Security for me.

Larry
 
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Record player hum may be dirty / bad cables, a loose ground, or dirty connections anywhere between the cartridge and the amplifier. Not sure what changer it runs but cleaning all of the connections would be a good start.

Just a side note, if thats a mono cartridge, you don't want to play stereo records on it. it will damage them.
 
gadget. Original equipment is a garrard RC-121 with a GE VR Cart. Definately mono.
 
Depending on the year of production, it could have either a VR-RPX (heavy) or VRII (light).
 
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