Hello to all and first project!

D. B. Cooper

New Member
Hey guys!
I've lurked here before and spend a decent amount of time on other forums. This one looks great! I'm excited to become member.
I've decided for my first project while on this forum I'm going to update/retrofit an old RCA console.
I realize that this has probably been talked about many times and is probably old news to all of you guys. I also fully realize that this project, by it's very nature has flaws.
But I am one who likes to bring new life to old worn out things. Brings me a certain sense of satisfaction and usually some aesthetic happiness.
I refurbish vintage drums and furniture as a couple of my other hobbies and I love to work with wood. I have a certain amount of knowledge of technology, so don't baby me too much here, in your responses.

Ok. So here's what I want to do.
I have an old RCA stereo console that I found in my grandma's house that wasn't being used. From the 60's, I believe.
It's in overall decent condition except for a few things. 4 of the 6 speakers aren't working and the turntable spins too fast.
All in all, when appraised by a stereo technician, it was going to cost $400+ to refurbish. And then what? I'd end up with a perfectly functioning stereo that doesn't really sound that great?
I figured, why not just spend the money making the thing actually sound good and be fully functional?
So I'm thinking about adding all new guts to the shell of the console.
I can easily swap-out the turntable for a modern one and I'm very capable of pulling out all of the internal equipment and replacing it with more modern or high quality stuff. I can also easily fabricate some kind of face plate or mounting brackets.
After thinking on this for a while, I realized that I have no knowledge of most things hi-fi and don't really know where to start in terms of selecting brands and models.
How much does it matter in the end if all of the components are going in a console? I'm guessing it can only sound SO good if the speakers are confined to this wooden shell? I really don't know.
I don't want to spend thousands on this project but I am interested in finding out the best way to make this a modern, functional stereo.


Things I'd like it to have:
AM/FM Tuner
Turn table
Auxillary input
Bluetooth in
Decent, nice sounding, speakers and other components.

How would you do it?
Really, I have tons of room inside this thing so I could really put anything in there.
It currently has a large speaker and two small ones on each side.

I thought about buying some kind of nice receiver, removing the metal housing and then mounting it on it's side with the face up with a small computer fan to cool it, since it won't be oriented for proper heat sinking. Think that could work?
Or should I just by each component separately and mount individual little control modules for each one. I could make a wooden faceplate and mount a radio tuner face and the Bluetooth face and everything else right on there where the only controls used to be.

Thoughts? Insight?

Thanks everybody!

-Mac



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Hi Mac

Welcome to AK!!!, you mentioned "so don't baby me too much here, in your responses." Let me start by saying that is, as bigaltx24 posted, looks to be a solid state unit probably from the mid to late 60's. I hear what your saying with regards to gutting it and putting new or newish components in it but finding the equipment that is going to fit into the existing spaces could be A) very time consuming, B) somewhat costly and C) in my humble opinion not worth it.

I can't tell from the picture you posted where the speakers are located, are they on the sides?. This makes me wonder how it would sound even with all new speakers. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder that being said it's not that pleasing to the eye.

If a console stereo is a something you're set on you could do a lot better. Keep an eye open on your local CL maybe check out a local used furniture shop. There are some really well made furniture grade consoles out there that would be worth the effort as opposed to this one.

Not trying to be a jerk just adding my 2 cents to the thread.
 
Hi Mac,

That looks like a cool project. Are there connections on the back of the console? If so, do you have pictures? How about a picture of the receiver front?
 
Welcome to AK.
You would have a limitation with the turntable and speakers in same cabinet. Vibration feedback to the stylus would be difficult to reduce or eliminate.
A Class D or other low heat producing amp/receiver that could handle enclosed console.
Does it have sentimental value to you? There are some nice consoles out there. Are you starting with a quality built cabinet, that will be worth effort, cash? One pic, is difficult to tell.
Could leave speakers in console unused. Get a nice pair of similar age vintage bookshelf speakers to setup away from console. Eliminate feedback issue.
I'm no project expert.
A budget range?
 
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Thanks for the replies, guys. I appreciate it.
Just for the sake of me understanding this issue more clearly, if having speakers and the turntable in the same unit worked relatively well so far in this thing's life, why would new equipment change that? The current turntable is on some kind of spring to reduce vibration. Couldn't I just do something like that with the new one? IMG_20180214_082314415.jpg

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That looks like a fun project. If it was mine, I think I would drop in a nice "receiver" that measures close to the existing tuner opening (Marantz 22xx series faceplates are like a flange) and might reduce the amount of fabricating needed, but I'm sure there are many options. Gut the existing electronics, and try using the existing speakers to see how that sounds. You can usually find the measurements of various equipment on "hifi engine", then look for something close to the size you need. Just my thought's, have fun!!
 
I was thinking that given the fact that the current tuner faceplate's orientation is "vertical" it might be too hard to find a suitable replacement, so I could just build one.
Also, most won't fit anyways because they would have to be 13" or less wide to fit I to the cabinet.
 
Thanks for the replies, guys. I appreciate it.
Just for the sake of me understanding this issue more clearly, if having speakers and the turntable in the same unit worked relatively well so far in this thing's life, why would new equipment change that? The current turntable is on some kind of spring to reduce vibration. Couldn't I just do something like that with the new one? View attachment 1114298

View attachment 1114294 View attachment 1114294 View attachment 1114295View attachment 1114296

From reading your first post. You wanted to make it sound better than it originally did. That is why I mentioned separating speakers from cabinet to reduce vibration feedback.
If you want to just get it back to original sound, could try to find out what componets work in it.
Read the Deoxit titled thread in General section and clean receiver. Check speakers with multimeter to see if dead or maybe crossover issues causing speakers not to work.
Then go from there, to decide what's better to fix or replace.
A replacement turntable could be spring suspended like that one or some have isolating feet. Or isolating feet can be added under turntable, like Sorbothane feet or pads.
Possibly, some bookshelf cabinet speakers could be set or mounted in cabinet to replace those speakers and crossovers. Replace tuner and amp with a receiver mounted at 90°.
Have fun with project.
 
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Thanks for the replies, guys. I appreciate it.
Just for the sake of me understanding this issue more clearly, if having speakers and the turntable in the same unit worked relatively well so far in this thing's life, why would new equipment change that? The current turntable is on some kind of spring to reduce vibration. Couldn't I just do something like that with the new one? View attachment 1114298
Thanks for posting the additional pictures, including the pictures of the back of the unit. Based on what I see, it looks like it was designed to handle remote speakers (see the speakers connection terminals). The means that you could use higher quality external speakers and just forget about the internal speakers. Also, it looks like you have RCA jacks on the back which probably are the AUX (auxiliary) inputs. The AUX inputs can be used in conjunction with a bluetooth receiver to obtain the bluetooth capability you desire. Based on all this new information, I would recommend refurbishing the current electronics. Does the radio work (AM FM/FM stereo)?

I would also recommend repairing the existing record player. The most likely repair is to simply clean off the original grease and re-lube.

This should be a fun project. Good luck.
 
Thanks for posting the additional pictures, including the pictures of the back of the unit. Based on what I see, it looks like it was designed to handle remote speakers (see the speakers connection terminals). The means that you could use higher quality external speakers and just forget about the internal speakers. Also, it looks like you have RCA jacks on the back which probably are the AUX (auxiliary) inputs. The AUX inputs can be used in conjunction with a bluetooth receiver to obtain the bluetooth capability you desire. Based on all this new information, I would recommend refurbishing the current electronics. Does the radio work (AM FM/FM stereo)?

I would also recommend repairing the existing record player. The most likely repair is to simply clean off the original grease and re-lube.

This should be a fun project. Good luck.

Thanks man!
The radio sort of works, may just be antenna issues. The fella at a radio shop in my city told me that the problems with it are probably something that would cost a lot around $400 to fix. I just kind of thought, for that money, I could buy nicer electronics and make it sound better.
 
I second what tcdriver said. I would start by seeing what I could do to get sound out of the existing electronics.

If you could get it up and running properly, it would be a "feather" in your cap along the road to more fun with this hobby.

I also think having a low-fi piece is of high value for background listening. Most of us have a place we would like to produce sound (music) that doesn't require much as fr as high fidelity. Having a piece that was "restored" as one of your own projects might make it special enough.

Just being creative enough to add some streaming capability like blue-tooth might be the ticket. And inexpensive.
 
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