What is this?

I'm wondering about that drawer in the Right side speaker compartment. Is the slide mounted internally or just on the front. Also there is a board just above it that looks like a separator plate. If that drawer is stock, then there's no way that a 15" with an 8" mid and 2 3-1/2 tweeters would fit in the front. Maybe a Horn mid and a Horn tweeter with a 15" like a 56', 57', or 58'. In 59' they changed to the cone mid and 2 tweeters per side.

Carter isn't sure about the speaker configuration(whether front or down firing) but the 1956 and 1957 models have 2 woofers (15") 2 Horn type Mids and 2 horn type tweeters, but he did read somewhere that the speakers might have been Altec's. If you have the front bezel behind the grilles for the speakers they would tell the story. Also is there a mounting board for the tuner preamp handy that came with the unit (or the front bezel?). The Front Bezel would tell us whether it was a 57/58 or a 59 to 61. I'm still NOT convinced it's a 59' to 61'. Can you find any Ink Stamped info on the cabinet anywhere on the inside or the bottom.

1956 President (Late 56 model year catalog)
1956 Fisher Catalog (Late) President.jpg

1957
1957 Fisher Catalog President.jpg


1958
1958 Fisher Catalog President.jpg


1959 Mid Season (1960) 60 and 61 same.
1959 Fisher Catalog (Mid-Season) President.jpg
 
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The drawers are NOT stock. They were done very nicely but there is no internal mounting hardware. Both drawers were pretty much collapse-able, once the drawer was removed.

It actually helps because now I a cut a new grill front and try to find a replacement grill cloth that resembles the original fabric.
 
without checking the date on the Ampex 960, it seems that this may be an earlier unit '57-'58..

that being said, where would I begin my search for the seemingly impossible to find mono preamps for this?

anybody got a lead? something?
 
Ebay probably. Estate sales locally within 100 miles. Yard Sales in older neighborhoods (that would support a console of the Presidents standing).
1957-58 Gear configuration. AM-80, FM-80, 80-PRT, 80-A(Z)
The PRT-80 (preamp/control center) is going to be the hardest thing to find. Last 80A(z) I saw went for something close to $2.5K. Even the tuner's are going to be very hard to find, just because of their rarity.

It might be easier to go with the1959 to 1961 gear configuration......101-R, 400-C, 100 amp The 101-R is also known as the 4000R, the 400C is also known as the 4000C as shown in the 1961 configuration. The 400C will probably be the most expensive piece with The SA-100 right behind it.

Leave your options open with regard to the speakers. Try them as downfiring 1st (before final cabinet work) as the Bass is basically omni-directional, it may sound better downfiring than front firing, Unless you want chest thumping Bass.

If you find either of the above configurations excessively expensive, you could use a FISHER FM200B and a X-1000 integrated, a X202B, X101C. OR the FM200B with a 400CX2 preamp and a SA-300 or 1000 amp. You could make different front panels for different units, and even one for a 400-500c/800c receiver.

Larry
 
WOW! Those are gorgeous. The faceplates are as close to mint as you'd ever find. Note, too, that the tape jacks on the back are marked "Ampex". Obviously that r2r belongs with the cabinet.

Wonder what happened to that '58 executive that popped up and quickly vanished a few months ago. Wasn't that also from the Chicago area?

This is well worth saving. Look at it this way--tody, a surviving cabinet is probably the most rare part of the entire console assembly. Oh, and this should be a Widdicomb cabinet.
 
Wonder what happened to that '58 executive that popped up and quickly vanished a few months ago. Wasn't that also from the Chicago area?

I spoke with the gentleman who owns it (at length) on the phone, weeks after it was first posted about. He asked me to appraise it for him and I told him it was too rare and there were no comparable sales. I said if I had to guess it might sell for ~ $1200. He was clearly put off by my number, he believes it is worth untold thousands of dollars more . He received so many emails from the console being shared on this site that he thinks he must have a treasure akin to a long lost Van Gogh or DaVinci masterwork.

As much as I would've like to acquire this piece I made up my mind to let it go. The owner is too eccentric (strange) for me to deal with. He wouldn't let me see it in person, he's afraid he'd be robbed or that it's "secure location" would be compromised. I expect the console will deteriorate in storage forever with the owner certain he will someday pay off his mortgage or retire when the right well heeled collector comes along.
 
That's sad and I've come across that type of "collector" many times in the old car hobby. There was a junkyard in Jersey filled with restorable cars, mostly Cadillacs from the late 40s to the early 80s. A friend and I stopped by without an appointment and he let us walk through the lot but we couldn't have any metal on us--a dime could be used as a screwdriver, he said. He wouldn't sell us anything. A lot of these cars still had the original floor mats that are unobtainable today.

Well, he died and all his treasures are tin foil and priuses now...
 
The bottom holes are not stock, I thought they might be at first as well. If you look carefully the cloth is wrinkly and puckered, Fisher didn't do that. Also the drawers and speaker cloth are not original. The console had a plywood speaker board in the front covered in cane that is missing. It will be easy enough to recreate and Tracy can use mine as a factory reference. Tracy's plan to fill the holes in with like thickness plywood will work perfectly. Cut, fit, glue, then fill in the gap and sand smooth. I had to do that exact repair on a Magnavox Concert Grand I restored a few years ago.

Time for me to eat some crow here. Yesterday I helped my friend pick up an all original 57 President. The story is his to share, but I was immediately proved wrong. The woofers do fire downward in these early President consoles with mid range and high range horns firing forward.
 
c'mon now, go easy on yourself. what we found out yesterday was like uncovering one of console history's biggest mysteries.

we solved this together.

and yes, I have a 1957 Fisher President in my possession, so I guess that makes 2 for me?

oh yeah, this ones complete...
 
Aw come on. Now you're gonna have everyone on PINS & Needles.

:needpics: :needpics:
 
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A couple updates:

Grills have been put back to original.

And we found an original 1957 receipt from Allied.
 

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Laminate that sucker and put it in a 3 ring binder with all the paperwork.
 
Original receipt, wow. Here I was thrilled when I found the build sheet for my Continental over the weekend and thats only half the age.
 
I have another question, I pulled off the back cabinet closure for the speakers and I was greeted by this stuff.

what in the world is this sound deadening material?
 

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Corrugated paper! Pull all of it out and line the inside with some R-11 Fiberglass. If the R-11 has the paper, separate it from the F-Glass, and staple or glue to the cabinet in same place as original.
 
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