TheRed1
Console Conservationist
Part 1 of 5 (1959-1964)
High Fidelity, Oct. 1962
1960
1961
In 1961 Fisher added the lower-cost XP-2 ($84.50) and the premium XP-3 ($224.50) while continuing to offer the XP-1 as a mid-line model at the same price ($129.50). The XP-3 appears to have only been available for short time early in the model year and was replaced mid-season by the slightly less expensive XP-4 ($199.50).
The XP-2 was offered as part of Fisher's nifty little 'Custom Module' mini-console paired with a TA-600. Despite the scarcity of information on the 'Modules', I have been able to trace them through 1965. The 1962 CM II used a 100-R, X-100, MPX-200 and a pair of XP-2's. The 1964 CM III used the 50B tuner with an X-100-B and XP-2's. The 1965 CM IV used a 400 receiver and XP-5's.
1961½
1963
The XP series (XP-1A, XP-2A & XP-4A) were all updated, receiving the new rectangular two-tone badge with the Fisher swallow. It is probable that there were also changes in the speaker design but I don't know the details. Prices remained unchanged.
1964
Do any of you Fisher collectors have early XP Series Fisher speakers? It would be interesting to get some impressions of the quality and potential desirability of Bill Hecht's creations. Photos would be cool, too.
High Fidelity, Oct. 1962
To be able to quickly enter into the rapidly expanding small-box component speaker market of the late 1950s, Fisher contracted with Bill Hecht's United Speaker Systems, Inc. of East Orange, NJ. That exclusive relationship lasted until Avery Fisher sold his company to Emerson in 1969. The first product of this partnership was the XP-1 which sold for $129.50. Introduced in 1959 for the 1960 model year, early versions are shown with an "egg crate" style grill and the classic script 'TheFisher' badge. Later version are shown with a standard cloth grill.Until the late 1950s, Fisher made electronic equipment almost exclusively, regarding other components as “machine-shop work”. The one exception to the rule was a “universal” speaker enclosure, the product of Fisher’s close contact with the concerns of the audio hobbyist. Though the enclosure was allegedly universal, people kept asking Fisher what speaker to put in it - and customers for the electronics parts had always requested recommendations of loudspeakers. “I began to feel,” Fisher says, “that we were sending other people a lot of business.”
Small-box speaker systems were already on the market and selling handsomely, and Fisher believed that the speakers of the future would have to fit into small enclosures - particularly since stereo was on the way. (Fisher likes stereo, incidentally, mostly because he feels it has forced record pressers and pickup makers to get on the ball.) As for Fisher’s consoles, these units required relatively high-efficiency speaker systems - also suitable for small enclosures. In 1959, Fisher brought out the “free-piston” design, for the better consoles and as a separate component item. The recent XP4-A actually is a fifth improvement of this product (though its basic principle, the woofer cone attached directly to the enclosure rather to its own basket, has remained unchanged). Fisher gives no figures on sales, but says the speakers are now a “substantial fraction” of his total business.
1960
1961
In 1961 Fisher added the lower-cost XP-2 ($84.50) and the premium XP-3 ($224.50) while continuing to offer the XP-1 as a mid-line model at the same price ($129.50). The XP-3 appears to have only been available for short time early in the model year and was replaced mid-season by the slightly less expensive XP-4 ($199.50).
The XP-2 was offered as part of Fisher's nifty little 'Custom Module' mini-console paired with a TA-600. Despite the scarcity of information on the 'Modules', I have been able to trace them through 1965. The 1962 CM II used a 100-R, X-100, MPX-200 and a pair of XP-2's. The 1964 CM III used the 50B tuner with an X-100-B and XP-2's. The 1965 CM IV used a 400 receiver and XP-5's.
1961½
1963
The XP series (XP-1A, XP-2A & XP-4A) were all updated, receiving the new rectangular two-tone badge with the Fisher swallow. It is probable that there were also changes in the speaker design but I don't know the details. Prices remained unchanged.
1964
Do any of you Fisher collectors have early XP Series Fisher speakers? It would be interesting to get some impressions of the quality and potential desirability of Bill Hecht's creations. Photos would be cool, too.
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