Anyone Know What Model This Is?

india42

AK Subscriber
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This is listed on Chicago Craigslist, I'm visiting here, but I just can't find a wa y to get it! Maybe some fellow AKer can score it.

01010_cEy60D5JOlD_600x450.jpg 00H0H_42DZC7IV13B_600x450.jpg
 
Looks like an AMPEX 950 R2R, Garrard RC-88 or 98 Turntable, and I want to say an 80-T but the preamp doesn't fit the 80-T with regard to the number of knobs. This looks like a custom cabinet with FISHER gear installed. IT could possibly be similar to an Executive I or even an Executive II but that is totally conjecture. The big giveaway that this probably isn't a Fisher is 1.) Highend Fisher's prior to 1961 were all front loaders, 2.) the clock or Needle minder above the tuner. Fisher didn't have this part. But all the rest of the gear looks like FISHER. HOWEVER! The Tuner/PREAMP could be an AMPEX as AMPEX used modified FISHER Tuner's for a couple years. The Tuner /preamp doesn't match any of the Tuner/preamps of the 50's that I'm familiar with. The closest model I can identify is an 80-T but it has 3 knobs on the lower end vs. 5 that this has.

In any case it's probably got top drawer Late 50's gear inside. I'd love to see what's in the back for amps.

Larry

P.S. I searched for over an hour on Chitown Craigslist and couldn't find it. Start a conversation with me(send me a PM) the direct link please.

Larry
 
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I also don't know precisely what it is, other than probably something quite decent. The cabinet isn't that obnoxious French Provincial stuff that was so common back then either. It would be mine already if I was in an area to make it so.
 
Larry just emailed me with a heads up. I've been waiting a long time for one of these to surface: '58 Executive II. Wow!!! Very unique EL84 model 1000 integrated stereo control amp/power amp (2 chassis) with a built-in program clock. The photos don't show the cabinet very well but I have always thought it was one of Fisher's absolute best. Check out the SM:

http://www.fisherconsoles.com/service manuals/FISHER EXECUTIVE 1000 ST1000 SM.pdf

Hopeful somebody here drops everything and burns rubber down the driveway for this one. Presidents come and Presidents go but this one is, iin my opinion, BETTER! Certainly rarer!
 
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Ever have one of those days you feel like Alice in Wonderland and want ALL of the bottles of stuff that make her smaller???? I need an OVERDOSE!

Boy did I screw this one up.

For anyone interested it's listed on Chicago Craigslist. In the Antiques section titled
"AUDIO CONSOLE FURNITURE - mid 20th century" Someone from CHITOWN, PLEASE SAVE THIS UNIT AND RESTORE IT TO IT's FULL GLORY! This is a PIECE of FISHER HISTORY. If someone here gets it, please post pics of the back, looking for a wiring harness that resembles an OCTOPUS! This wiring harness is the defining piece that tells you either Executive I (No Harness) or a Executive I with the upgrade kit from the factory, or an Executive II.
 
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DAMN DAMN DAMN! I just showed the pics to the wife, explained it was smaller than the Model 950 Executive VIII and for how much, and she said get it. Then I told her it was in Chitown. That killed the mood, faster than a bucket of Ice water on a pair of humping dogs! She really liked it. Oh well. Another shot in the Dark missed.
 
I hear ya Larry, My wife is an enabler, she was doing everything in her power to make this happen for me. It wasn't meant to be mine, I hope a fellow AKer gets it, that way I can see some pictures of what I missed out on. What am I saying!
 
BTDT! There have been a couple of consoles I've gotten within a gnat's ass of getting and missed out on them. And I really wanted most of them. I already have a Executive VIII Model 950 in Italian provincial. That one's a long story about getting it, but it was essentially FREE! Out of 15 consoles 9 are FISHER's. 1 DUMONT, 1 RCA, 1 Nordmende, 3 Magnavox'es. All of the FISHER's except the '65 Custom Electra VIII are on the 1st floor. Everything else in the basement. And all this in a 1100sqft rancher. It's crowded sure, but it's fun.

I've got to maybe get rid of a few consoles, maybe a fisher or two. But the one's I'll probably never get rid of unless the price is right, are the '63 Exec, '64 Custom Electra VII, '65 FUTURA VI, '51 Coronet Warwick, '58 Contemporary, and the 58/59 510/610 consolette with 560 companion. Some of these are promised to my Grand-kids when they get married, or get a house. Their choice as to which one. My youngest Grandson loves the Executive, and my Grand-Daughter likes either the '64 Custom Electra or the '58 Contemporary. MY step grandson want's a receiver so he'll get either one of my 400's or the 800c.
 
GAWD I hope someone saves this. It'd be mine if not for the distance. I did add the link to another console site so hopefully it'll be ok...
 
Darn it! My next Fisher purchase is supposed to be a matching tuner for my X-100-3 or a receiver with a factory case. Does this qualify as both? Sent an email to seller we'll see if anything comes of it. Thanks for being enablers all of you. :) Special thanks to india42 for the posting and larryderouin for showing where to find the listing. Pretty sure I would not have found it otherwise.
 
Go get it MAC. Don't stop for anything. Smoke the tires down to the cord, and then some. For the price he's asking I'm absolutely surprised it's still listed!
 
I think the only reason it's still there is the way he listed it. No mention of Fisher, and if you search for 'stereo console' it won't come up because he doesn't use the word stereo, instead uses 'audio'. In the communication I had, he said he thought it needed some tubes, I assumed he meant that some tubes needed to be replaced and not that they were missing. He also mentioned that he had some extra tubes, I don't know if they were new tubes or not.

Good luck on this one guys, I knew it was special as soon as I saw the pictures!!
Paul
 
Bet they'll throw in the tapes, too that alone could be worth what he's asking for the console. If the manuals and accessories are included, all the better.

Looks like it has a GE VR-2 cartridge which I'd figure should have been a stereo cartridge unless, it being so early was an option.

Yesterday, the 1958 fisher console catalog was on auction. Sorry now I didn't snag that at least...
 
Walyfd; The 58 Exec II was a EXEC I with the addition of the OCTOPUS Wiring Harness, 2 PR6 phono preamps, stereo cartridge, and all hardware and instructions. Note that the 57 Exec I is listed as MODEL 1000 and the 58 EXEC II is listed as Model ST-1000. The Model 1000 could be converted to ST-1000 spec via a kit from FISHER (See illustration) it included a stereo cartridge, 2 PR6 Preamps, The OCTOPUS wiring harness, Hardware, etc.
This Chicago Exec could be 1 of 3 versions
Exec 1
Exec 1 converted to EXEC II spec.
EXEC II

How to tell difference between option 2 and option 3? Unknown to my knowledge. Serial #'s might help, but where do the serials on the EXEC I start and stop, and where do the EXEC II serials Start and stop?

Executive II Changes.jpg
 
There is some disagreement between Fisher's sales literature and their service manual as far as the makeup of the Executive I's chassis. The '57 Handbook describes the Executive as a 32-tube instrument built on FOUR SEPARATE chassis. The service manual, as I read it, shows THREE separate chassis - tuner, control, and stereo integrated amp - comprising a 38-tube instrument. Did the Executive I, (or early versions thereof,) have two separate power amps as in its contemporary Presidents? If so, the service manual fails to mention this possible alternative configuration.

Judging from newspaper advertising, it appears the Executive II was introduced late in the '58 model year - the earliest ads appearing in May 1958. Since the Executive III launched on schedule in the fall of 1958, the 'II' would have had only a half-season run. I would imagine most 'I' owners would have been fairly tech-savvy, and had their Executive upgraded with the stereo changer cartridge, preamps and associated wiring. It's possible that the only way to tell the difference would be in the documentation, (if any remains with the console,) or if the cardboard tube-layout diagram on the back of the cabinet with the model name/number has survived. I doubt - given the extreme rareness of this model - anything conclusive could be inferred from the serial number. Did Fisher possibly have different ranges for the 'I' and 'II'? The SM just indicates "ALL SERIAL NUMBERS".

 
So, as I thought, the only stereo component on the first series was tape. By the second, stereo LPS had been introduced.

It looks like Fisher had the foresight that these TOTL units were adaptable for stereo records (maybe mpx too?).

Again, the unit in question looks like it has a GE VR mono cartridge.
 
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