1963 Fisher President VIII 8000 Console

I just took some more pictures as you guys recounted the good ole military days, wishing you had been in the Navy instead of the chair force :)
While I was never in the Navy.
I do own and covet 2 vintage WWII era pea coats, and a Korean war era pea coat, as well. Does that count? ;)
Oh and I also got a bunch of vintage Fisher tube stuff too. Though it's no where near as nice as yours!!
 
This console sucks!!! and by sucks I mean wow!!!! and I'm jealous. I'll have to settle for the beat up Magnavox console I found today with a 9304-10 in it.

Great find and like the other have said let someone with tube repair knowledge go over it first before you do anything with it. As for "Is there a way to tell from the pictures if the amp was already been recapped?" the short answer is no seeing as the recapping goes on in the inside of the chassis which we can't see. I'm willing to be that unit is stock and has not been recapped.

There are some tube aficionado's here on this forum who are in the Bay Area hopefully they'll see this thread and chime in or you could post a question such as "Bay Area tube repair help" in the tube forum.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?forums/tube-audio.14/

Congrats on a great find!!, PS probably a handful of yummy 12AX7's in that Ampex RtR
 
I see the dummy remote plug is installed so I wonder where the remote control is...

Highly doubt anything has ever been apart on it by what looks like 55 years of dust. It was incredibly well taken care of. You are one lucky guy...
 
As Dswankey said from the current pics, no way to tell. You'd need to remove the amp, flip it over and remove the bottom panel and take a few pics. Same with the 400-CX2. FISHER Tuners don't need much and are generally in good shape, although I'd have them check it also.

As you've already checked it out operationally (turned on and checked operation), there are some operational checks you can do while it's on.

1.) Find one of the guys with a tube checker in the area and test all the tubes. replace any weak or bad tubes. Weak tubes will still work, but you won't get all they are capable of.

1a.) Take a 1" DRY PAINT BRUSH and brush off all dust. Use a vacuum cleaner also. Try not to use SWMBO's ORECK, or other vacuums she uses in the house. If you have no other choice, get permission 1st. And then change the bag afterwards. (stay on her good side!:bigok:)

2.) let it run for a 1/2 hour or so to let it warm up and stabilize. touch the CAN CAP's and check the temps. They will be warm due to radiant heat from tubes and transformers surrounding them. But they should NOT be warmer than that. If one is, TURN IT OFF, UNPLUG IT and Mark it with a sharpie. Write a down check note on it.

3.) If everything is ok above, go ahead and run it, and stay in the room. If it starts to act up, SHUT IT DOWN NOW! Unplug, and write up a down check note on it. Otherwise run it but stay in the room with it, check the temps of the can caps occasionally. You want to be close enough to turn it off fast. It might be better to connect it to a power strip so you only have to throw one switch.
 
Thanks for everyone's inputs! I had a chance to take the pre-amp and amp out of the console the other day to give the dust off of it. Can I get your inputs on how the original finish of the tube covers should look (see picture, one on the lower right is polished with metal polish, others just dusted) . With minimal elbow grease the can have a nice shiny finish, but unsure if that was how they originally came?

I like the look of the one on the lower right but don't see many with that type of finish. Maybe I am overthinking it... Thanks for your inputs!
 

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Here is the 400 CX-2 pre-amp...Can you tell from inside pic if it has been recapped?
 

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B -- The preamp looks bone stock underneath. The tube shields originally did not have a polish to them, with the bottom left shield maintaining the original look of the shield. On the preamp, the 6V4 tube at the rear of the chassis should not have a shield over it, and has no provisions for a shield to snap in place like the other nine tubes do, which should be shielded.

Dave
 
Thanks Dave, I'll remove the extra shield and simply wipe down the others with a damp cloth to keep finish.

When you/others talk about replacing the caps, which caps are we talking about, as it seems like there are endless ones internally?
 
That is one fine looking unit. Congratulations on owning such a beautiful piece of audio equipment.
 
Mainly electrolytics and some(50% to 70%) of the films. If a film looks like a "dog turd" either Dark Brown or black, replace it. If it's light tan with black edges and says "ERO-FOL", most likely it's still good. I've had very few of the 'ERO-FOL' types be weak, electrically leaky or bad. There are a couple of the ERO-FOL that will need to be replaced with a larger value, but they are few and far between. There are some metal clad electrolytics that will be branded FRAKO or DUCATI. These will have orange, pink, or tan metal cases. These have a white rubber end cap on them and in most cases will be bulged or blown out. Replace ALL of THEM.

Ceramic caps leave them alone unless one is acting up. Then replace it with the same size, voltage, temp co-ef.

I'd would suggest snagging a ET1 or ETC and asking them to teach you to read a schematic with the particular unit there. They'll also be able to show you what is what as far as components. The schematic flow is very different from how the unit is set up, although both are electrically the same. Might even teach the ETC or ET1 something (not that a Chief will admit that he doesn't know everything). Just make sure the CHIEF doesn't point with the coffee cup finger (permanently crooked!). My dad retired in 1969 as an ETC and his left index finger is still crooked after 48 years retired!:beerchug:

There may be resistors that will need changing due to moisture (carbon composition, ie: carbon comp are the ones needing attention). FISHER used hi end resistors with what looks like an epoxy dip, in most places, so the ones you need to look at have squared off ends with no epoxy covering. Most of the time they will go high in value. Which means you will need to undo one end and test each one out of circuit. If it's ok, replace the end in circuit. If not, replace.

A few of the larger wattage resistors will require replacement with larger wattage resistors (these are usually green or Tan and 5 to 10 watt power resistors). Fisher had bean counters and they mandated the smallest wattage to attain operation. These are now stressed and should be replaced. For example a 7watt resistor carrying or dissipating 5watts of power constantly isn't a good deal. Bump it up to 10Watts. it'll still dissipate 5watts but it's now running at a lower power setting. It's like driving a 63 Nova with a 235cuin 6cyl. MASH the throttle full open and you'd cruise at 60-65mph all day and the engine is running full bore. Now Throw a 350 in to it, and you can cruise at 60-65 with 1/3throttle or less. You're still going 60-65 but operating the engine in a lower level of the Safe operating area (SOA).

Larry
 
Now Larry -- Don't go beatin' up on a poor '63 Chevy Nova with a six banger just to go makin' a point...... Pick on something more deserving -- like a '61 Pontiac Tempest with a 4 banger that was literally produced by cutting a V-8 block in half! Now there was a real sloth!! By comparison, the 6 banger Nova was a Formula 1 racer! :)

Dave
 
ROFLMAO! Just remembered Audiodon had a Tempest. He agreed it was a sloth! Nothing wrong with a Nova with a 230 and a P'Glide as long as you were grandma going to church on sunday or groceries during the week.

While we're on the subject of cutting engine's apart. The 4.3L (262cid) V-6 with a balance shaft. 350 with front two cylinders cut off. My 95 Jimmy gets off the line harder and cruises at 62 with 2100 on tach, 14" vac gauge,and gets 26mpg on hwy. While my 2002 S-10 quad cab (same engine, trans, rear gear) is a slug. Weight is within 200# of each other, different intakes and fuel injection systems. The 2002 cruises at 73, 2500 tach and 14" on the vac gauge, 23mpg. @ 65 I'm in the gas to 11" vac to maintain speed. Mileage goes down to 19. Anything below that and I'm in the gas more. forget the cruise control. It runs at between 5" and 10" then. It's gotta be the cam grind. The truck comes on the cam about 2300 and the Jimmy about 1900. Both are better than EPA ratings of 13city and 18hwy. So I drive the Jimmy more. I feel like one of those Soccer Mom's in there oversized gas guzzler SUV's at times.:dunno:

Wonder if the grinds are actually different. Something to look at. But new motor mounts are needed on Jimmy and Left one on the truck for the 6th time in 7 years. Lousy design, and a ROYAL PITA to Change:mad:. Jags' that Run has a semi Hard mount for the 4.3 that won't pull apart (even with 1Khp on them) so I'm real tempted to change to them. But at $90 ea it's a stretch from $8.00 each at Rock auto for stock mounts. Chain and grade 8 bolts are cheaper. :D

Now back to your regularly scheduled '63 President VIII Model 8000 thread.................
 
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Pulled the tuner out today. Any shields missing of incorrectly installed? Also, is that antenna in the lower left stock?
 

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All shields are in place. On a tuner there will be more shields. The antenna is the AM ONLY antenna. The FM antenna should be a "T" shaped piece of 300ohm flat twin lead stapled across the back. If you find reception is weak in FM you can add a 300ohm folded dipole (most electronics store have them) from Parts-express or E-prey.
 
Other than to protect the tubes, do shields had additional benefits that are essential for use? I'll keep them in-place but for my knowledge.
 
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