1966 Allied Catalog: Fisher 500B still for sale!

[monkboughtlunch]

Did the 500B production end in 1963? The interesting thing is the 1966 Allied Radio catalog advertises the 500B some two years after it went out of production. I'm assuming the catalog was published in late 1965.

So did Fisher have a lot of leftover deadstock inventory of the 500B? The 500B was priced lower than the 400 in the 1966 catalog. The catalog also notes big price drops for the 500C and 400 for 1966 when compared to the 1965 prices.

 

[Tom Bavis]

Must have been some leftover 500Bs... probably distributor stock, as Fisher would have cleared them out long before.

 

[larryderouin]

The same happened in the Early 70's with the 400, and 800c's. I remember going in to Pacific Stereo in Early '74 and seeing 400's and 800c's for sale at about
$175.-$200. These were all Distributor stock. Fisher had not built any in the last 6 years (1968). So they were trying to get rid of excess stock. The same for the 500/800b's in 1965/66.

 

[monkboughtlunch]

Fascinating. I guess it was hard to liquidate the old Fisher disty stock in the mid 70s when the consumer market had been trained to think: solid state=good, tubes=bad. Would have been a good time to stock up!

Still if Pacific Stereo was selling brand new 800Cs for $200 in 1974 that would be about $985 in 2017 dollars. They were still commanding a fairly strong price despite probably being viewed by many consumers of the time as dinosaur technology with limited features.

Sitting next to a 1970s Marantz or Pioneer receiver at Pacific Stereo, I would imagine that to most younger consumers, a new old stock 1960s Fisher tube receiver would have looked like an anachronism at the time.

But to still command that kind of price in 1974, I guess the Fisher brand still had some cachet (probably with an older, monied demographic) before the brand image was cheapened by subsequent corporate ownerships and mass market overseas products.

 

[monkboughtlunch]

The same happened in the Early 70's with the 400, and 800c's. I remember going in to Pacific Stereo in Early '74 and seeing 400's and 800c's for sale at about
$175.-$200. These were all Distributor stock. Fisher had not built any in the last 6 years (1968). So they were trying to get rid of excess stock. The same for the 500/800b's in 1965/66.

Did you already own any Fishers in the early 70s?

 

[larryderouin]

No. I was a dirt poor E-4 Navy Corpsman who liked to window shop. Didn't get my 1st Fisher until 2009. I made do with a PIoneer SX-434 I bought new @ PACIFIC Stereo in '75 (saving up comrats $$ for 6 months by eating only every other day!) which I still have.

 

[monkboughtlunch]

No. I was a dirt poor E-4 Navy Corpsman who liked to window shop. Didn't get my 1st Fisher until 2009. I made do with a PIoneer SX-434 I bought new @ PACIFIC Stereo in '75 (saving up comrats $$ for 6 months by eating only every other day!) which I still have.

As a young person in the mid 70s, what was your perception at the time of the 1960s new old stock Fisher tubed gear you saw for sale at Pacific Stereo? Did you already have an appreciation for Fisher, or did you learn about the quality of it later on?

 

[larryderouin]

I knew about it, and the voltages they carry so I was a still a bit gun shy about tube gear, having been bit by a flyback transformer and a wall socket within 2 weeks when I was about 9 years old, Plus they didn't allow stereo gear at the time for use on sub's. (No ghetto blasters at the time). I did have a bunch of R2R tapes I listened to on the ships entertainment gear when on patrol. And when I was out with the Marines, no audio gear at all. My stuff stayed locked up in a foot locker at home (sent it home on the Navy's dime when I PCS'ed when I went to Subscol) when I was in and didn't get to using it until I got out in 1979. Married with kids during the 80's until about 10 years ago when the youngest finally moved out. Then I started collecting gear. But the SX-434 is still my bedside rig with a pair of PRO-4A's I bought as a freshman in High School for $60 on sale at the Navy Exchange in 1969.

 

[vendo81]

I knew about it, and the voltages they carry so I was a still a bit gun shy about tube gear, having been bit by a flyback transformer and a wall socket within 2 weeks when I was about 9 years old, Plus they didn't allow stereo gear at the time for use on sub's. (No ghetto blasters at the time). I did have a bunch of R2R tapes I listened to on the ships entertainment gear when on patrol. And when I was out with the Marines, no audio gear at all. My stuff stayed locked up in a foot locker at home (sent it home on the Navy's dime when I PCS'ed when I went to Subscol) when I was in and didn't get to using it until I got out in 1979. Married with kids during the 80's until about 10 years ago when the youngest finally moved out. Then I started collecting gear. But the SX-434 is still my bedside rig with a pair of PRO-4A's I bought as a freshman in High School for $60 on sale at the Navy Exchange in 1969.

Uh huh! A TV flyback transformer can wake you up very quickly

 

[larryderouin]

Knocked my ass about 8 ft across the room. Dad had the meter on one of the circuits inside, and asked me to probe something or other so he could check readings. Had my chopstick in hand and my arm brushed against the HV Coil. BANG! Thump! I quit right then! Didn't so much as open ANY electronic gear until I was about 40 and had to look like I knew what I was doing with one of the kids toys. Told him I'd have it fixed by tomorrow. Went down to the toy store and bought another one after he had gone to bed.