An interesting hook, since Fisher never produced such an animal.........
There's not many pieces of Fisher vacuum tube equipment that I haven't seen or worked on. Like everyone else, I have my favorites, but ever since I added a MPX sub-chassis to a Statesman/202-T tuner/preamp for a client some years ago, I was hooked and have always kept my eyes open for one........someday. When Al (Tinkster92) made me aware of one recently available here on AK and decided to pass on it, it was not a hard decision for me to make. A beautiful unit to be sure, but arrived with about a dozen issues needing to be addressed, many minor, a couple typical, and one serious. Once they were all resolved, the unit was set aside, although it saw some brief action recently in the thread on Rob Thomas' TA-800, when that project moved into servicing the MPX-100 adapter which allowed his TA to receive FM Stereo MPX broadcasts. In that thread, the Statesman served to determine just what it was that made a Fisher Wide-Band FM tuner/receiver, "Wide-Band" -- a feature that the Fisher AM-FM Stereo units like the Statesman/202-T did not enjoy. With the TA project finished up and order once again restored in the lab, I had a couple of extra days to play with the Statesman. First up: modify the unit to deliver best possible Stereo MPX performance/operation, using the MPX sub-chassis that Fisher designated for use in the various "B" versions of their tuner offerings (WX), to make the very most of the unit.
Like the TA-800, the Statesman lived in that small window of time bookended by the reality of stereo records and tapes on one end, and the coming of FM Stereo MPX on the other. In between these two events was the wonderful wacky world of AM-FM Stereo, where there was initially no rhyme or reason to channel identity, or the phase relationship between the two broadcast channels, either. While the channel identity issue ultimately settled out as designating the FM signal for the left channel and the AM signal for the right, the proper phase relationship between the two broadcasts was never established, resulting in the need for a Phase Reverse switch to reverse the phase of one channel if it was received out of phase with the other. For the Statesman/202-T then, Fisher went all out by offering a unit that included two completely independent high quality AM and FM tuners, a 400C preamp, phase inversion capabilities, and space for the future installation of a MPX sub-chassis, to make up the only upper tier stereo tuner/preamp unit that Fisher ever offered. The Statesman tips the scale at 21 tubes before a multiplex adapter is added, with only the TA-600 and 800-C receivers -- with their two built in stereo power amplifiers -- surpassing this count -- by just one tube. The Statesman/202-T does include a muting function that neither of those two receivers have, but does not have the automatic FM stereo switching that the 800-C enjoys.
As the end of the AM-FM Stereo time window was approaching, Fisher was so convinced that the Crosby system of stereo multiplexing was going to be the approved method that it developed a series of tuners and tuner/preamps based on this system, with a blank plate installed where an appropriate MPX adapter would go at a later date, once the FCC gave the go ahead for FM Stereo MPX broadcasting to formally commence. It's a well known story within Fisher circles, designed to allow Fisher to claim another huge "first" by offering the first truly MPX ready equipment when the MPX broadcasting switch was officially thrown. Mounting with just a couple of screws and connecting via two plugs, adding an adapter to one of these units had to be one of the very first plug-n-play operations in existence, allowing the owner to convert the unit them self. Except of course, that the Crosby system wasn't approved. Oooops.
With the help of AK members, it was determined that Fisher ultimately did in fact produce a GE/Zenith based multiplex sub-chassis adapter for these units (MPX-50), although they seem to be exceedingly rare. As for the Statesman/202-T, there were apparently a fair number of these units made, as evidenced by service manuals extending to at least serial numbers 30001 to 39999. But even with this many produced, they too are a pretty rare bird themselves. Finding a Statesman/202-T with an MPX-50 installed then is on the order of finding Bigfoot: In all my years of searching, I've only seen one that sold with an MPX-50 installed. All the rest, including mine, were found with the blank plate still firmly in place -- and I think for good reason: Even though the MPX-50 was the specified adapter for the Statesman/202-T, its installation hardly produced that smooth, well engineered FM Stereo MPX operation that Fisher was to become famous for. At issue is the various switching, indicator, and control functions built into the Ooops units that were based on the needs of the Crosby multiplexing system -- needs that are significantly different from those that the GE/Zenith system requires for best performance. As a result, just because a Fisher specified GE/Zenith adapter is dropped into a Statesman/202-T chassis, it doesn't mean that the conversion produces the same great Fisher MPX experience that their later units delivered. In fact, it comes off as quirky to operate, stealing other features from the unit to make it work properly back in the day, and did not deliver all the performance of which the GE/Zenith system is capable of. As a result, all of these units just quietly disappeared, quickly being replaced by "B" version tuners, that were designed for the GE/Zenith based system from the ground up. As for the stereo tuner/preamp concept? Never again did Fisher ever venture into the waters that the Statesman/202-T represented to offer an upgraded B version of that unit, nor for its lower tiered cousin, the Coronet/100-T tuner/preamp either. So what were (are) the problems?
Next time.
Dave
BELOW: The candidate:
BELOW: Pre-multiplex installation, the Statesman/202T already has one of the busiest landscapes around!
BELOW: The challenge:
There's not many pieces of Fisher vacuum tube equipment that I haven't seen or worked on. Like everyone else, I have my favorites, but ever since I added a MPX sub-chassis to a Statesman/202-T tuner/preamp for a client some years ago, I was hooked and have always kept my eyes open for one........someday. When Al (Tinkster92) made me aware of one recently available here on AK and decided to pass on it, it was not a hard decision for me to make. A beautiful unit to be sure, but arrived with about a dozen issues needing to be addressed, many minor, a couple typical, and one serious. Once they were all resolved, the unit was set aside, although it saw some brief action recently in the thread on Rob Thomas' TA-800, when that project moved into servicing the MPX-100 adapter which allowed his TA to receive FM Stereo MPX broadcasts. In that thread, the Statesman served to determine just what it was that made a Fisher Wide-Band FM tuner/receiver, "Wide-Band" -- a feature that the Fisher AM-FM Stereo units like the Statesman/202-T did not enjoy. With the TA project finished up and order once again restored in the lab, I had a couple of extra days to play with the Statesman. First up: modify the unit to deliver best possible Stereo MPX performance/operation, using the MPX sub-chassis that Fisher designated for use in the various "B" versions of their tuner offerings (WX), to make the very most of the unit.
Like the TA-800, the Statesman lived in that small window of time bookended by the reality of stereo records and tapes on one end, and the coming of FM Stereo MPX on the other. In between these two events was the wonderful wacky world of AM-FM Stereo, where there was initially no rhyme or reason to channel identity, or the phase relationship between the two broadcast channels, either. While the channel identity issue ultimately settled out as designating the FM signal for the left channel and the AM signal for the right, the proper phase relationship between the two broadcasts was never established, resulting in the need for a Phase Reverse switch to reverse the phase of one channel if it was received out of phase with the other. For the Statesman/202-T then, Fisher went all out by offering a unit that included two completely independent high quality AM and FM tuners, a 400C preamp, phase inversion capabilities, and space for the future installation of a MPX sub-chassis, to make up the only upper tier stereo tuner/preamp unit that Fisher ever offered. The Statesman tips the scale at 21 tubes before a multiplex adapter is added, with only the TA-600 and 800-C receivers -- with their two built in stereo power amplifiers -- surpassing this count -- by just one tube. The Statesman/202-T does include a muting function that neither of those two receivers have, but does not have the automatic FM stereo switching that the 800-C enjoys.
As the end of the AM-FM Stereo time window was approaching, Fisher was so convinced that the Crosby system of stereo multiplexing was going to be the approved method that it developed a series of tuners and tuner/preamps based on this system, with a blank plate installed where an appropriate MPX adapter would go at a later date, once the FCC gave the go ahead for FM Stereo MPX broadcasting to formally commence. It's a well known story within Fisher circles, designed to allow Fisher to claim another huge "first" by offering the first truly MPX ready equipment when the MPX broadcasting switch was officially thrown. Mounting with just a couple of screws and connecting via two plugs, adding an adapter to one of these units had to be one of the very first plug-n-play operations in existence, allowing the owner to convert the unit them self. Except of course, that the Crosby system wasn't approved. Oooops.
With the help of AK members, it was determined that Fisher ultimately did in fact produce a GE/Zenith based multiplex sub-chassis adapter for these units (MPX-50), although they seem to be exceedingly rare. As for the Statesman/202-T, there were apparently a fair number of these units made, as evidenced by service manuals extending to at least serial numbers 30001 to 39999. But even with this many produced, they too are a pretty rare bird themselves. Finding a Statesman/202-T with an MPX-50 installed then is on the order of finding Bigfoot: In all my years of searching, I've only seen one that sold with an MPX-50 installed. All the rest, including mine, were found with the blank plate still firmly in place -- and I think for good reason: Even though the MPX-50 was the specified adapter for the Statesman/202-T, its installation hardly produced that smooth, well engineered FM Stereo MPX operation that Fisher was to become famous for. At issue is the various switching, indicator, and control functions built into the Ooops units that were based on the needs of the Crosby multiplexing system -- needs that are significantly different from those that the GE/Zenith system requires for best performance. As a result, just because a Fisher specified GE/Zenith adapter is dropped into a Statesman/202-T chassis, it doesn't mean that the conversion produces the same great Fisher MPX experience that their later units delivered. In fact, it comes off as quirky to operate, stealing other features from the unit to make it work properly back in the day, and did not deliver all the performance of which the GE/Zenith system is capable of. As a result, all of these units just quietly disappeared, quickly being replaced by "B" version tuners, that were designed for the GE/Zenith based system from the ground up. As for the stereo tuner/preamp concept? Never again did Fisher ever venture into the waters that the Statesman/202-T represented to offer an upgraded B version of that unit, nor for its lower tiered cousin, the Coronet/100-T tuner/preamp either. So what were (are) the problems?
Next time.
Dave
BELOW: The candidate:
BELOW: Pre-multiplex installation, the Statesman/202T already has one of the busiest landscapes around!
BELOW: The challenge: