Top 5 most watts per ch. tube console
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danrclem
Super Member
Pretty sure the Magnavox Concert Grand had 50 watts output per channel. I don't know if it would make the top five but it quite possibly could.
Edit:
I just looked up the specs on the Fisher President and the last ones made had 90 watts. I'm guessing that is 45 watts per channel.
Edit:
I just looked up the specs on the Fisher President and the last ones made had 90 watts. I'm guessing that is 45 watts per channel.
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Well for the lucky few, some high end consoles could be ordered with Mac monoblocks. All custom built of course. Most I have heard of were usually MC30's but I guess you could ask for anything you wanted.
I keep looking when I'm at the thrift stores, one thing I can tell you though, they sure built a ton of those Astro Sonics!
BillWojo
I keep looking when I'm at the thrift stores, one thing I can tell you though, they sure built a ton of those Astro Sonics!
BillWojo
amglow
Member
The Fisher's last and greatest mono hifi console was the HS-360 Ambassador, produced around 1957. It is the last iteration of the "Custom Sixty" series. It used a two chassis version of their laboratory standard audio amplifier model 50AZ. The power supply chassis is designated the model 360P and the amplifier chassis is the 360A. They are connected through an umbilical cable. "Power output is constant to within 1db at 40 watts, 15 to 60,000 cycles", per Fisher documentation. That's 40 watt triode output Class AB2! This console has an Electro-Voice three speaker system consisting of the following: an EV 15WK bass speaker, an EV 847HF mid-horn, and an EV T35B tweeter along with an EV X336 crossover.
Attachments
7591's are about 25 per channel give or take a wee bit.
SS stuff probably made or at least claimed higher than most tube consoles but I'd expect about 30 per channel was on the high end for most things. The Concert Grand might make a little more but its not 50 a channel. Those ran 6 6V6 on the bass channel and 2 6V6 on the highs. Realistically if you added both channels I doubt it breaks 40 per side.
SS stuff probably made or at least claimed higher than most tube consoles but I'd expect about 30 per channel was on the high end for most things. The Concert Grand might make a little more but its not 50 a channel. Those ran 6 6V6 on the bass channel and 2 6V6 on the highs. Realistically if you added both channels I doubt it breaks 40 per side.
bean_counter
Active Member
I picked up a semi-custom console with a Scott 299c, so, about 25-30W per channel. It had matching separate speaker cabinets loaded with JBL.
Had the original paperwork from 1962, purchased by a doctor and his wife. Sold for the equivalent of a decent used car.
Had the original paperwork from 1962, purchased by a doctor and his wife. Sold for the equivalent of a decent used car.
KentTeffeteller
Gimpus Stereophilus!
Factory most powerful tube consoles are:
Ampex high end models
Fisher high end models
Magnavox Concert Grand
Pilot high end models
Anything more powerful was not available as a factory built packaged console. It was custom furniture and custom installation. Therefore, counted as separate components. RMS per channel therefore between 35-40 watts/channel.
Ampex high end models
Fisher high end models
Magnavox Concert Grand
Pilot high end models
Anything more powerful was not available as a factory built packaged console. It was custom furniture and custom installation. Therefore, counted as separate components. RMS per channel therefore between 35-40 watts/channel.
danrclem
Super Member
The Magnavox brochure said that the Concert Grand was 50 watts per channel. I don't know if that is accurate or not but that is what I was basing my post on.
I tried to upload a copy of the brochure but it wouldn't work because it was too large. I'll try to find another that will work.
Edit: I tried to find another that would work but they're all to large.
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Might be peak watts or some other measure. Some of those power figures were a bit on the optimistic side, or taken under very specific conditions that don't always reflect reality. Thats where the 70s FTC power measurement stuff came from, it puts everything on a level field since it has to be tested under identical conditions.
My Fisher 600 claims to be a 40 watt amp, so 20 per channel. With not terribly new tubes it makes 18 per channel with one channel driven, or 9 per channel with both channels driven. New tubes would probably be a little more but its never doing 40 watts.
My Fisher 600 claims to be a 40 watt amp, so 20 per channel. With not terribly new tubes it makes 18 per channel with one channel driven, or 9 per channel with both channels driven. New tubes would probably be a little more but its never doing 40 watts.
I once built a VAC Standard 105/105 amp and VAC Standard preamp, along with a Music Hall MMF9 turntable, a reel-to-reel, a Marantz CD changer and a Benchmark DAC, into a vintage console (originally built in 1961), for a client. That's 105w/ch of VAC power. Do I win? 
I'm trying desperately to find a picture of the console in my records. I can find pictures of the speakers (in separate matching vintage cabinets- I built them with Tannoy 8" dual-concentric drivers, Dayton Titanic 12" subs and 15" passive radiators, a 500 watt plate amp in each cabinet, and Tannoy ST200 supertweeters), but no pictures of the console itself...
If nothing else, I'll have to take a picture of the console next time I'm at the client's house. He's had it in this configuration since 2004, and still uses it.
Regards,
Gordon.
I'm trying desperately to find a picture of the console in my records. I can find pictures of the speakers (in separate matching vintage cabinets- I built them with Tannoy 8" dual-concentric drivers, Dayton Titanic 12" subs and 15" passive radiators, a 500 watt plate amp in each cabinet, and Tannoy ST200 supertweeters), but no pictures of the console itself...
If nothing else, I'll have to take a picture of the console next time I'm at the client's house. He's had it in this configuration since 2004, and still uses it.
Regards,
Gordon.
Stromberg claimed only 40 watts from the AP-437 mono amp, but push-pull 6550s can do quite a bit more. Two of them in the SP-991 and SP-993 consoles (I've never seen one but have heard of a few). They later made consoles with the ASR-880 integrated amp, 32W per channel.
danrclem
Super Member
This Fisher site says the President had 90 watts. I guess that would be 45 per channel but I have no idea whether that's accurate. The guys on the Fisher Forum would probably know for sure.
http://www.fisherconsoles.com/president VIII.html
Push pull 6ca7/EL34 in class AB1 will do 40W per channel push pull. Considering FISHER pushed most all of their amplifiers out of the envelope some (just like everyone else) 45W is not out of the realm of possibilities, but you'd better have a lot of 6CA7/EL34's handy. The SA-300-B Stereo amp was the TOTL amp for consoles at the time. The only amp that was more powerful in the FISHER lineup was the SA-1000 that was rated for 58wpc using the 8417 tube. Back then IHF Ratings were used. These combined both channels and used the peak instantaneous watts that the unit could produce. Take that rating and divide by 3 and you'll get close to rms wattage per channel.
The 500c/800c had a 75W sticker on it on the dial glass. That's total wattage from both channels. In todays post FTC ratings 25-28wpc (depending how you have it set up) is not unreasonable for most 7591amps. Obviously they aren't running flat out, out of the envelope like they were originally. Driving both channels drops that down to about 22-23wpc.
The 500c/800c had a 75W sticker on it on the dial glass. That's total wattage from both channels. In todays post FTC ratings 25-28wpc (depending how you have it set up) is not unreasonable for most 7591amps. Obviously they aren't running flat out, out of the envelope like they were originally. Driving both channels drops that down to about 22-23wpc.
orthophonic
Super Member
I don't remember the power output, but the Capehart 500 was the only console I know of that was tri-amped with separate amps for low mid and high driving Western Electric speakers.
One of the best mono consoles sound wise was the RCA Berkshire Regency at 40 watts driving the legendary RCA LC1A speaker.
One of the best mono consoles sound wise was the RCA Berkshire Regency at 40 watts driving the legendary RCA LC1A speaker.
KentTeffeteller
Gimpus Stereophilus!
RMS 20-20,000 power is what matters here, not peak. The RCA Berkshire Regency was also very expensive, very uncommon. And also same for the pre WW II Capeharts. Both of those were carriage trade high end models as was the Magnavox Concert Grand and the series down. After about 1949, Capehart went downmarket. Also, the heat in consoles also eventually forced the power output to be considerably less. As it affected reliability. 1962 was the peak USA high end console sales year. By 1963 onward, the high end bought separate components installed in custom furniture installations, and the high end packaged console sales were a lot less. Mainly to older owners, and rural music lovers far away from proper HiFi dealers. 1966 was the last of the high end Zenith and Magnavox Concert Grand, the Imperial line in Magnavox continued on until 1974, when those got discontinued. Fisher made theirs up to 1971.
