Vintage cabinet frustration

Hak Foo

Active Member
When I got my first oversized reciever, I decided to retire my old stereo cabinet. It shook if you looked at it wrong and consumed a mile of vertical space despite not holding much gear. I plunked everything on a tempered glass table and have been spending months looking for one of those classic glass-front cabinets, like existed by the millions back in the day, to hold my gear. I turned down a modern take on it, since I was holding out for glass and wheels, and didn't want to spend $130 to hold $70 worth of mostly thrift-store gear.

I knew from day 1 that my receivers wouldn't fit; they're 50cm wide and the standard is closer to 17.5 inches. But I figured that most everyone else in the industry had agreed on that standard enough to make it work. I could always switch to my HK or NAD if I had to use components of a matching width.

I finally found what looked like my grail at a local thrift shop-- a 'Made in Japan' Fisher cabinet with glass top and front. 15 bucks. So I took it home, cleaned it up, and escorted it to my second-floor room. Of course, nothing's ever that easy.

Okay, first I'll put in my turntable since I have the glass top off anyway. Ooh... won't fit. Maybe it's just unusually wide, although really it isn't. Then I double check with my tape deck. Nope. Turns out the brains trust at Sanyo Fisher decided to make a cabinet with 16-inch-wide openings. None of my gear fits. It probably only ever fit that specific system it was sold with. While I had seen some crap-tier offerings that were permanently built into the rack (Yorx and similar stuff), I figured anything where you could remove the components was probably built with an assumption that you would replace them with others, potentially from other brands.

Just wanted to blow off; I'm sure I'm not the only one who had this problem.
 
When all else fails, make it yourself, if you have the skills and equipment to do so, that's what I'd do
 
That sucks! Sorry to hear about it. I've had no end of problems with finding appropriate stereo cabinets, but one thing which works fairly well is IKEA IVAR shelving. I sanded, primed, and painted one and it nicely holds my living room system.
 
I have that same frustration, all my gear is Tubes and cant find anything sturdy to hold the weight of 3 Fishers, one Mcintosh and a couple SET amps...
 
Keep looking, they come up regularly in thrift stores in my area (Western New York).
I have two, one is an O'Sullivan and can't remember the name on the other, maybe Bush. The taller has a single glass door, the other has a double glass door, and wheels. Both are quite sturdy. I didn't pay more than $20 for either. Both are 21 3/8" interior shelf width. I continue to see others that tempt me, but I'm out of room.
My wife always carries a tape measure when we're out thrifting.
That Pioneer SX-838 Receiver (left center) is 20 1/4" wide.
System20161205.jpg

It is strange that any 'OEM' cabinet (Pioneer, Kenwood, Technics, etc) that I've seen is too narrow to hold anything over about 18".
 
Each to their own, Though my thoughts are those glass door cabinets are just a pain in the ass...cramming your gear into them etc...Plus, its not a great idea to put equipment that essentially wants to stay cool, breath, have plenty of air flow about it to reduce heat stress of semiconductors, transformers, caps, resistors etc in a tight wooden box and then shut a glass door over it!
I like my equipment high as i have a bad back, and easy to get too and swap out. though everyone has different needs with space restrictions etc.
 
^^^^^^^^Agreed. One of several reasons I prefer to build a gear rack with what I own in mind rather than making my gear conform to a specific rack.
 
The OP is looking for a sturdy cabinet with glass doors at least 50 cm (20 inch) interior width. If that's what he's looking for, they're out there.

As for being a pain in the ass; only when swapping out the amp (how often will that happen?) Placing a power strip in the back makes swapping out the other components fairly easy. Slide them out, disconnect RCA's and power cord, slide the replacement in, just leave enough slack on all the cables. It's really not a 'tight' wooden box. The backs are wide open and are made rigid with a few horizontal braces. The one I have on wheels rolls right out even on a carpeted floor.

Space wise, it only gets tight at the sides of a 21" wide receiver, which normally has wood side panels with no vents anyhow. I have at least an inch of air space above the amp and receiver. The doors don't seal tight, they're not Pella's, weather stripping was not included.

As for heat. Location is important. Mine aren't anywhere near a heat source. I don't think you would want to put your equipment over a forced air output vent, base board heater, or radiator regardless of what your equipment is sitting on.

I initially had concerns about heat build up, but subjectively have never noticed anything that I would be concerned about. But after reading this thread, I decided that I should put some objectivity to it.

Placed a thermometer above the Kenwood KA-8006 Amp. (70 watts per channel). My normal listening level at 2.5 on the volume knob that goes 0-10. Driving 2 sets of 8 ohm speakers = 4 ohm load. (CS-99a, CS99 fairly efficient speakers). The other components in that cabinet that were powered up during the observations were the SX-838 and the SG-9500 EQ.

Ambient Temperature before power up = 66 F (yeah, I know that's cold, but that's what we keep the house at in the winter - I'm cheap, I buy my gear at thrift stores and don't pay more than a buck for an LP)

After 60 minutes of listening = 71 F (Yikes that's a rate of +5 degrees per hour.)

After 60 more minutes (2 hours total) = 73 F (Rate of climb has decreased, but still +3.5 degrees per hour - wait is the wall glowing behind the cabinet?
China Syndrome is eminent!! Ooops, just sun light coming through, my wife opened the drapes)

After another 30 minutes (2.5 hours total) = still 73 F, (Scotty I need warp speed in another 3 minutes or we're all going to freeze to death!!)

In fairness the equipment and your listening level is a consideration. I've had some Technics receivers that seem to run hotter. Tubes? Never had any, and these cabinets probably wouldn't be suitable. I'd love to crank up the volume to see what happens, but the woman of the house objects - "but it's for the sake of science!" Never mind, she's getting hotter than my amp. Best thing about these cabinets is that my wife likes the way they look.

Yes: "Each to their own"
This was a worthwhile little exercise; it gave me the opportunity to listen to some open reel tapes that my son gave me.
 
I've often heard of people stripping cabinets and I considered it. There were cabinets that were produced as generic storage space and customers choose the components that were installed. But cabinets with early JBL speakers were designed for the speakers and don't sound good outside of the cabinet unless your able to replicate the same exact enclosure that housed the early JBL speakers in the first place.
 
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