New owner of a Fisher TA 500

spartanmanor

Lunatic Member

• Aug 25, 2008

• #1

Just picked this one up over the weekend.

Question number 1: When bringing this up on a variac should I have speakers plugged with a load?

 

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mhardy6647

Lunatic Member

• Aug 25, 2008

• #2

Yes, absolutely. Never operate a transforrmer coupled vacuum tube power amplifier unloaded (open circuited). Either use a dummy load (noninductive power resistor) or a speaker.

The TA 500 is considered one of the best mono receivers of all.

 

spartanmanor

Lunatic Member

• Aug 25, 2008

• #3

mhardy6647 said:

Yes, absolutely. Never operate a transforrmer coupled vacuum tube power amplifier unloaded (open circuited). Either use a dummy load (noninductive power resistor) or a speaker.

The TA 500 is considered one of the best mono receivers of all.

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That is what I thought. Thanks! I have a feeling this one was in service shorthly before I purchased it from the estate. It was still hooked up. It certainly is beefy enough.

 

spartanmanor

Lunatic Member

• Aug 26, 2008

• #4

After letting her warm up slowly for the past day she is up and running. I now have a good start on a mono system!

 

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Fisherdude

Regular Dude

Subscriber

• Aug 26, 2008

• #5

Since this thread is not about valuation, nor does it contain any auction/sales links, it really doesn't belong in D&S. I'm moving it to Tube Audio, where it will get better exposure.

Nice receiver, btw!

 

spartanmanor

Lunatic Member

• Aug 26, 2008

• #6

Thanks, I figured someone was going to ask how much i got it for... lol.

 

Fisherdude

Regular Dude

Subscriber

• Aug 26, 2008

• #7

spartanmanor said:

Thanks, I figured someone was going to ask how much i got it for... lol.

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Actually, that's not the same as you asking what it's worth.

 

Tom Bavis

Audiophool

Subscriber

• Aug 26, 2008

• #8

I have a scan of the Sams folder if you need it... tbavis(at)rochester(dot)rr(dot)com

 

spartanmanor

Lunatic Member

• Aug 26, 2008

• #9

Can you send it via email or is it a hard copy? Either way yes I would love to have a copy.

 

analog addict

Glory or Death!

Subscriber

• Aug 26, 2008

• #10

heh....

Now you just need to talk James out of his Altec 828/511 singleton....:thmbsp:

Shouldn't be too hard to do.....:yes:

 

spaceman

Registered Lunatic

• Aug 26, 2008

• #11

Pretty cool, congrats! :thmbsp:

 

spartanmanor

Lunatic Member

• Aug 26, 2008

• #12

analog addict said:

Now you just need to talk James out of his Altec 828/511 singleton....:thmbsp:

Shouldn't be too hard to do.....:yes:

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I would need to talk him out of his garage as well. I just don't have the space.

 

dnewma04

The Healer

• Aug 26, 2008

• #13

I have one of these receivers, as well. It's really very impressive, but mine is in serious need of a restore or could be bad enough where parting it out is the only logical thing to do with it. If I find another beater, I might make a pair of custom monoblocks with the iron.

 

Brian

An Old Geezer

• Aug 26, 2008

• #14

That's nice. Congratulations on the find. I always thought if I found one locally I'd pick it up and add a nice smaller vintage speaker and use it as a tabletop radio.

 

spartanmanor

Lunatic Member

• Aug 26, 2008

• #15

dnewma04 said:

I have one of these receivers, as well. It's really very impressive, but mine is in serious need of a restore or could be bad enough where parting it out is the only logical thing to do with it. If I find another beater, I might make a pair of custom monoblocks with the iron.

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I would think that a pair of these would rival any other vintage stereo system of the day.

 

spartanmanor

Lunatic Member

• Aug 26, 2008

• #16

Brian said:

That's nice. Congratulations on the find. I always thought if I found one locally I'd pick it up and add a nice smaller vintage speaker and use it as a tabletop radio.

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That is my plan. after I do a little clean up work with this one.

 

TheRed1

Console Conservationist

• Aug 26, 2008

• #17

Congratulations!

Fisher made a nice little cabinet for that receiver in 1959. I'll keep an eye out for you - it was called an Ambassador II. Oddly, it was a stereo cabinet. A TA-500 was paired with a 30-A amp through a 30-C preamp/controller. I'm not sure exactly how that worked but I bet it worked well.

From what I can tell the TA-500 was Fisher's first receiver. The ads for it appeared in late 1957. Truly a unique looking receiver and one of my favorites.

 

spartanmanor

Lunatic Member

• Aug 26, 2008

• #18

I do have a letter from Fisher dated March 6, 1959 offering the TK-5 conversion kit which consists of a dual volume control, A Model 30-C Master Audio Control and The Fisher Model 30-A Power Amplifier to make it stereo the total cost was $131.95. Not an inexpensive proposition in 1959 dollars. I also have brochres for the 30-A and 30-C.