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1963 rca vista victrola question

T

taylor611

Member
Just purchased a 1963 rca vista victrola console unit with am fm radio and turntable from an elderly couple who were the original owners.
Also came with about 150 78 rpm records.
Everything works perfectly and cabinet is in very good condition.
However...the sound is very muddy and excessively bassy. radio or records the sound is the same and the speakers break up at medium volume. I connected two external cabs and disconnected the internal speakers and the sound is the same (except my speakers don't break up)
Is this normal for these things or is something wrong?
I'm a bit of a novice so don't know alot. It s a tube type not solid state
Thanks for any help or advice
 
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This unit will be mid fi and likely by now needs recapping for best sound and reliability. Do remember that it is low powered (something like 8 watts/channel) and frequency response won't be equal to tube amps costing what the console did whole.
 
Also remember that the tweeters on these units aren't the bright kind that people are used to today. If you can locate the tweeters in the cabinet, it may be worth checking them to make sure they didn't blow at some point (I doubt it, but who knows).

Not familiar with that particular unit, but a lot of tube consoles can sound very nice. It is a mellower sound however. It may improve if you get someone to replace the old electrolytic caps in it. Some new tubes might help as well.
 
The amp itself wil most likely need a rebuild for one. The stylus is also probably worn out. They get very muddy sounding when the tip is more of a ball-point pen profile instead of the proper shape. I also wouldn't be surprised if the tweeters (if equipped) are dead, or have dead crossover capacitors. In short all of the parts in that need a rebuild. its not strictly high fidelity, but it should sound solidly decent if everything is working right. Do you know the particular model number? 3 seconds of Google seems to tell me that RCA used that model name on lots of different consoles for several years. Being able to identify specifically what amplifier and record changer are in your box would help.
 
Feeble tubes will in addition produce a similar result, all causative factors artifacts of age and long use.
 
People have mentioned capacitors here, for good reason. But, no one has directly pointed out that any caps used on the speaker's crossover are suspect after this length of time.

Brian
 
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