Advice on Value of RCA Victor 3VF516

[NCSU_Pi]

Hi folks,

We have an old RCA console stereo from my grandparents' house that we've been using as furniture and media storage. From what I've read, the amp in this thing is well regarded. However, I'm not sure it's functional, as we haven't even had it plugged in.

Here's a photo gallery in Google Photos.

First question: is there any danger that something's gone wrong with the wiring such that it's not a good idea to plug it in?

At minimum, it's going to need some cosmetic restoration. The cabinet's in decent shape, though the veneer peeled off a little on one side. The grill has a handful of places where it's fraying. The tuner knobs are all worn down, and the turntable has a cracked speed selector.

We need to get rid of it to save space, as baby #2 is on the way, soon.

So as a baseline, assuming the amp needs major servicing in addition to the problems listed above, what would the resell value be for me? On the high end, if it works, how much more would it be worth? And what would it take to ship it? Is it better to put it on Craigslist, making it pickup-only?

I know that's a lot of questions, so I appreciate anyone's time who has it to spare for a board lurker.

Thanks

ETA: I'm in the Triangle region of North Carolina, if that helps or hurts my Craigslist prospects.

 

[Dswankey]

Welcome to AK!

As I'm sure many will agree do not plug it in as doing so might cause damage to the amplifier.

Not to be harsh but resell value is whatever someone is willing to pay for it and that depends on condition. Your call to sell as is, I doubt it will need major servicing probably will need a knowledgeable audio tech to pull it up slowly on a variac and check to see what the state of the caps & resistors are, test the tubes stuff like that.

The RCA amps don't seem to get the love that the Magnavox's do.

It sounds like your not sure what it would take to ship an amp so I would stay away from the auction site because if you don't package it correctly and say have to ship it to the west coast more then likely there will be damage and that will cause you all sorts of grief with the buyer, opening up cases with the shipping service, dealing with PP & the bay, etcetera

Try your local CL

Based on the pictures in the link you posted the amp is a RCA RS177 variant. Lots of threads here and on the web with regards to these amps.

https://www.google.com/search?q=RCA...VnkeAKHWglAK4Q_AUICSgA&biw=1227&bih=685&dpr=1




Here's a pic of one I had modified note the extra tubes to add additional gain, which per some of the threads is a weak point for this amp.

 

[NCSU_Pi]

Thanks so much for the advice. That gives me some ideas about how to proceed.

 

[HH-Bham]

Console pull RS-177b amp sold on ebay for $50 plus $25 shipping. Not a lot of data, but based on what Dswankey said above, I'm guessing that is not one of the high value tube consoles. Seems like the high value ones are less than 1 in a 100 (I've never seen one local to me) and not RCA. All others seem to sell on CL for $50-100. Maybe you get lucky and there is an RCA collector in your area that would pay a bit more to have that model. You will pay at least $150 to have the amp serviced.

The folks that buy the average tube consoles typically pay little or nothing and gut the unit, sell parts, and trash the cabinet. That behavior is deplored by the collectors and lovers who restore consoles, but that is the market.