Curtis Mathes The Royal Dane!

[Ibemiked]

I’ve had this beautiful 72” wide Curtis Mathes The Royal Dane console for a awhile now but just got around to cleaning it up and plugging a CD player into the AUX. The sound is excellent and it’s one of the best looking consoles there is! I believe it’s a 1964 model. The cosmetic condition is great. I had to polish the faceplate with goo gone to clean it up. That was a chore, but worth the time and effort. I still have to clean it up some more around the edges and clean up the turntable. The turntable spins but needs a new needle. I may replace the needle or maybe just replace the whole turntable. Everything is original including the tubes. Aside from the needle everything is in working order. I’m the 2nd owner bought it from and older lady who’s husband bought it new. I love the sound it puts out. The FM tuner pulls a strong signal and the Green signal strength tube looks and works great. This thing takes up a ton of space but it’s worth it. It has 2 stereo inputs, one for TV and one for AUX. I have a Sony Blu-ray SACD player currently hooked up. It sounds fantastic! The speakers on this unit are great, it’s an odd setup though. The left side has a 12” woofer, either 6.5 or 8” mid and a round tweeter, the right side has a 12” woofer, 8” mid and a horn tweeter. One of the best features of this console is that the controls and turntable are in a drawer on the front, instead of the more common under the “hood” setup. This allows the console to be used While still using it as a TV stand. I’d use it as my TV stand but it’s just too big for the room. Another great feature is the cabinet space! You can fit over 100 records inside this! I own several consoles, and this is by far the biggest and best of my collection. I have a The Fisher c-801 and it’s a close second. The Fisher is smaller, but it too sounds amazing. The Fisher console I believe has a 30WPC tube amp and this Curtis Mathes is around 40WPC. The Fisher console has a stereo amp but you need a companion speaker to actually make it true stereo. Early stereo.. needless to say if anyone out there ever has the opportunity to pick up a Curtis Mathes console for a good price DO IT! You won’t be disappointed! Definitely a quality piece of furniture and quality audio. The speakers appear to be the standard Alnico type speakers of the time but they get the job done. I could upgrade them but I like keeping “antiques” original. Especially fully functioning ones!

 

[bberkom]

Love the look of that console. Incredible condition! If those are el84/6bq5 output tubes, I'd guess more like 15-20 wpc.

 

[gadget73]

6bq5 is realistically closer to 12 per channel most of the time. They were sometimes sold as a "30 watt" amp, but thats 15+15, and most of them won't actually do 15 watts both driven. Or sometimes at all.

I do like front loader consoles, and for exactly the same reason. You can put stuff on top of them. My Hoffman has lids that need to be lifted in order to use it. Its a big flat surface that is absolutely useless if I actually want to turn the thing on.

 

[Ibemiked]

6bq5 is realistically closer to 12 per channel most of the time. They were sometimes sold as a "30 watt" amp, but thats 15+15, and most of them won't actually do 15 watts both driven. Or sometimes at all.

I do like front loader consoles, and for exactly the same reason. You can put stuff on top of them. My Hoffman has lids that need to be lifted in order to use it. Its a big flat surface that is absolutely useless if I actually want to turn the thing on.

I found an advertisement for this and it says 30 (E.I.A) watt dual channel amp.. Do you know what E.I.A stands for? I have other tube systems that don’t sound nearly as good at loud volumes than this. The Fisher console I have is also rated 30WPC and it sounds great but doesn’t get as loud as this CM. You could be right about the WPC. This CM has a separate amp. It’s not the same chassis as the preamp Tuner. I posted the advertisement I found with the specs listed. I don’t know where I got the 40WPC I originally stated..

 

[gadget73]

Electronic Industries Association I expect, but no idea how they actually did ratings. It would be 15+15 watts, 15 per channel for 30 total.

 

[Ibemiked]

Electronic Industries Association I expect, but no idea how they actually did ratings. It would be 15+15 watts, 15 per channel for 30 total.

Crazy how this 15WPC amp sounds better than some of the newer “100WPC” home theatre stuff I have. Whether it’s 15 or 30 it sounds great and I feel fortunate to have it. Especially in such great condition. This thing is over 50 years old all original and still works!

 

[Djcoolray]

All I can say is like.....WOW !!!