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Fisher Consoles 1959-1965

Sue; The best your going to do is the product catalog's. I've only seen ONE (1) product Brochure, and that was for my Early model 400 receiver. Generally Fisher produced the catalogs so you could go thru the whole line and compare them with your need's (available space in house was a big part) or wants (keep up or surpass the Joneses). Jon over on FISHERCONSOLES.COM has a few brochures which are mostly early to mid 50's separates, and a couple of 60's separates. This is the most complete listing on the webs since 2010.
 
Thanks Larry, I’d seen the console site before, btw we live in Binghamton NY but I’m from Catonsville and hubby is from Towson.
 
Hello folks. Enjoying looking over this thread.

I'm looking for another pre-solid state, vintage console to compliment my RCA Henredon but I want a different brand this time. I want something similar in sound to the RCA with a warm sound and plenty of wallop, for example, that you get from a 15" bass speaker. Currently, I am looking at the Motorola 3-channel series they had from 1959 - '63. Those will be hard to beat, I believe, once fully restored. However, I need to know if the Fisher models even offered up anything back then with that much 'uumph' coming from down below? In other words, did any pre solid state Fisher models come with 15" bass speaker with five to seven speakers total?

For some reason, maybe due to the research I have already done, I just have the impression that Fisher really specialized in a different 'brand of sound' for their listeners back then and so you are not going to find the 'beefy type models' with them as much, although I am sure they had models that could still pack a wallop but just not in the same way. So would it be fair to say that perhaps their audience in general listened to more classical music or maybe even jazz so they catered to them? So it would be something equivalent to what we refer to today as audiophile listeners?. Are those fair assumptions?

Thanks for any insight to help me determine whether I need to even be looking at the Fisher models.
 
Largest Driver that Fisher used in any unit (Tube or Solid state) was 12" with at the MOST 2 mids and 1 tweeter. Nothing Fancy, and they could push a lot of sound if cranked. Fisher tended to attract the more conservative folks that didn't listen to Rock & Roll, that tended to Mantovani, Lawrence Welk, etc. (You know..............MUZAK!) blues, Big band and Classical. They aren't THUMPERS by any stretch of the imagination. They're well designed, well built and dependable to a fault when properly maintained, and at this point will probably need a total overhaul, as will any other brand (the overhaul). Motorola is a very good brand and their equipment is top tier. If you want a Thumper (what you call wallop) RCA, Motorola, and the Larger Magnavox's will do that handily.
 
That's not quite accurate. For instance, the Fisher 1959 President III featured two 15" bass, two 8" mids, and four high frequency for a total of eight speakers. The system has 42 tubes in five seperate chassis' and is rated at 140 watts. If you want to rattle your windows with a Fisher this'll do it. The Contemporary II is a bit different as it comes in mono and with an add-on seperate unit it becomes stereo. The main unit and add-on (with a seperate chassis) come with 15" bass, 8" mids, plus tweeters. There are others. Find a 1958-1960 or so Fisher catalog and check them out. Back in the day Fisher was considered upper class while Magnavox was blue collar. Fishers are capable of thumping with the best of them including the Maggies. I have several of both.
 
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larryderouin said:
Largest Driver that Fisher used in any unit (Tube or Solid state) was 12" with at the MOST 2 mids and 1 tweeter. Nothing Fancy, and they could push a lot of sound if cranked. Fisher tended to attract the more conservative folks that didn't listen to Rock & Roll, that tended to Mantovani, Lawrence Welk, etc. (You know..............MUZAK!) blues, Big band and Classical. They aren't THUMPERS by any stretch of the imagination. They're well designed, well built and dependable to a fault when properly maintained, and at this point will probably need a total overhaul, as will any other brand (the overhaul). Motorola is a very good brand and their equipment is top tier. If you want a Thumper (what you call wallop) RCA, Motorola, and the Larger Magnavox's will do that handily.
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Love it! Yes......'Thumper' is probably the more accurate term to describe the type sound capabilities I am after.:banana: And glad to know that my suspicion's seemed to be correct. Thanks for clarifying/confirming and I enjoy reading these threads and thank you for your invaluable contributions along the way....absolutely outstanding. It is 'folks like me' that really rely on 'folks like you' to help steer us in the right direction and so I am extremely grateful that you are out there. Thank again, kind sir!
 
Dswankey said:
@TENER

Congrats on your new acquisition!!! Have you checked out the tubes yet? I'll be curious as to what brand are in that Ampex RtR
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Yes I did and they are all Telefunken and test strong. All the RTR needs is belts as far as I can tell at this point. This is pic's of 5 12AX7's out of the Ampex. They look and test like new. When you add the 9 12AX7 tubes from the 800C I got 14 Telefunken 12AX7 tubes that all test strong. They are worth three times as much as what I paid for the whole thing.


IMG_0018.JPGIMG_0019.JPGIMG_0020.JPGIMG_0021.JPG
 
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@TENER

Outstanding and congratulations!!!!!, many years ago I came across an Ampex RtR and it was chock-full of Amperex that all tested strong too.

I'm guessing here and hopefully others can clarify but my thought is the RtR's didn't really drive their tubes hard.

Back to yours, if I'm reading this correctly yours are the "Imported" version as opposed to the "Exported" version based on the dates codes used.

https://www.tctubes.com/telefunken-date-codes.aspx

One last thing and here's hoping you already know this if not be very careful handling those tubes as you can smudge off the chalk like markings very easily.

Here's an example of someone who found out the hard way :biggrin:



Screen Shot 2023-07-06 at 3.13.23 PM.png
 
I have an E-49-P Fisher Custom Electra VII Console French Provincial in Fruitwood 1964. Nothing has been updated but I think I did change out the two 12ax7 tubes. I use two small KLH single driver speakers as the WS-1 wide surround speakers. I want to use some external speakers on the other speaker terminal but I am not sure what would be a good match.
I must say the wood finish on my console is excellent.
 
Selling a 1965 Custom Electra VIII in Towson, Md. Have it listed in Bartertown, soon to be on Craigslist, FBMP, etc. Needs restoration. Has a very nice Miracord 10F turntable with all 3 spindles. Downsizing and moving so it has to go.
 
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