Could you send me a scan of that schematic? I haven't been able to find it anywhere.
Fisher Contemporary C800P
- Thread starter Sam Cogley
- Start date
Could you send me a scan of that schematic? I haven't been able to find it anywhere.
relaximus
Consoles 'Я' Us
Sam:
As I recall, all of the tubes in mine were Fisher branded except the 6BQ5 pair. They were, of course, MIA. I replaced them with Sovtek EL84M's and couldn't be happier with the sound. I finally got around to replacing the x-over cap on the Jensen coax and it really brought it back to life. I really surprised by how nice this driver sounds. I would imagine the improved driver complement in yours would prove just glorious.
Dave
Digging around in my tubes today I found a NOS military 1629 eye tube. With a $14 adapter, it's a direct replacement for the 6E5 if it turns out to be weak. 
Now that the C800 is moving closer to the top of the "restore" list, I'm looking for replacement grille cloth ideas. I like the stuff that's there, but it has a very obvious bleached spot right in the middle. I've thought about cane cloth, but a piece that big would probably cost more than the rest of the console combined.
Hi guys, first post here. I've inherited a "59" Fisher R-20 with the presence and brilliance controls, turntable, all original, including paper work, sales receipt, etc. Cosmetically its in great condition, but not working. I tested the tubes and a couple were bad. I've ordered new tubes but was wondering if anybody could point me in the right direction for info about restoring this unit. A couple of the knobs are missing the silver center cap.
Its a beautiful piece of work and I would really like to get it working.
Thank you very much. Jered
Its a beautiful piece of work and I would really like to get it working.
Thank you very much. Jered
It'll need a thorough recap, there are quite a few threads here talking about that process.
'59 should actually be an R-30-S: mono output tubes and tuner, but with a stereo preamp for the turntable. An companion stereo speaker with built-in monoblock amp would have been available. The pure mono R-20 was built from 56-58, if memory serves.
Start a thread about your console in the Fisher forum and post some pics - I'd love to see it!
'59 should actually be an R-30-S: mono output tubes and tuner, but with a stereo preamp for the turntable. An companion stereo speaker with built-in monoblock amp would have been available. The pure mono R-20 was built from 56-58, if memory serves.
Start a thread about your console in the Fisher forum and post some pics - I'd love to see it!
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Did a bit of work today - cut a piece of 3/4" Oak plywood to serve as a new speaker compartment back. Now I just need to sand the edges a bit and put some finish on it for sealing purposes.
The R-20 was partially recapped a few days ago and sounds great. I need to finish that job so I can get the whole thing back together.
Any suggestions on grille cloth? I'm leaning towards cane material right now.
The R-20 was partially recapped a few days ago and sounds great. I need to finish that job so I can get the whole thing back together.
Any suggestions on grille cloth? I'm leaning towards cane material right now.
Don, the opening is about 18" high x 34" wide, and it needs a bit of overlap past that. I have a few pieces of grille cloth that would look OK, but none of them fit.
Fisherdude, that first one was on my list of material under consideration. The second I don't think would fit with the Danish/Mid-Century styling of the cabinet.
Fisherdude, that first one was on my list of material under consideration. The second I don't think would fit with the Danish/Mid-Century styling of the cabinet.
#27, 61, & 62 might work:
http://radiodaze.com/grilleclothpatterns.htm
The thumbnails are really small, though, kind of hard to tell how they really look.
http://radiodaze.com/grilleclothpatterns.htm
The thumbnails are really small, though, kind of hard to tell how they really look.
And it lives! Back from the "Rrrrrrrgh-20" thread, the C800P is doing what it's supposed to do - make music. The crossover caps could use an overhaul. Good tone, except that the highs are more rolled-off than expected. It also needs an external antenna installed, the built-in dipole isn't doing much. AM reception is pretty much zilch so far.
Edit - the sometimes-problem with radio reception appears to be more of dirty contacts on the selector switch than a problem with the antenna. Guess I'll slide the R-20 out tomorrow and hit it with a bit of DeoxIT.
Edit 2 - considering that Avery's love was classical music, and that this console was made when Elvis was still blowing everyone's mind, this thing does a pretty credible job with classic rock. Led Zep doesn't sound bad at all. Still need to rebuild those crossovers. A smallish horn would probably be nice in place of the Jensen cone tweeter, too. I wonder if one of those little Zenith Allegro horns would work in there?
Two pics, with flash and without. The flash shot gives a better look at the color of the fabric and wood, without flash lets the face of the R-20 glow.
Edit - the sometimes-problem with radio reception appears to be more of dirty contacts on the selector switch than a problem with the antenna. Guess I'll slide the R-20 out tomorrow and hit it with a bit of DeoxIT.
Edit 2 - considering that Avery's love was classical music, and that this console was made when Elvis was still blowing everyone's mind, this thing does a pretty credible job with classic rock. Led Zep doesn't sound bad at all. Still need to rebuild those crossovers. A smallish horn would probably be nice in place of the Jensen cone tweeter, too. I wonder if one of those little Zenith Allegro horns would work in there?
Two pics, with flash and without. The flash shot gives a better look at the color of the fabric and wood, without flash lets the face of the R-20 glow.
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Our local good classic rock stations (somehow, we have two of them) have had good playlists tonight. So far the C800 has dealt with Led Zep several times, a bit of Ozzy Osbourne, some Tom Petty, and right now is doing a great job of keeping up with Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good." Bass isn't huge, but it has good tone. It would probably help if I had the back of the speaker enclosure installed. The Jensen cone tweeter is growing on me ... rather like a fungus.
Been through several different variants of classic rock in the past half hour or so. EL&P's "Karn Evil" is blaring right now. Still quite impressed, especially considering that the C800 was third from the bottom of Fisher's eight-model 1958 lineup (though this one has been rebuilt with the speakers from the Medalist II, one step up.
The Foster horn from a Zenith Allegro will bolt right in. I'll give it a sound check with one sometime this week.
Update...Pearl Jam ~ Black is playing. The C800 is handling it well, and it's not an easy song to reproduce. The fact that songs from Pearl Jam's first album are hitting the classic rock station is rather depressing, but it's a nice test for the console.
Arrgh...I really need to clean that selector switch. When the resistance gets too high, my tuning goes to hell.
Been through several different variants of classic rock in the past half hour or so. EL&P's "Karn Evil" is blaring right now. Still quite impressed, especially considering that the C800 was third from the bottom of Fisher's eight-model 1958 lineup (though this one has been rebuilt with the speakers from the Medalist II, one step up.
The Foster horn from a Zenith Allegro will bolt right in. I'll give it a sound check with one sometime this week.
Update...Pearl Jam ~ Black is playing. The C800 is handling it well, and it's not an easy song to reproduce. The fact that songs from Pearl Jam's first album are hitting the classic rock station is rather depressing, but it's a nice test for the console.
Arrgh...I really need to clean that selector switch. When the resistance gets too high, my tuning goes to hell.
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Congrats on getting it running! Selector switches are common problems on my SW receivers as well.
After some hiccups last night (discussed in the Rrrrrrgh-20 thread), the C800 is back to proper operation, and AM tuning finally started working! Sound from the three-way Jensen speaker setup is very, very nice (amazingly so for a 1958 console), and it's very efficient. On a strong station the PP 6BQ5s can drive you out of the house!