I'm not sure what I've found here: Silvertone console content

[oneinchside]

I got this a week ago at the kind price, but I'm not sure what this beast is.

Tube radio, SS? amp and... reverb?
Well, at least I think the control panel looks mondo spiffy.

any info on this beast would be greatly appreciated, I haven't even found a model number yet.

 

[audiodon]

Tube radio, SS? amp and... reverb?
The answer is yes.

I've had no experience with this particular console, but it appears that you've got a hybrid system where at least the stereo multiplexer and possibly the whole preamp is tubed and the outputs (that rack at the bottom) are solid state.

What's that sticker on the rear sidewall say?

 

[ferninando]

delete

 

[oneinchside]

delete

Now now now, just because it isn't replete in tubulent goodness, appears to have the high frequency fidelity of an underwater tuba... :nono:

Didja notice them big woofers? And the wiring that seems to suggest that they may be coaxials? The full size 3 spring reverb tank?

The early american/catalog store design influence?
The genuine imitation walnut veneer?
The wicked cool dash panel?
The carefully textured antique gold grill cloth that so successfully coordinates with today's popular rust or olive green shag carpeting?

For shame, for shame.

Now, if I just had a [edit: Motorola, not Magnavox] Magnavox EL84/6V6 3 channel power amp with the matching 12AX7 driven Vibrasonic pre-amp laying around...

 

[oneinchside]

Now now now, just because it isn't replete in tubulent goodness, appears to have the high frequency fidelity of an underwater tuba... :nono:

Didja notice them big woofers? And the wiring that seems to suggest that they may be coaxials? The full size 3 spring reverb tank?

The early american/catalog store design influence?
The genuine imitation walnut veneer?
The wicked cool dash panel?
The carefully textured antique gold grill cloth that so successfully coordinates with today's popular rust or olive green shag carpeting?

For shame, for shame.

Now, if I just had a Magnavox EL84/6V6 3 channel power amp with the matching 12AX7 driven Vibrasonic pre-amp laying around...

oh wait...

It still ain't gonna knock the Fisher 800c out of the LR spotlight... but maybe, just maybe, there might be something guitaristic afoot.

Whadya think?

 

[oneinchside]

Tube radio, SS? amp and... reverb?
The answer is yes.

I've had no experience with this particular console, but it appears that you've got a hybrid system where at least the stereo multiplexer and possibly the whole preamp is tubed and the outputs (that rack at the bottom) are solid state.

What's that sticker on the rear sidewall say?

Yep, I saw the SS output section... but with output transformers??? BTW, the pre-amp is SS also... I'm not expecting much.

But the woofers seem BIG. Too big, I haven't pulled one yet but I'm wondering if they are coaxials or on a concentric baffle or something. As much as I love the way the radio dial looks, a tuner where I live is nigh unto useless, so unless there is some hidden (very hidden) historic merit to this piece, I may as Dalek-oldhifiguy says, delete.

Of course I could be wrong. It may be the bees-knees, but for right now my knees aren't willing to haul the beast home and up the stairs to give it a listen.

 

[stereorob]

looks like a motorola peice to me, but idk if motorola built stuff for silvertone. looks like it though! intresting find!

 

[oneinchside]

looks like a motorola peice to me, but idk if motorola built stuff for silvertone. looks like it though! intresting find!

oops. that tube shot at the bottom is Motorola not Magnavox... but the console does look kind of Motorola-ish too. Esp. the cabinet. :scratch2:

Gives me a bit of hope for the drivers at least.

 

[pete1729]

Does the tall gray metal box on the inside of the cabinet facing away from the building have springs in it? If so that is the reverb tank.

 

[oneinchside]

Does the tall gray metal box on the inside of the cabinet facing away from the building have springs in it? If so that is the reverb tank.

It do it do-- full size acutronics 3 or 4 spring tank by the looks of it.
( ( ( ((r e v e r b)) ) ) )

For those disks that just didn't surf hard enough I guess.

 

[benb]

oh wait...

It still ain't gonna knock the Fisher 800c out of the LR spotlight... but maybe, just maybe, there might be something guitaristic afoot.

Whadya think?

Especially with the reverb... I see a power transformer and THREE other transformers - know what they're all for?

It do it do-- full size acutronics 3 or 4 spring tank by the looks of it.
( ( ( ((r e v e r b)) ) ) )

For those disks that just didn't surf hard enough I guess.

Presuming this thing gets parted out, the reverb springs would be the first thing I'd save! I've got a couple of those around here, I think a Hammond and another brand or two. I wonder who all made them. I suppose Accutronics was a higher end brand.

OMG, they still make them!
http://www.accutronicsreverb.com/

Now I'm hearing the Ventures...

 

[gadget73]

Thats gotta be at the very cusp of the solid state era. There was a time when SS FM tuners were just crap. You'd find a couple of tubes for the FM RF amp, and most of the rest of the circuit would be transistor. Sand amps with output transformers have got to be extremely early designs.

 

[mashaffer]

I have seen other consoles with transistor outputs and OPTs. Interesting transition piece. It might sound pretty good. The drivers look interesting. Looks AlNiCo to me. If it were mine I would be tempted to spruce it up a bit and see how it sounds. One could always add tube output stage if needed.

In a related story my solid state Baldwin console organ has interstage trannies in the power amps.

mike

 

[oneinchside]

I have seen other consoles with transistor outputs and OPTs. Interesting transition piece. It might sound pretty good. The drivers look interesting. Looks AlNiCo to me. If it were mine I would be tempted to spruce it up a bit and see how it sounds. One could always add tube output stage if needed.

In a related story my solid state Baldwin console organ has interstage trannies in the power amps.

mike

Now tha's what I'm afraid of. Right on the cusp... possibly (probably after a second look) made by Motorola... very interesting looking drivers... and bigger than I have space for.

I already f'd up with one console that had historical value (that reminds me, I was going to do a thread about that) and I really don't want to do it again. I grew up in museums and with archeologists/physical anthropologists... dang it.

BTW, those sand-huggin' trannies look j u s t right for a champ-sized amp...

and I'll bet a dollar to the hole in a doughnut on the AlNico... and tomorrow I'm gonna pull one long enough for a look at the other side. I haven't measured them but them seem bigger than a 12", and even a 12 is too big to be a full range driver... esp. if your featuring spring reverb on recordings.

The circuit board looked pretty interesting when I dropped it out of the cabinet for a quick peek. Very, very neat solder joints (and BIG) for something in the transition period.

The TT is finished much better than most Sears stuff... hmmm.

(I did have, at one time, a Silvertone SS Bass amp... 6x10 with a 100w piggy back head... 6 Jensen cq10's... yup, it was wicked cool... I know these aren't cq10's or 12's... but the do look familiar. Big cone, AlNiCo, spidery frame that would flex if you farted in the same room... I just can't place it.)

 

[oneinchside]

I have seen other consoles with transistor outputs and OPTs. Interesting transition piece. It might sound pretty good. The drivers look interesting. Looks AlNiCo to me. If it were mine I would be tempted to spruce it up a bit and see how it sounds. One could always add tube output stage if needed.

In a related story my solid state Baldwin console organ has interstage trannies in the power amps.

mike

On second thought... it is kinda easy to figure out where the caps are in the power amp...

What the heck. It's just gonna be 4 or 5 caps right? (oh geez, here we go down the path to perdition... paved not with horror but mediocrity.)

 

[cademan]

FYI, those are not output transformers, they are input/driver transformers. My 8 output transistor Magnavox amplifier has two of these transformers in the preamp/driver section, but are not connected in any way to the speakers.

Also, some of the solid state Magnavox Astro-Sonics utilized the driver transformer under the chassis. I own three of them!

 

[oneinchside]

FYI, those are not output transformers, they are input/driver transformers. My 8 output transistor Magnavox amplifier has two of these transformers in the preamp/driver section, but are not connected in any way to the speakers.

Also, some of the solid state Magnavox Astro-Sonics utilized the driver transformer under the chassis. I own three of them!

(just when I thought I knew something...)

Ok, so these are the transformers... before/after the reverb stage? Before the transistors? How does this work?

Is this similar to an Astro-Sonic? and WTF is an Astro-Sonic? (I'm betting it's not just when Elroy's dog goes "rut-ro")

 

[cademan]

(just when I thought I knew something...)

Ok, so these are the transformers... before/after the reverb stage? Before the transistors? How does this work?

Is this similar to an Astro-Sonic? and WTF is an Astro-Sonic? (I'm betting it's not just when Elroy's dog goes "rut-ro")

LOL, you never heard of a Magnavox Astro-Sonic??? You must be a youngin! These are solid state stereo consoles from about 1966 on up!

The driver transformer is just that! They drive the output transistor stages.

 

[oneinchside]

LOL, you never heard of a Magnavox Astro-Sonic??? You must be a youngin! These are solid state stereo consoles from about 1966 on up!

The driver transformer is just that! They drive the output transistor stages.

(kicking sand...) ok, I've heard of them, I just don't really know squat about them other than they don't have tubes...

And well yeah, I'm kinda a youngin... in the late 60's my Dad rented office space (audiologist) for a while from Sears... the stereos and records were right before you got to his office... and his friends were musicians/recording people... but what do I really know?

The pretty blonde lady in the cafeteria would give you extra fries, and you could sneak under the railing into the record section before you had to pay for 'em, and the good looking girls went to the record section and the ugly ones had to go to the clothes and furniture departments with their moms, and if you had fries with extra ketchup....

Wait a minute. You still haven't told me what in the hell an astro-sonic is.
how'sitmade.
how'sitsound.
do I restore this or part it out into a bitchin' guitar amp.

 

[cademan]

Here is one of the Astro-Sonic's I own:

The Astro-Sonic name, is just a brand name, and they usually pointed to the solid state transistor era that was just coming in. They sound pretty good! They are solid state chassis'

On your console, have you plugged it in yet to see if it works? Sinse it has a solid state amplifier, you will hear an instant thump at turn on. If it works (no smoke, shorts etc.), then do the usual update recap job.

Very controversial on the solid state sound, compared to the tube sound!