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In search of Philips USA brochures

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DanFromNL

New Member
Hi, my name is Dan and I'm from The Netherlands. I collect Philips vintage audio especially anything related to Motional Feedback Boxes (MFB). As Philips was a Dutch company it's not very difficult to find old stuff over here however the drawback is that there are many, many more people like me.

But I own a special piece probably only very few will have in Europe. Since half a year I obtained a Philips High Fidelity Laboratories set consisting of :

22AH3881 - Power amplifier
22AH1851 - Tuner
N2535 - Cassette deck
AF977 - Record player

All in 110 Volt, so genuine American. Once bought by a Dutch student in USA and taken back to his homeland.

20171117_151321.jpg

In Europe in general we're not so aware of any existence of specific US type of apparatus. Some people know the true High Fidelity Laboratories Series 673, 572, 578 ( I own tuner and pre-amp) but receivers like 784 or 785 are unknown.

I'm constantly seeking for any information regarding Philips USA and I recently found this website containing a scan of a Philips brochure (http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/in...ossibly-an-answer-to-a-philips-mystery.55218/). Unfortunately it doesn't contain info about my amplifier yet tuner is mentioned on page 20. Probably a few pages are missing.

So if anyone has more information about my Philips 22AH388/3881 I would be very grateful.

Thanks,

Dan from The Netherlands
The heart of Philips
 
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Hi Dan, welcome to AK.

There is a fair bit of info out on the web about the MFB boxes. The driver complement is pretty straightforward and easy to identify and I have got a power amp schematic someplace for them. I'll see if I can dig it out.

If you pop the cover and ID some date codes on components, we can narrow down the search in terms of dates of manufacture.

It looks very much like the 22AH384 or 22AH386 to me. Perhaps they were the silver versions?
 
Hi John,

The Netherlands are Walhalla for Philips collectors. You may find an active group of enthousiasts at www.mfbfreaks.com . Once setup by Piet Gouw, one of the desiners of MFB boxes. Still alive though 92. I met him a few times.

But my question is related to old USA brochures. The 3881 is the black finish of the silver 388. This unit may be part of a family consisting of 384 and 386 however, it lacks MFB connectors. In NL we believe it is more related to Philips sub brands Aristona / Erres (Hifi Sound Project). Tuner and amplifiers were manufactured in Japan.

High Fidelity Laboratories 22AH673, 22AH572, 22AH578 were definitely manufactured in USA. My 22AH1851 has a label at its rear panel telling it comes from Greenville, Tennessee.

So I'm very curious to know if anyone here in USA / Canada has more information for me.


20171117_151611.jpg
 
Ok, here we go. Sorry for bad quality pictures. There's a lot of sun these days (25 degree C).

Living : from right to left

22AH572 / 22AH673 / N2544 / AH198 / AF829 (198 = additional tuner)
CD340 / DCC300 (DCC = digital compact cassette)

AH1851 / AH3881 / N2535 / RH743 / AF977 / AH878 (743 is MFB receiver, 878 is TAP)

N2521 / RH752
RH640 / RH540 / CD380 / DCC450 / N2501

F4510 / F2510 / F6622 / CD582 / F3538 (= spectral analyzer / equalizer)



Speakers :

MFB9638 / MFB544
SX6488 / RH427

20180418_192138.jpg

Next : The glass house (1)

From right to left

AH683 / AH799 / N2552
My old TV from 1985 bought from my first real wages
AH170 / 270 / 370 / DCC600 / CD750 / EQ670

Speakers:

MFB585 / MFB532 (black / brown)
AH466 / F 9432 / F9218

20180418_192233.jpg

Glass house (2)

From right to left

Technics tower 1979 stuff, includes my first bought SU8022 amplifier. All other stuff is stuff I was to poor to buy in those days.

SA303 receiver, SU8022 amplifier, ST8011 tuner, SH8010 equalizer, SU8044 amplifier, ST8044 tuner, PG 380A CD player, M12 cassette deck


Center

Technics SL-23
2 Philips sets # 257 (top) + #231 bottom

Left

Fisheye set RH520 / RH621
CD350 / AH695 / N2510

FA569 AV amplifier
CD600 / FC630 / FT690



20180418_192241.jpg

Office

AH109 / AH209 / AH309
Technics M03 cassette deck

Speakers : MFB541 / RH453

20180418_192453.jpg

In addition some equipments in several storage rooms.
 
DanFromNL said:
Hi, my name is Dan and I'm from The Netherlands. I collect Philips vintage audio especially anything related to Motional Feedback Boxes (MFB). As Philips was a Dutch company it's not very difficult to find old stuff over here however the drawback is that there are many, many more people like me.

But I own a special piece probably only very few will have in Europe. Since half a year I obtained a Philips High Fidelity Laboratories set consisting of :

22AH3881 - Power amplifier
22AH1851 - Tuner
N2535 - Cassette deck
AF977 - Record player

All in 110 Volt, so genuine American. Once bought by a Dutch student in USA and taken back to his homeland.

View attachment 1165289

In Europe in general we're not so aware of any existence of specific US type of apparatus. Some people know the true High Fidelity Laboratories Series 673, 572, 578 ( I own tuner and pre-amp) but receivers like 784 or 785 are unknown.

I'm constantly seeking for any information regarding Philips USA and I recently found this website containing a scan of a Philips brochure (http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/in...ossibly-an-answer-to-a-philips-mystery.55218/). Unfortunately it doesn't contain info about my amplifier yet tuner is mentioned on page 20. Probably a few pages are missing.

So if anyone has more information about my Philips 22AH388/3881 I would be very grateful.

Thanks,

Dan from The Netherlands
The heart of Philips
Click to expand...

Philips USA= Magnavox handled their USA manufacture and distribution (turntable was imported). Magnavox Historical Society may be able to help you.
 
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