Madison Fielding 440 Receiver

geg167

geg167

Active Member
Hi to all.
I recently picked up this unique tube receiver and am in the process of bringing it up to speed.
I have replaced paper and electrolytic caps underneath the chassis (Please see the attached pictures of before and after). Everything functions well. All the input and outputs work well. All the tubes, sockets and pots cleaned and lubricated.
Besides power supply caps what else would you guys suggest I should replace?
Could someone give more insights as to the history of Madison Fielding?
And sound quality compared to Fisher 500-C, Scott etc?

Thank you!
 

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Nice work. Power supply caps definitely. My suggestion would be to get your Digital Volt Meter and measure all your power supply voltages and critical tube voltages (plates, cathodes, grids), particularly the bias supply, against the specs in the schematic or whatever manuals you have. I don't know if this unit has a selenium rectifier bridge in the bias supply, but if it does you'll want to replace it because they will fail. Every one I've encountered had significantly below-spec output voltages and this is a real problem in bias supplies. Modern silicon bridge rectifiers have higher output voltages for a given transformer output, so you may have to increase the value of the initial dropping resistor in the supply to bring the voltages in line.

Pay attention to the resistors in the B+ and bias supply strings to ensure they haven't gone high in value or are otherwise showing signs of failure. Lower than spec voltages can be a sign of bad sections in the power supply electrolytic capacitors. Check plate and cathode resistors in the various stages. These can go high, particularly the plate resistors and even if not high in value, can be a source of noise in pre-amp stages. Search on AK for "restore" threads for further guidance--there are a lot of good ones! Above all, make sure you have a good schematic to work from!

I know this is pretty general, but I don't know anything about this unit in particular. There will likely be someone who does, though! Good luck with the unit.
 
Madison Fielding is quite uncommon. From what I remember, their quality is not quite Fisher/Scott level, more like Bell or Bogen, which is nothing to sneeze at. A couple of units I've seen were rather attractive. All I remember, sorry.
 
Thank you for your replies.
Here is the progress of restoration so far.
-Refinished the cabinet.
-Polished the faceplate.

I also included the before pictures.
 

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Certainly looks like a quality piece. Nice work. Love a shiny brass faceplate, and jewel indicators are extra cool.
 
If Mr. Feldman had founded his company in more recent times, it would bear his real name.
How things have changed.
 
Neither Marantz nor Fisher nor Shure nor Bogen nor Harman nor [scores of others] 'sounded' Jewish.
Many of the firms certainly were, though.
 
I was just given a pristine Madison Fielding 440 from a good friend. He never used it, or worked on it and knows little about it. My question is there is a 'null switch' on the front and it is apparently spring loaded. From what little I could find in a search, it has something to do with checking the phase of the two output transformers. One post said if it is in perfect alignment, then there will be no sound. So, I assume if there is sound, I need to adjust the phase.... somehow. Please let me know if anyone else has knowledge on this switch, how to use it and how to adjust phase , if that is the case.

an operators manual would be GREAT.. but I don't think there is one in existence.
 
geg167 said:
Thank you for your replies.
Here is the progress of restoration so far.
-Refinished the cabinet.
-Polished the faceplate.

I also included the before pictures.
Click to expand...
Hello! I found your post about your MF 440 restoration. I have one and considering restoration or not, although that is something I would need to hire out. Now that you have it done and I assume are using it, what do you think of the sound quality? And cosmetically speaking, how did you get the face plate looking so nice without messing up the decals? I'll attached a picture of mine as it is now. Doesn't look too bad. Not sure if it's working.
 

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@QHCS

I see this is your first post having joined 6 yr's ago, so belated welcome to AK

The member you quoted and asked a question to posted that 8yr's ago and hasn't posted or been seen since 2017 so I doubt you'll be getting a response.

I would suggest you try this more recent thread were the OP is still active on AK and hopefully would be able to provide some insight for you

 
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