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motorola stereo need opinions

P

philips fx82

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Hi to everyone.

I have the am/fm tuner, 6 x 6v6 amplifier and speakers from a Motorola sk77wa console. I am going to replace the electrolytics in the next month or 2 and use this as my main music source. I don't have any vinyl to speak of. Most of my music is soft classical on cd's. The motorola has a 15" woofer and a 5" tweeter and 8" midrange for each channel.
I have lost some of my high frequency range in hearing, and do not like a lot of bass.
For those of you who have similar motorola's, do they sound good, or do you need to change anything on the amp? Are the stock motorola speakers good, or would I need to get something better for better sound?
I see that some of the member here have things like a Fisher 500, or Macintosh
or HH Scott. Is the Motorola even close to these? Just looking for some users opinions
thanks
 
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The Motorola is not close to the classic higher-end brands you mention, like McIntosh, Fisher and Scott. Since you have lost high frequency hearing and don't like a lot of deep bass, the Motorola might be pleasing to you.
 
I've not heard one but it's a nice looking console. That particular Motorola amp chassis is 3-channel with left, right, bass channel and independent PP 6v6 amp sections for each. Schematic here http://techpreservation.dyndns.org/schematics/Motorola.htm search for HS-968

When replacing caps, along with the electrolytics you'll probably also want to replace the coupling caps too. ... and don't forget to replace the non-polar caps in the speaker network, that will help as well.

EDIT: maybe I didn't understand. Do you have the complete console or just the guts?
 
I have a Motorola three channel set up...6BM8 tubes and one 6BQ5 for the bass channel .I recommend some rather decently sensitive speakers for the high end channels and a good passive sub for the low end...I actually use a Bose accoustimass subwoofer.
Mine is just the amp. It is not a Fisher 400 but it sounds pretty good and should do classical fine. You can even try Realistic Minimus 7 speakers they sounded pretty good to me...the bose sub does give excellent bass.
I bought mine from a fellow AKer Wharfecreek who had brought it up on a variac and installed a on/off switch and speaker terminals. I have been running mine with the stock capacitors for over a year. Yeah I know but the chassis is really tight and it only cost about $100. I am using it now as a amp for my computer. Right speakers will make it sound pretty good...KLH 17s work well too. If you run it without the bass channel take out the tube for that trannie....
 
I've got two different 3-channel Motos in the house and I use them frequently. My observation is that if you use the original speakers in the console cabinet they were designed for, the balance between the bass and satellite amps is optimal. Notice that a passive preamp tone control for bass is all the "control" that you have there, but all the cap values etc were chosen with this specific configuration in mind - the original setup.

On the other hand, using the amps as standalones firing speakers in their own cabinets changes the balance between the amps, considerably.

In my case the bass was just was too strong, so I installed a level pot just ahead of the phase inverter for the bass channel. It works like a bass cut would on an active crossover. It is ideal for me, as I'm the type who wants to adjust the bass freq on virtually every record or disc I play. I used it for around a year, marking with pencil on the chassis where I most often set it. Then I measured some resistors and pot settings and installed fixed resistors to get the entire range of the pot within my 'usual' listening range. It works even better now.

If you need a diagram of how to do this on yours let me know. It's not difficult to do.

RWood
 
RWood said:
On the other hand, using the amps as standalones firing speakers in their own cabinets changes the balance between the amps, considerably.RWood
Click to expand...

I have never heard a Motorola amp inside of a cabinet with the original speakers so I am sure you are right. But you can get good sound out of these if you have the right set up of speakers. The bass is a single channel and if you have the preamp you can adjust the output. I am not suggesting destroy the cabinet console but if you have the amp as a stand alone you can get some sweet sound if you experiment a little.
 
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