Newly acquired Fisher X-202-B. I'll need some help. A few questions may follow.

[the_nines]

Brought it home yesterday.

Here are some preliminary pics:

Can someone vouch for the "center speaker" and "master volume" knobs? Are these what came with the unit originally?

I know the "mode selector" knob needs replacing. Shouldn't be a huge deal.

I know the brass caps on the "Input selector, Low level, Bass, Treble, Stereo Dimension" are missing and have been replaced by what is shown in the pictures. Yes?

Original AC plug, marked by the seller:

The jewels will be replaced with the proper ones. I cannot find originals but suitable replacements are on the way:

All in all, the unit appears to be clean. Output tubes have been replaced with EH7591's and the seller included the previous 7591's which consisted of "3 x Realistic 7591 and 1 x GE 7591.

Here are some more pics of the unit:

Chassis serial number 53709D:

And a bit of eye-candy of the upper part of the unit:

So for now, my question(s) are:

Where can I find the proper knobs for the "center speaker" and "master volume", and where can I find the proper brass caps for the knobs?

The unit sounds fantastic, no hum. It's all original as far as caps go. Maybe looking to re-cap in the near future, but for now I'll leave it as is and take it from there.

Tomorrow I hope to be able to take a few pics of the insides and post accordingly.

Thanks.

 

[tubeboob]

The proper knobs can be found on the Bay, you know . . .

Beautiful piece, said to be the second best (or thereabouts) Fisher integrated there is.

I have two, and the one I have had work done to just cannot seem to balance left and right channels.

Otherwise, the sound is sublime.

Cheers

 

[Omegaman]

Very nice find. Great sounding Fisher amp

Oddball knob caps. Google or search eBay for parts

A remote control plug, cool

Make sure it has the correct amp fuse

thanks for sharing

 

[audiodon]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Early early '60s Fisher tube gear.

Those knob brights on the bottom don't look original . . . or, let's say that I've never seen one or a photo of one with any of those knob brights before. The knobs on the top look to be from later '60s modern styles knobs that bridged the tube/SS era.
I'm glad it works and good luck. It's a great unit.

 

[jgannon]

What a great looking amp - congratulations! I wonder if anyone could illuminate me on what the 3 3/4, 7 1/2, and what looks like Col.- inputs are all about. Also, I guess the RIAA 1 and RIAA 2, what would you do, decide on which one your LPs sounded better? Or were there instructions for when to use them?

 

[IMTubeHead]

3 3/4 & 7 1/2 are tape speeds for reel to reel tape decks. Why they have separate inputs is a good question.

 

[dcgillespie]

Fisher provided two phono inputs to allow for a (throughout the 50's) traditional record changer on one of the inputs (the one that also has the different record EQ positions connected with it -- usually the RIAA 1 input), and then an more modern turn table in the RIAA 2 input, with only RIAA EQ available for that input of course.

The Fisher amplifiers with the remote control plug require a dummy plug to be inserted for the unit to operate when the remote control unit was not connected. If yours operates without the dummy plug in place, then it has been modified to allow it to operate without the plug in place.

Good luck with it!

Dave

 

[sony6060]

Congrats

Nice amplifier. I recommend a power supply rebuild and the grid resistors changed to 220K with the EH 7591 tubes.

 

[asech]

That will be a beautiful sounding amp when it is up to speed..
I have two..and the next one up X1000

if you are not sure of the maintenace history of it be careful until you have it checked out....find a nice Fisher tuner to go with it..

in regards to the jewels..the ones you have on it seem to look better
than anything you might find on ebay....IMHO

 

[walyfd]

Beautiful piece! Those lamp jewels are the originals. DON'T change them. They should be glass, not plastic and are impossible to find.

As for the different EQ switches: "COL" was for the early Columbia LP equalization; "RIAA" is the curve adopted in 1954 as the industry standard and also called "New Orthophonic" by RCA; I'm surprised there's not a separate "78" eq, though. The 7.5 and 3.75 are for a r2r tape recorder. Usually, the tape recorder itself would have its own built-in bias for the speed of the tape selected.

Looks like it also has a "MIC" function, or is the lettering worn and that's what it looks to be?

 

[larryderouin]

The Tape inputs are AUX 2 (for a 2 head deck with a preamp/Equalization on the deck) MON (3 HEAD Deck so you could compare the source and the playback at the sam time as recording) and TAPEHEAD which is for a direct from the heads connection. Quite a few of the 50's and early 60's R2R head units didn't have a preamp or equalization circuit. The heads were directly wired to the RCA jacks and the receiver or preamp/integrated amp too care of the EQ and amplification. damn near everyone had their own EQ curves, until the RIAA and NARTB/NAB standards became the norm.

The 2 knobs on the top row are definately later, used in Hybrid consoles (64 -66) and Solid State receivers/amps/etc.

Nice amp. Once restored it'll be a sweetheart.

Larry

 

[the_nines]

Beautiful piece! Those lamp jewels are the originals. DON'T change them. They should be glass, not plastic and are impossible to find.

....

Aren't the originals supposed to be different colours?

 

[walyfd]

Yes, they should be, from left to right: Green, Yellow, Red, Green, Yellow. Are yours all one color? I hadn't noticed that.

The original jewels are glass and are faceted like a cut gemstone, not smooth.

 

[IMTubeHead]

@The_Nines--That's a very nice looking piece you have! I noticed from your photos that you're a vinyl hound So am I, and my jaw hit the floor the first time I heard one of my records playing through a tubed amp...just blew me away! I haven't heard anything through a Fisher yet, but I'm sure that it will be SWEET!! It will be great to see how your restore effort comes along with this amp...Looks really sweet as it is! Good luck...

John

 

[the_nines]

@The_Nines--That's a very nice looking piece you have! I noticed from your photos that you're a vinyl hound So am I, and my jaw hit the floor the first time I heard one of my records playing through a tubed amp...just blew me away! I haven't heard anything through a Fisher yet, but I'm sure that it will be SWEET!! It will be great to see how your restore effort comes along with this amp...Looks really sweet as it is! Good luck...

John

Thanks.

And yes, I am a vinyl hound. I have my share, to say the least.

My systems are all tube based, from my Leben to my two Fishers (500C & 500B). I play vinyl exclusively (99% of the time).

The Fisher X-202-B I picked up sounds fabulous from the start. I plan on taking my time and doing it right as I go along. No rush, sounds amazing! For now, nothing major is required, the unit sounds just great. Perhaps in the future a re-build of the power supply as I did with both my other two Fishers.

I couldn't help but notice that you are running one of my "all-time" favorite carts: The Ortofon X5-MC. I just love this cart so much, I'm thinking of picking up another.

:thmbsp:

 

[AlTinkster92]

Check the auction site for reproduction jewels, they are listed almost all the time and are good quality.

 

[the_nines]

Check the auction site for reproduction jewels, they are listed almost all the time and are good quality.

Checked....

Some stuff is on its way.

Will post ...... with pics.

 

[the_nines]

The jewels are in.

Previously posted on another thread, but I would like to consolidate the posts and keep everything to do with this unit here. :yes:

Jewel replacements came in a few days ago.

The unit I bought had some monochrome blue ones which were glued on.

I took the time this afternoon and replaced them.

These are the jewels that came with the unit:

The replacements:

Off with the old:

The blues are out (I must admit, they look pretty cool):

A bit of lighter-fluid for the old excess glue, dabbed with a Q-Tip:

After the old glue is mildly soaked with lighter-fluid, I carefully scraped it off. No added pressure, don't want to scratch the face-plate:

In with the replacements:

And the beat goes on.

 

[the_nines]

Next is removing the old knob caps.

Next thing I want to do is remove the knob caps. This is what came with the unit (nice attempt to keep some sort of cosmetic appeal, but they don't belong):

I'm waiting for replacements, they're not originals but beggars can't be choosers.

The knob caps on the unit presently have been glued to withstand a nuclear explosion. I had a hell of a time removing them to begin with, they were fused onto the knobs. However, I did manage. Once removed, there was a smearing of dried glue I had to remove.

Used a water bottle cap and poured some lighter fluid into it:

Placed the knob face down in the fluid, let it stay there a couple of minutes:

Took it out and started scraping with a sharp blade:

Took me a while but in the end this is what the knobs look like:

Now just waiting for the brass caps which should be sometime this week. They're not originals but like I said, beggars can't be choosers.

 

[the_nines]

A few pics of the underside.

As promised, a couple of pics from the inside. Sorry for the quality of the photos:

The unit is in its original state, with one exception. The previous owner did the following. And as per him, the following is a "google" translation of what he mentioned:

"la seule modification est le rajout d`un régulateur de voltage et un potentiometre 10 tours pour obtenir un 25.2vdc parfait sur les filaments du preamp."

Google translate:

"the only change is the addition of `a voltage regulator and a potentiometer 10 turns for a perfect 25.2vdc on the preamp filaments."

Do I trust him? Don't know. He did seem to know what he was doing. He had a ton of gear which he built himself, including some amps which he described as "OTL".

The Fisher sounds wonderful.