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Sears by Fisher RS1058

Tib

New Member
Hello, all. I know this model has been touched on before in previous threads, but thought I'd chime in with my own personal experience with it. I saw this listed on the big online auction site as "1970s Fisher 143-92551660 receiver. Works, left side static , parts or repair". By doing some research here on AK, I determined to my satisfaction that this was a RS1058. One thing that also convinced me of this is that the line current draw listed on the back of the Sears is 550 watts. By looking at online pictures of the RS1058, it can be seen that current draw is stated as 500 watts. Hifi Engine lists the rated output of the RS1058 as 90 watts per channel at 8 ohms. There didn't seem to be much interest in the unit as the bid was set at $35 and there were no bids. The receiver looked kind of forlorn because it was shown with a dark dial, no markings visible. It turned out, as I had figured, that was because all the dial lamps were burnt out. I made an offer $5 above starting bid and won it. Cost $75 all told with shipping and taxes.

Further proof this was indeed a RS1058 came when I was able to use the RS1058 schematic to troubleshoot. The circuits, at least on the power amp board matched perfectly. Besides the problems mentioned, I discovered it also had dc voltage on the speaker terminals around 300mv. There was a lot, and I mean a lot!, of flux all over the power amp board. I don't know if this was an assembly error or if that was common, but it sure looked like this flux had become conductive around some of the small transistors between the differential amplifiers and the driver transistors. Scraped that off. Eventually I found that in each channel, a small transistor directly downstream from the differential amplifiers was defective and causing the high dc at speaker terminals as well as some audible distortion. These were Q7 and Q8. They did not appear defective using the diode test in-circuit. But when I pulled them out the Peak Atlas analyser showed hfe in single digits. I replaced them with ksc 2383 transistors which showed much higher gain, around 200 as I recall. This replacement brought dc at speaker terminals down below 10 mv., and distortion was gone. (Edit: Looks as though I should have used ksc 2690 as a replacement, as it has a max collector dissipation closer to the original, listed on the schematic as 2sd600. Noticed this when double-checking for errors. Lesson to myself: Doublecheck before posting. Well, it has worked fine with long playing times, so maybe the collector dissapation isn't critical in this application. But I will change them out nonetheless.)Also checked and adjusted idle current. Then I replaced the dial lights with led's.

I made this purchase a couple of months ago before the coronavirus situation and, unfortunately, won't be looking again anytime soon. But for now, I'm really enjoying listening to this receiver. I think it has it's own individual sound compared to my other gear. For lack of a better term it seems to me to have a "sweet" sound. Classical music, such as violin, cello, and piano concertos really come alive. This may be one of those overlooked gems that has been neglected simply because of its association with the Sears brand.
 

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It is a shame these early Fisher/Sanyo's don't get more love , but it keeps the price of admission down for those of us in the know.
I'm with you Tib they really do have a "sweet" sound.

Picked up a 332 in need of repair , dead STK , 30 bucks . searched around and found a old stock Fisher PA-501 (Sanyo STK 032) that put her back to singing again , with about 30 mv offset either channel ( not bad for an old chip-amp) for the same price as the receiver.

A while ago or youngest asked me to set her up with a stereo for her and significant others new house , I set up a audition for her with a pair of Paradigm 5 se's and selector switch , we went through Sansui,Pioneer,MCS,JVC,Lafayette all around the 30 watt a channel output mark , she liked the Fisher best , and mind you she could care less about name recognition , she's to young for all that stereo wars **** that went down in the 70's

I went over to their house and set up the receiver , speakers and a bluethooth receiver (kids gotta have their bluethooth ) .
Been a year and a half or so , and no "dad the stereo's not working any more" still going strong , good sound , what's not to love ?

here's a pic on the bench 332     3-20-18  1.JPG
 
Hey, f0427ea, that's a beauty. It's good to see other people like the Fishers from this era. It must feel good to have someone in your family appreciate it, too. I agree with you, the less well-known, the less the cost of admission. For that reason, I debated with myself a little whether I should post about it, lol. But there probably won't be a stampede to buy these in parts or repair condition. That was a cool move, scrounging a used stk to get yours going. The RS1058 uses discrete transistor outputs.

I've been pretty impressed with the Sanyo-built receivers I've encountered so far. These Fishers are definitely on my radar now.
 
As a follw-up, I did swap out the ksc 2383 pair with ksc 2690, as per edit in my first post. Working good and sounding sweet.
 
Even though not tubed units I am sure they sound much better than most things at the big stores today.

If I ever found a solidstate Fisher it would just be my Summer Fisher as tubes heat the house to much in the summmer.
 
Yes, Tony, I'm pretty sure it would beat most of what's available at the big stores. I have some other big solid state receivers- Pioneer SX1080, Pioneer SX1010 and Onkyo TX6500, and in my opinion the Fisher compares favorably in many ways. To my ears, it has a distinct sound of its own with delicate musical highs and a rich mellow, midrange which I find particularly enjoyable with good guitarists. I'm not claiming it's better than any of the other receivers, just that it's nice in it's own way.

I haven't had the opportunity to listen to tube equipment, but I see the tube Fishers have quite a reputation. I plan to explore that path at some point. I would also like to find a deal on a bigger solid state receiver of that era, possibly a RS1060 or RS1080(Good luck with that, probably).
 
Tony; You want a room heater????? Try a Sansui 1000A. Fisher's are refrigerators by comparison. I run mine year round both downstairs in the lower level, and upstairs in the Living room. Neither heats up the rooms appreciably. But the Sansui does, even after a rebuild and IBBA, (basically all the 800c mods).
 
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