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They don't get much cheaper than this Truetone stereo

radiotvnut

radiotvnut

Super Member
I've had a "wanted" ad on a local internet classified venue for quite some time. The only responses that I've gotten were flakes that fall off the face of the Earth or want $400 for their '70's console stereo. Yesterday, this guy emailed me, saying that he has an old Truetone console stereo. I foolishly offered him $10 sight unseen for it, figuring he'd turn me down; but, he gladly accepted. I was hoping to find something with tubes in it; but, I got this instead:

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It's a cheap BOTL solid state model from '68 complete with BSR record changer. The tuner is AM/FM mono and does fairly well on strong local stations.

I had to replace some bad electrolytics in the amp and replace the busted speakers. Fortunately, I had the parts on hand. I've still got to fix the record changer. I'm going to learn not to offer people money for stuff sight unseen. I'll try to sell it to recoup my money. If I have no luck, I'll strip it for parts.
 
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In the past iv used some beat up consoles for a sturdy spot to mount grinders to and other stuff.If you were really hard up for a table saw that console would make a real good start all you would haft to do is cut a hole in the top of the cabinet to mount a skill saw on the underside of that big door. Just brain storming here :scratch2:
 
The platter spins; but, the cycling gear is stuck. The cartridge is also bad and the counterbalance spring was missing. I found the spring stuck to one of the speaker magnets. I'll look thru my junk for a cartridge. I could buy a new cartridge for around $15; but, I can't see doing it since I'd be lucky to get the $10 that I've got in this thing back.

I was trying to think back and I don't think I've ever seen a Truetone console stereo that was worth a flip. The tube ones that I've seen used a cheap hot chassis design with 50C5 outputs and the solid state ones wiere similar to this one or one of those gaudy particleboard and plastic jobs from the '70's.
 
Is it made from solid wood? If yes, you can use it in some home-improvement projects instead of buying wood in Home Depos or Lowe's. Or, better, flip the cover of this console for some $ to someone who needs a solid wood tabletop.
 
That's a couple nights heat from the woodstove. Don't know if it's $10 worth of firewood though. Better yet, hollow that sucker out and put some wheels on it and ride it down the hill out back.
 
radiotvnut said:
I was trying to think back and I don't think I've ever seen a Truetone console stereo that was worth a flip. The tube ones that I've seen used a cheap hot chassis design with 50C5 outputs and the solid state ones wiere similar to this one or one of those gaudy particleboard and plastic jobs from the '70's.
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When you say "hot chassis" design about the older tube designs, do you mean that they actually designed it so that the chassis was electrically live?

I remember getting some really nasty full line voltage shocks from cheaper old tube equipment years ago, wonder if that's why. I probably came into contact with a ground while touching something that was connected to the chassis. One was a Sears Silvertone record player with a metal tonearm that gave a nasty shock. I also remember a Zenith table radio that knocked me across the room once when I was looking for the antenna terminals on the back. It was sitting on a table next to a radiator which I was also touching - great ground!
 
"Hot Chassis" means the circuit is wired in series and doesn't have benefit of a power transformer. In other words, the total sum of the heaters equals the wall voltage. Is why you used to see 50C5's, 35W4's and such in cheap radios and record players.
I recently repaired a BOTL guitar amp that was wired this way.
 
Celt said:
"Hot Chassis" means the circuit is wired in series and doesn't have benefit of a power transformer. In other words, the total sum of the heaters equals the wall voltage. Is why you used to see 50C5's, 35W4's and such in cheap radios and record players.
I recently repaired a BOTL guitar amp that was wired this way.
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Thanks, Celt - I remember that design. One tube filament burns out and they all go dead. Those 5 tube AM table radios were wired like that, and they always had 50C5 and 35W4 as the power supply section tubes.
 
"Hot chassis" designs for consumer electronics were quite common from the 1930's on up into the '70's and many fairly modern TV sets still use a hot chassis. In this design, there is no power transformer and one side of the AC line is either directly connected to the chassis or is connected to the chassis through a capacitor. The best way to work on one of these is to use a seperate isolation transformer. Surprisingly, the chassis in my new cheap stereo uses a power transformer.
 
I'd be more upset about the space it was taking up than the loss of $10. Gotta sledgehammer? You could have $10 worth of fun re-enacting the old Crazy Eddie or Waxie Maxie commercials where they are pounding the hell out of a record on a BSR turntable.
 
TAGO MAGO said:
I'd be more upset about the space it was taking up than the loss of $10. Gotta sledgehammer? You could have $10 worth of fun re-enacting the old Crazy Eddie or Waxie Maxie commercials where they are pounding the hell out of a record on a BSR turntable.
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You make a good point. And, I've lost a heck of a lot more than $10 in this hobby. It also goes, without saying, that I could use the room. I'll keep it around for a few days. If I can't find it a home, I'll yank the speakers and turntable and dump the rest. Those speakers work well in some old tube radios and I'm always needing a record changer if for no other reason than to have a source of parts to fix another one.
 
AUdubon5425 said:
The tuner is mono only?
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AFAIK, It's mono only. The selector only has positions for AM, FM, and Phono. There is no stereo indicator light and my ears tell me that the output is mono. One thing that shocked me is that the small chassis in this thing is fairly well built and the PC board has it's component locations clearly marked on both sides of the board.
 
i say gut it, paint it pink and drop it off on someones lawn that you know has a sense of humor and an angry nit picking wife!

i was part of the delivery team that "gave" a friend a 6ft GE metal rack in the middle of the night. his opera singer wife went absolutely ballistic kicking the rack and screaming when she saw it. (in her nightgown mind you) :yikes: she finally knocked the thing over but couldnt move it! a few hours later she laughed the whole thing off.
 
hey that's a nice stereo there! May not be a multi-thousand dollar solid mahogany unit with a tubed amp and a solid gold Dual, but for $10.00 that's pretty good.

Just because that changer is a BSR, doesn't mean it's worthless. BSR has made some very diecent changers, particularly the older ones.
 
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