Magnavox 1ST664 Imperial

[electra225]

I can't copy the picture of this stereo for some reason. If you look at the two rectifiers posted, they are dated the ninth week of 1962. That's assuming they are from this stereo. Would that make this a 1963 model Imperial? I'd like to have a picture of this thing in my collection.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203860659025?h ... R7bmxITDYQ

[William]

It looks just like mine and the same vintage, the one that should not exist.

Bill

[hermitcrab]

$875 or make offer..... Looks like it has been well taken care of, but I am not a fan of these front operating consoles ...so what would you guys that collect these think is a reasonable offer for this?

[Firedome]

$50 to 150 imo. Anyone who is patient can still find them that cheap or free.
I got a free '62 Zenith console with pp 4 x 6bq5 amp just last summer, and this '63 RCA with similar all tube amp and tuner/preamp is available here right now for $50. There's no need to pay silly money for a relatively ordinary console,
it's not a Fisher President or Executive, the only console I'd consider paying more than a couple hundred bucks for.

[electra225]

While $875 may be a tad optimistic for the Imperial, so is thinking you can buy one in that condition for $50 to $150.

While the electronics of this console may well need to be gone thru like they all do, I'd say if you bought it for less than $400 you'd be doing okay. This is the next to the top of the line, and in fact, may be the top of the line in Magnavox tube models if it is a genuine 1963 model. I would be in the $250 to $400 range myself.

This topic is about a Magnavox Imperial that may be a 1963 model, a model that technically doesn't exist in any factory documentation. If you want to discuss a Zenith or a Fisher, please feel welcome to start a topic on the appropriate board.

[Dr. Radio]

Greg,

Why do you think it is a 1963 model?

The tubes show 62-09. 9th week of 1962.

This puts the tubes made between Feb. 26th and Mar. 4th '62. Plenty of time to be installed in a '62 model during the '62 calendar year.

[Firedome]

"While $875 may be a tad optimistic for the Imperial, so is thinking you can buy one in that condition for $50 to $150."

Actually there WAS an Imperial on FBM in Utica for sale last year for $125 albeit in a different cabinet style. No room here so I passed and anyway am not that fond of 6V6 amps or front mounted control panels . Not long before that I saw a Concert Grand on CL in Rochester that was also under $200, but I can't recall the exact number. In both cases I don't recall the operating condition but they looked quite nice.

"I would be in the $250 to $400 range myself". Me too maybe if I wanted one, but we're collectors:
The reality is that other than to us collector types or Gen Z who might be willing to pay more for anything with an MCM cabinet, to the average schmo out there the name "Magnavox" or "Imperial" or "RCA" or "Westinghouse" or "Sylvania" means nothing. To anyone under 50 it just means cheap plastic Chinese junk, same with so many other once-great names like Altec, ad nauseum. https://www.magnavox.com/en/content/6-products. Many non-collector people are buying consoles with little to no knowledge of what their reputation might have been or what they really are, imho, but for how they look in their LR and probably to update with Bluetooth &c.

So I maintain that one can still find almost any to-us desirable console for a song IF one is patient and/or willing to drive.
And I'm glad for that, as it's the only segment of the audio hobby still affordable to us hoi-polloi. Another example is the Fisher Custom Electra IV I bought last October for $100 after it had sat online at 200 for over a month. Dave has it now. To my mind at least that one is more desirable than the Imp above.

[TC Chris]

To anyone under 50 it just means cheap plastic Chinese junk, same with so many other once-great names like Altec, ad nauseum. https://www.magnavox.com/en/content/6-products.

Oooh, I want a Maggie dehumidifier!! Bet it sounds great!!

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Doc, you are absolutely right. I had a senior moment. I read "62" but thought "63". Sorry for the confusion. Codes of 9-62 would make it a 1962 model. That will make it fairly rare, since they weren't supposed to have built any 1962 big Imperials, at least according to the documentation that I know of. Bill has a '62 big Imperial, now this is the second. Thanks for pointing out the error of my thinking.

Getting old ain't for sissies.....

[William]

Mine pretty much looks exactly like the one Greg posted, and it too is in great shape. Since I'm cheap, and I guess when it comes to my Big Imperial, I was lucky. I was in Arizona when I found mine on Craig's list. Of course, it was back in Michigan so my first call was to friends to see if they would be willing to pay and pick it up for me. They said yes, so, my next call was to the owner. He was a nice man, said it was his mothers, she had passed, and they were clearing out her house. No one in the family wanted it, no room was the reason given. I told him my situation, being in AZ but had friends that would pay and pick it up for me. I also told him I collected and would take good care of it and would restore all the electronics. His comment, you are just the person I was hoping would get it. I gave him the phone number of my friends and within a week the deal was done and it was at their house until I got home. This was one case it all worked out and everyone was happy. The interesting thing about mine, it was a pain in the butt to get restored. Lots of things wrong, weird things, but now it sounds incredible. From what many have said, Magnavox bi-amps are not known for having lots of bass. Mine, will pounds nails. My bass setting is one notch up from the lowest setting and for right, now it's the best sounding console stereo in my collection.

Bill

[Dr. Radio]

I think the *only* Magnavox product I own is some junky tv/vcr combo someone gave to me for free.

I'd love to own one....but, as far as I'm concerned...it should be MASSIVE Magnavox, not Magnificent. I don't have room!!!

The other thing I've noticed on units pictured, is it seems Magnavox is like RCA Victor. There chassis and metal work are covered in the dreaded "cad pollen". You know, the yellowish-green dust that is the break-down of the cadmium plating originally used on the chassis. This can be a messy toxic clean up to deal with (I know from other projects).

Is this common, or am I barking up the wrong tree?

[William]

It's common!

Bill

[electra225]

My experience with the white "dust" on Magnavox cad-plated chassis is that PB Blaster on a rag will not only contain the substance to keep it from being airborne, but it will remove it sufficiently that it doesn't come back. The worst thing about the white (or green) dust is that it migrates into tube sockets. I am not a fan of the 6EU7, but in fairness, cad migration to tube sockets causes about as much grief as the short-prone 6EU7. My Imperial has been done ten years and the white dust has not returned. We have to remember these old consoles were never designed to be still in use 65 years or more after they were built. As far as not having room, Doc, we have a member on here, actually a moderator, un-named to protect the innocent, who says there is always room for just one more.

Perhaps we should reprise our topic on the fine art of stacking?