1958 Continental

[William]

It's beautiful, probably better than brand new.

Bill

[Hydrolastic]

Hello, Its not like brand new yet. There is a long way to go! I put the tuner in and the amp. I had to use my parts record changer to turn it on as it was using the Phono inputs. Because like the stereorama it has the 54-01 tuner which is only stereo on phono.
Couple of initial items FM doesn't work at all. The light dims when FM is selected. On bluetooth it sounds a lot better now but this one also took a while to wake up. With the speakers slowly getting better with use. I noticed that there is crossover when i first started it up and now it isn't doing it. It does have more HP with the Amp 182 than the stereorama's amp 175. i am reserving judgement but there are sounds i like from the stereorama's speakers better than the continentals heavy magnent speakers and horns. At bigger volume the Continental wins hands down. One thing i didn't expect the Se5 eye tube acts a bit like a VU meter i recorded a video (number 2) of Brandi Carlisle to show the effect. Here are 2 videos. Hydro
https://www.flickr.com/photos/152106896 ... datetaken/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/152106896 ... datetaken/

[TC Chris]

If the eye tube is modulated by the audio, you may have a B+ voltage issue.

Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

If the eye tube is modulated by the audio, you may have a B+ voltage issue.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

The eye tube should be modulated by the AVC voltage in the front end of the tuner. Having any effect like a VU meter is probably not right. As far as I know the eye tube has no connection whatsoever to audio. And you could have a B+ issue like Chris suggested.

[Hydrolastic]

Thank you, It makes sense. This Continental is taking a lot to get working properly. I am concentrating on the reassembly at this point and the gold metal grills need to be repainted they are very faded when compared to the edges. I also am starting a test sample involving some black lacquer i picked up. i want to see if i can use it for touchups. Hydro BTW could someone explain what a B+ issue is or what's happening to cause it.

[TC Chris]

That's the high-voltage DC power supply to the plates of the tubes. It can be limited by inadequate original design or by aged filter capacitors or by leaking caps elsewhere. "B" is from the days before radios were powered from AC house current. They used batteries because AC power supplies were large and expensive. The A battery was tube filaments; B was the high voltage to the plates, and C was grid bias. "B+" means the positive end of the high-voltage power supply.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Looking at the schematic for an Imperial tuner, it looks like SMD (silver mica disease) or migration of the mica in an IF transformer might put enough B+ on the AVC circuit to modulate the eye tube with audio. Leaky caps are also suspect, as Chris pointed out. I have never experienced, nor heard, of SMD in Magnavox IF transformers. I also pray this never becomes an issue. But the IF cans are so constructed so SMD could become an issue in the future.

[Hydrolastic]

Hello Guys, Its been a bit but i am still trying to get a handle on the wiring on this console. One of the issues with this was the multiple speaker selector switches for additional rooms i think. When i removed them i went to the original wiring configuration but the switch was backwards. Even the Sams describes it backwards... Then i saw the 59 continental on eBay. it has a different Bezel and i think it would have been the one this console had originally. The selector positions are correct. Here are photos of mine with the (both, int, ext) bezel and the eBay one with the (int ,ext,stereo) bezel. Needless to say i am now looking for the "stereo" bezel. Hydro

[Hydrolastic]

Hello guys. So the continental project stalled until today and I am actually glad because I get to make the console like I want it. To refresh I was trying to make the 58 Continental restored like new. But everything I have done has resisted this. The original preamp was dropped when the bottom of the box it was in let go. Then I sent the AMP 182BA off to get recapped never to be seen again. So the beautiful ebony Continental has no restorable electronics. I met a guy that I have purchased a bunch of stuff from him, its always really nice stuff. One of the items is a recapped AMP 182BA and another was a 54 03 chassis that although it has not been recapped its very clean. The dial glass was unfortunately broken in shipping. Before I replace the dial glass (I have a spare) I want to put it in place and make sure all the plugs/wires are compatible.
The reason I am glad is the original 54-01 chassis only has a mono tape input jack where the 54-03 has a stereo input. I have a 54 -05 chassis also but they changed knob positions so the 54-03 is the one I want since it outwardly looks the same as the 54-01 and will allow the bluetooth adapter to work in stereo. I have also compared the amp to the original photo's and it looks identical in every way. Hydro

[electra225]

Hydro, we were talking about the bass and treble output controls on bi-amps. That 182 that you posted above has both the treble controls and the bass controls. In the later 81 series amps that replaced the 182, the bass controls were eliminated. All the 81 series has is treble controls.

[Hydrolastic]

Hello Greg, I see that. it's interesting that the consolesI have seen locally, I have only seen the 182 in a couple of imperials and a few continentals which makes me think they sold consoles here in the northwest/California with the 182 amps. cause I have seen 4 or 5 of them now but never have seen a 8102. I haven't seen a Sams either but haven't really looked. You had said the chassis was related. I got everything out of the way to install the recapped Amp182BA chassis but then got diverted. I can't wait to get this Continental running.

[Hydrolastic]

So today was the day the recapped amp and the 54-03 preamp went into the Continental ! Preamp plugged into the amp, check. Plug in the speaker switch, check. Hooked up the external speaker. This would be the first time it actually played stereo through it's system as it was a mono unit except for a stereo record. But no second channel ! I swapped input leads and there was a second channel coming in but only one looked at it for a bit and realized that the speaker switch is a "In and ext" two position switch. The one that came out was a "in and ext and stereo" three position switch. That switch is long gone so I am putting a WTB parts for a three position switch. Was sounding pretty good for a minute there and nothing blew up! Hydro

[William]

Congrats, on the nothing blowing up thing, that is always a good thing.

Bill

[Hydrolastic]

Hello guys, So I just looked at the Sams and it took a while but I realized the speaker switch for the later imperial is the same two level switch they just call them front and rear for the levels. So I went to the junk cabinet and there it was! A two level switch. The difference is it has a molex plug. If you look at the numbers of the pins on the switch they are the same amount and same pins then I wrote down the pins on the plugs and even though there is one more one isn't used so I should be able to match up the early plug to the later switch. Probably easy stuff for you guys. We will see what happens

[William]

Not so easy for me either, Hydro. The speaker system in a Magnavox is a nightmare, all the wires going from here to there and back and if things are not just so it does not work correctly. I had a heck of a time with the Imperial trying to test things on the bench without the back being connected. I wish you the best as you go through this with your Continental.

Bill

[Hydrolastic]

Thank you William, So a couple of evenings I have been going through the speaker switch and I realized the the early round 8 pin and the later molex used the same 3 position switch and I had sent the only 3 position switch away. So I came up with a TEMPORARY fix.
I cut the 8 pin connector from the 2 position switch. Then on paper I wrote out which wires would be connected if the switch was in the stereo position if I had a 3 position switch. looking at the Sams I realized that it came down to internal -external speakers like this Low /internal , high/ internal Low/ external, high external. hooked 8 wires with 4 wire nuts and it will think the switch is in the stereo position on a non existent 3 position switch. I put the boosted bluetooth adapter on the 54-03 tuner and the recapped 182 BA amp and turned it on. The 1958 magnavox played its first stereo that was not on a record. It was surprising as it sounds really nice!

[William]

Good job, Hydro, and it works which is the most important part.

Bill

[Hydrolastic]

Hello everyone, I have been trying to get to a hobby shop to match some paint on the grill of the Continental. originally I would have described the color as gold but now I see it as more on the copper side of the gold color. it also has a metallic effect I say effect because its like a large flake metallic paint but instead of being suspended in the paint its more on the surface. The amazing hobby shop in Interlake closed down 20 years ago now they had a aisle the length of the store of paint every color, type and method of application . There was another one north of Ballard but its gone also. I then decided to go to Hobby lobby. I had never been there before. What a dumb ass store. I can't describe the stuff there other than its everything you don't want. lots of Styrofoam stuff. the paint section was dismal and you had to be 21 to buy it. What is wrong with people you can vote and join the military but you can't buy a can of spray paint ? Not ever going there again I can't possibly think of anything I would need from there.. The search is still on. Hydro

[Hydrolastic]

photo.