Classic Hifi Care

I just picked up a free* Admiral console like one I have already. (*but drove 150 miles out of way) The FB marketplace ad was for miscellaneous clean out items that included this Admiral, which came with an operation manual and many records that accumulated on the storage shelf inside. The owner's family wanted it to go to a good home and were patient since the weekend as I could only get there yesterday.

These are great sounding though not powerful, using 6BQ5 single ended and modest 12" and (2) 3.5" speakers per side. Not 3 channel and no reverb but the FM stereo tuner performs like an RCA (6C9) and tuning eye tube makes it look fantastic. 6AY11 is a compactron with dual triodes and a pair of ratio detector diodes. 12AT7 is the 19 kC amp for mpx. I will post inside pics of both in the "other consoles" column. This is a very modest but tasteful model.

Here is another cool model of that FM stereo and "tube sunset" era.

Another very nice console saved ! Thank you.

Nice clean modern lines on that cabinet.

That's awesome Dave! Did you have to go 1/2 way to Pittsburgh to get it? LOL.
Nice style, love the warm maple finish, well worth the drive I'd say!! Got a pic of the control center?

That is a looker.

Nice score. I agree, very "clean" styling makes it timeless.

I like it, too! Good score, Dave.....

I'll include my nice find, Dave. You seem to find all the good stuff and I'm glad you do. That way it's being saved from the landfill.

Bill

This came from a small town on the east side of the state, north of Easton in the foot hills of Poconos. The late owner was a very old carpenter who had a 50s cape cod on a hillside with detached garage. Im still looking through the stack of records but so far, it seems it was in use until 20 years ago though the radio was still reported as working.

I end up making deals with console buffs in nearby states like NY, NJ and MD, where these deals don't seem to pop up for such a low price many in PA just don't care how cool these are, literally forget the MCM culture, just unloading them like old bedroom furniture Still, I try to wrangle a story out of them.

I have another acquaintance close to MD that I do repairs for, who sells consoles at flea markets and he wants one of these Admirals. Fortunately, I have all the parts and service information including a replacement Ensign record changer for this modest set. There are TOTL models out there like the Y4801, Y4181, Y4819 using the 7R1A amplifier, stereo PP 6BQ5.

While Admiral is an also-ran, good engineering design and decent build quality made them unique and easily serviced. Rare TOTL examples of Admiral so far unseen.

Nice to see the Admiral brand getting some love.

My very first record player was an Admiral. It was mono, probably a one tube wonder with a 4" speaker in a plastic case. It did have a changer and for what it was, it sounded pretty good at least to my 12-year-old ears. It looked like this:

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=ht ... egUIARCwAQ

Bill

Nice looking set!