These are from Jim Murphy over on the vintage console group on FB. he worked for Phillips/Magnavox till the end .. he says these were the last console models of 1984... and they revived the concert grand name for them...
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Looks to me like these were separate components thrown into a cabinet... but I could be wrong... Jim Murphy claims to own one, I asked jf he could post a picture of it ...he says he needs to clear out an area to take a good picture ... as he claims he has 60 consoles!... and we think we were bad?
Last edited by hermitcrab on Wed Feb 21, 2024 6:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
walyfd wrote: ↑Tue Feb 20, 2024 11:30 am
Nice looking cabinets but talk about dinosaurs. By the early 80s, consoles were so yesterday...
Looks a lot nicer than the dreck of the 70s.
That is exactly what Jim Murphy said... Magnavox thought there still might be a niche for consoles as everyone was into component stereo systems and no one was making consoles anymore ... as Jim said ... they were wrong....I wish I knew how to copy and paste his post on FB ... he goes into great detail about them...
here is his post on FB... enjoy .....CONFIDENTIAL MAGNAVOX INFORMATION...from 1984! Elton Smith inquired about the 1980s "Reboot" of the Concert Grands. I worked for Magnavox/Philips for 30 years and have a lot of ephemera...all declassified! In Fall 1984 there was internal distribution of a booklet of the upcoming 1985 models. Among them were two high quality console stereos with fine-furniture quality cabinets, retailing for $1795. Quality cabinets were never cheap to build, but they were especially expensive by 1984. These elite consoles had excellent specs, including 70 Watts per channel 20-20khz @ .05% THD, 1.9 uV FM usable sensitivity, 24-pole synchronous motor, and of course ... a Magnetic cartridge. Magnavox had led the console stereo industry for decades, and a combination of corporate pride and the abandonment of the high-quality console business by everyone else made us feel that we might be able to find a small discerning market. We were wrong. By then (almost) no one investing in audio wanted to spend a significant portion of their budget on furniture...no matter how nice. Tastes had simply changed. But you gotta hand it to Magnavox for trying to revive quality console stereos...no one else did. And this proves that Magnavox (and many others) did not just decide to stop making quality consoles...people just stopped buying them in sufficient numbers to be profitable to build. Finally, by the time these models were produced, color flyers were made (though the run was very small on BOTH literature and the actual sets) and someone in the Company with a fond memory applied the Concert Grand moniker to these models...though that name did not appear on the unit (nor did it appear on the first Concert Grands of 1957 either, for that matter). So there we have it...2024 marks the 40th Anniversary of the last high-quality console stereos when Magnavox was "the last man standing" in that product category. PS...the Contemporary Concert Grand is shown open, but had BOTH swinging end doors, AND pocket doors. When closed, it had a very simple and sophisticated look with four wood panels and no ornamentation. The woods referenced were reversed...the Traditional model is Cherry, and the Contemporary is in Ash.
There was a resident Magnavox guru on ARF a number of years ago named Randy. I won't post his last name. This guy worked as a service agent for Magnavox, had gobs of factory documentation. His health was not good last we spoke (probably at least 2017) and I don't know his current status. It would be great to have someone as a member of our forum who could fill in some of the blanks in the various models. Does Jim have technical knowledge? There is currently a discussion on ARF about weak bass in Magnavox instruments with bi-amps. There was considerable bad-mouthing of Concert Grand models in particular. I have to agree with much of their argument. But I also believe, after having lived with mine for 10 years now, that they were built to a customer base and with a philosoply that died when the Japanese started exporting cheap, efficient and powerful audio components in the 1970's. Magnavox sold to the "Perry Mason clientele" where people had big houses with high ceilings and with heavy carpets and draperies. This and the silly and complicated tone controls they used pretty much conspired to kill bass response as we can to know it listening to the powerful component systems of later years. There was a comment about wimpy speakers, something I had not heard seriously discussed, but makes some sense to me. People who could afford a Concert Grand in their day didn;t listen to country or rock music. They listened to classical and easy-listening genres. Those formats didn't have a lot of bass. And another point. Maganvox built the big stereos to be record players. People nowadays play Bluetooth devices thru the tape input, which is where bass response is weakest. I still think that someone with factory documentation on some of this stuff could be a huge help in figuring out the wimpy bass complaint.
Life can be tough. It can be even tougher if you're stupid.....
Here's me posting, not bragging, but just stating a fact. My big Imperial does not have weak bass. If I crank it wide open it will pound nails. I'm sure there are members that have big Imperials that probably do not believe me, but it's true. One thing to keep in mind, and this is something Greg as mentioned, mine does not show up in any brochures. In other words, mine is a last run attempt to produce a big console just before, or even during the startup of solid state. My console has sealed speaker enclosures where the previous early consoles did not. I believe the CG was an exception. Greg has also compared schematics, his Imperial to mine and he said there were differences. Again, did Magnavox see the writing on the wall with components becoming popular and decided to "improve" their sound quality?
I am hoping, Elton's friend, Jim, will sign up on our forum and lend us knowledge. It would be so cool to have someone like that on this forum.
I'm going to try the differences between Bill's Imperial and mine to see if I can make improvement. I also have a good set of instrument speakers hanging up on the wall of the shop I'm going to try just for grins. The little Magnavox record player I redid with P-P 35C5's has way more bass than my Imperial. Same for that cheap GE stereo I am redoing. My Imperial is the prettiest stereo I have, but it's also the poorest performer.
Life can be tough. It can be even tougher if you're stupid.....
Greg, try the updates to the electronics and enclosing your speakers before swapping out the speakers. Unless your original speakers are different mine, and they maybe, that should not alter the sound.
In my humble opinion, I do not think the speakers are the problem. The fact that your Imperial does not have enclosed speakers and the differences between the two chassis is probably the difference.
Here Jim Murphy is talking about Custom Imperials?... Has anyone ever heard of those? he posts tidbits like this all the time, wish he would sign up to the forum...
Before 1957, Magnavox frequently (but not always) referred to their top model as "Imperial"...for example, the famed 1946-1951 "Windsor Imperial". But in 1957, Magnavox introduced the first stereo console...with a sophisticated 3-motor reel-to-reel half-track tape unit...and that was the first "Concert Grand". From 1957-1962 (early) the Concert Grand was the top model over an Imperial. In 1962, Magnavox stunned the industry with the first line of completely solid-state radio-phonographs (the Astro-Sonics) and there was NO Concert Grand...though the top-of-the line Astro-Sonic brochure proudly showed the new transistorized tuner and amp chassis as an advance over the previous Concert Grand tube innards (also shown in that catalog). From 1964 through 1974 the top-of-the-line Magnavox console was always an Imperial. The 1970-1974 CUSTOM Imperials were "over the top" in every way with spectacular wood cabinets and a whopping $1695 price tag (like $14,000 today). The name Concert Grand was revived in 1975/77 for the new component-based flagship console and there were NO more Imperials...ever. It's a little confusing...but that's the history.
I have never heard of a Custom Imperial, but Little Imperial, Big Imperial, and Concert Grand are very familiar to us all. Please, Elton, keep encourage Jim to join the forum. We all think he would be a great asset to us all. What a wealth of Magnavox history he has to share.
Its funny how there seems to be so little info on the magnavox's you would think that there would be a lot from a company that produced so much equipment. The bass on the CG varies on mine some music literally will rattle the windows in the house. But it depends on the music, I know you guys would hate the music (I can only take it for a bit myself) but if you want to test bass, Put on some Dom Dolla on pandora or what ever streaming you have. Some of the bass riffs are amazing ! A good test for your machine. I found that the open back speakers have less bass than the sealed compartments on the CG also you got to get the volume up.
Hydrolastic wrote: ↑Mon Feb 26, 2024 2:58 am
Its funny how there seems to be so little info on the magnavox's you would think that there would be a lot from a company that produced so much equipment.
I was once a history student. One big lesson is that we know the past from what happened to get saved. Some records are lost to fire,flood, and other disasters. Some are lost when they are deemed useless and get thrown out. A few get saved and those are what we rely on to know their time. The score for George Gershwin's first musical were thought to be lost, but somebody just found his drafts in an archive. If somebody had not saved those, we would not know what he had written (in the 20th century, not all that long ago as history goes).
Corporate records are especially vulnerable. When a business closes or moves, records are often just pitched out. There's no profit in securing and storing them and companies are governed by bucks. Seems to me I read about Packard records being strewn about on the floor of the abandoned Detroit plant, now torn down. When I was in college I had a summer job working for a company owned by a couple guys who had another one that had folded. I was sent over to extract parts & materials. I wish I had also grabbed some records--it was a local company that was a part of the city's boatbuilding history. Now I belong to a local marine history organization there and they would love to have those.
