Classic Hifi Care

Because I started my interest in Hi-Fi and Stereo as a component guy, by building a Heathkit amplifier in 1964 then inheriting Dad's H-K tube receiver in college, my console interest started much later with Fisher, a name known well to me. Dad bought a FIsher 220T receiver in '67 on my recommendation ( I read the stereo magazines) and our next door neighbor in Baltimore, a Cornell Math PhD, brilliant guy who worked for the US Gov't at NSA in cryptography, had an incredible TOL Fisher tube all separates components system that was, and is, one of the best stereo systems I've ever heard. It really boosted my initial interest in the hobby but that went dormant in college and afterwards when starting a family, so I had several modern SS systems, Pioneer, Sansui etc, as most did at the time.

Once our 3 kids were growing older I had time to re-ignite that interest beyond my Sansui amp. It started one day around 1987 when I was attracted by a Fisher tube console that appeared locally for sale in our local paper's Classified For Sale section (remember them?). Remembering the gorgeous sound of my neighbor's system, I bought it and brought it home for use in the LR. It really did sound different and better than the SS stuff, I became thrilled with it, and the wife liked the furniture that hid all the "stereo stuff".

There wasn't much info on them at the time, pre-internet, but based on styling and specs I now know that it was a 1960 Fisher Premiere F-220 console in French Provincial Fruitwood. it had a beautiful brass faceplate TA-600 all-tube receiver w/o mpx, the cabinet was near perfect and beautiful, and the kids loved when I played their favoritve Christmas music on it.

When we moved 2 years later and it had to go in the garage of a house we were renting while building a new one. The receiver had been acting up, I had no clue how to fix it, no one would work on it (this was 1991) so I bought out the Sansui and ADSs, then the cabinet got severely damaged while moving and in storage. So sadly I let it go by just leaving it in the rental when we moved, big big mistake. That was the sad end of my experience with Fisher console #1. More to follow... dinner calls.

Fishers past:

1959 - 61 chassis only - 32 watts (peak) 20 RMS ? from PP EL84 - Bedside companion in 1976, burned up power trans when tube shorted. very sad loss at the time, it was the BEST receiver I had.

S692 1967 Statesman - (Dual 1009 and 31R ss chassis I still have) missing R2R and in a huge cabinet of particleboard and mixed solids, burned at Kutztown semi-annual bonfire.

E492 1967 Custom Electra 10 - sold recently to a buyer with a matching dining room set will be refit with Garrard AT6

Fishers Present:

E49 1964 Custom Electra 7 that I restored 481 amp/tuner but cabinet needs total refinish W59 1965 Warwick (same amp/tuner as A69) in a similar dark IP cabinet to this CE - VIII A69 1964 Ambassador (not an AMC ) may be gutted so I can put the fantastic electronics into an earlier and less offensive CE IV cabinet

That's quite a line up of Fishers you've had Dave! Is the Warwick the one we found here in Bingo 2 or 3 years ago?

Yep hopefully my CE IV cabinet (pic) can be repurposed to receive the the electronics from that CE VIII above, I agree, the IVs cabinet is much more acceptable, and a handier size, shorter, it appears. Would you use the VIIIs speakers as well? I suspect the IV's cabinet is of a higher quality as well, it seems to be all hardwood and veneered plywood, not the heavy crappy particle board that started showing up in Fishers (and others too) shortly thereafter!

After the initial 1960 Premier I described above, I had about 4 or 5 others, will get into all that later.

The Warwick is that one we picked up in Binghamton. Think I paid like $65 and that was a deal. That cabinet is OK IMO.

The CE VII speakers are probably no better than the CE IV you have. I cant decide which cabinet to trash for the upgrade; The really beat up E49 I-P or the less solid A69 F-P decisions, decisions

double post

Ya they're both kind of ugly, I'm not sure which is worse! lol

Even ugly consoles need love. Nobody cares about my Fisher speakers, I reckon.

Firedome wrote: ↑Fri May 06, 2022 4:07 pm Ya they're both kind of ugly, I'm not sure which is worse! lol

Per my policy of repairing legs and cabinets upon receipt and before storing, I put about an hour into fixing legs on that Ambassador just so I could move it around. Its finish is just about as bad as the Electra 7.

I remember posting how I thought Fisher cabinet quality suffered as solid state models came out. The CE4 is nice but still I can't decide yet but one has to go.

I have the homemade ambassador that is my avatar , and I have a lowboy Regent with the reel to reel , the amps are pretty much the same SS units just the knob layout is different... sites claim anywhere from 40 to 75 watts per channel... but I would take that with a grain of salt

Dave: thanks for posting all your Fishers!

Hermit: can you post pics of your Regent? It was one of Fisher's best models (right below the President).

Greg - I started a whole new thread just for your speakers under "Components" since they weren't in consoles, though there is some discussion in there about how the console speakers led to the component speaker model line.

BTW some early Fisher consoles had Jensen speakers, including my '61 Electra IV, later consoles had speakers marked "Fisher" that I believe were made by them at the Milford PA factory under their contract with United, not sure of the exact year that started, it seemed to vary by model, from the TOL models, then downward.

[quote=Firedome post_id=7420 time=1651868646 user_id=5

Hermit: can you post pics of your Regent? It was one of Fisher's best models (right below the President).
[/quote]
Here it is playing a R2R of Eric burden and the animals

Elton, I remember you showing me you Fisher when I was there picking up my VM. It is a nice unit!

Bill

No kidding, about as good as it gets, look at all the top-drawer components.
According to fisherconsoles the '63 had a X-202-B tube amp, the '64 Regent II had the awesome 400CX2 tube preamp with TA-900 SS amp. No details given for later years. Do you know the year? The controls look like console-only perhaps, not separates, is my guess. I loooove the big lift up lids. That is one long cabinet.

Firedome wrote: ↑Sun May 08, 2022 7:50 pm No kidding, about as good as it gets, look at all the top-drawer components.
According to fisherconsoles the '63 had a X-202-B tube amp, the '64 Regent II had the awesome 400CX2 tube preamp with TA-900 SS amp. No details given for later years. Do you know the year? The controls look like console-only perhaps, not separates, is my guess. I loooove the big lift up lids. That is one long cabinet.

R592 from 1967/68 the SS chassis is a R-31... the sony R2R I shoved into it.. the original owner thought it was for more record storage this was headed to the curb before I rescued it... I believe the executive took over as second fiddle to the president models in the SS years

I have a 1965 Fisher Ambassador VII hybrid console. Saved it from going to the dump. I've had it for a couple of years and just don't have the time or space to start restoring it. I bought a set of replacement brights for the knobs on eBay.

Update on Fisher's. I got this 1964 Warwick in a decent contemporary Walnut (just like this Futura) in part trade for the Motorola SK32, I powered it up for fun and it plays pretty loud due to a bad volume control. I really (!) like this cabinet, though back panels covering the speakers (not the bottom) are particleboard, that hardware will get removed and bagged inside. Best of all, it has wood slat speaker grilles, decidedly a must if you have a cat.

Many Fisher cabinets had particleboard (not MDF) bottoms, care must be exercised moving them if there is any hint they got damp and weakened. I have the more powerful amp and preamp/tuner from that Ambassador A-69, which I had to part out.

The W-59 (IP) Italian Provincial has identical components and an equally wrecked turntable platter, in addition to some cabinet issues. Thanks to Firedome, BOTH Warwicks get upgraded to nice original Type A like the CE IV (E44) has at the bottom.
My next move is to restore the W-59 IP and take to my "flea booth" and hope it sells itself like the RCA VLT-51 did

Very nice cabinet styling there.

Picked this one up yesterday. As if I needed another one! Deal was too good to pass up. 1965 Ambassador VII.

I like it! Did the little speakers come with it?

Bill

That is a very cleanly-styled cabinet for a Fisher. An image of it just went into my private gallery. Nice save, Charles.