Magnavox Micromatic Stereo Phonograph

[AUdubon5425]

Well, I took in another orphan today. A friend of mine was cleaning out the back room of his office last week and he found this early-60's Maggie console phono with the cord cut and the rectifier tube on the floor underneath it. He said he had no idea where it came from but that it had probably been buried back there for close to ten years.

Well, the cabinet is nicked up and looking at the turntable you wouldn't hold out much hope - the overarm is broken off and missing, as is the platter mat. The stylus was bent down - just a sad sight. Also (I'd see later) there are punctures in two of the speaker cones.

I looked it over and saw it had a power transformer, two 6BQ5 outputs and some decent-sized 10-inch drivers and 4 or 5" tweeters. The turntable was not stuck. After spending about ten minutes straightening the stylus I said "what the heck" and spliced in a new power cord.

I was expecting to hear a lot of hum but it was silent. I looked in the back and all four tubes were glowing...touched the stylus and "brrrrrp!" I couldn't believe it. Grabbed an old test record and the darn thing cycled & played!

It needs some love to get it where it ought to be - repairing the speakers to start - but this, the most unlikely of candidates, is the first console stereo I've ever gotten that worked from the get-go.

"8301-10" is stamped on the chassis - the changer is a G600 with an EV 26 cartridge. The model is 1SC287G.






I found this ad for a 1SC288 from May '63 - seems sets w/o radios ran about $50 less:

[Reece]

That looks like an easy cleanup, maybe nothing more than some Old English polish on the scratches? You could get an exact replacement stylus or new cartridge from Canadian Astatic. I'll bet somebody has a junker changer with the parts needed for the record overarm: maybe ask on ARF "Phonographs" forum. But from the pictures it looks like besides the rectifier tube there might have been a dead guy under the set??

[AUdubon5425]

I'm hoping to retrofit a better cartridge than the EV26 - they are pretty scarce and I'd like something that runs a little lighter. The problem is that the mounting bracket is made onto the cartridge - I may wind up having to modify the tonearm

[Sam Cogley]

I'd be harvesting the amp and junking the rest.

[wa2ise]

Drop by http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=14 Lots of people in the tube audio community are familiar with these consoles. And that amp is well regarded, a "single ended" stereo 6BQ5 amp.

[AUdubon5425]

Originally Posted by Sam Cogley

I'd be harvesting the amp and junking the rest.

When I first laid eyes on it I thought, "Well, at least maybe I can save the amp." But I'm keeping it together. Someone offered me a parts turntable to replace the missing overarm and mat. Plus, my Mother touched up the scratches and chips with a filler/stain stick over the weekend - it doesn't look nearly as bad anymore.

[AUdubon5425]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

...Lots of people in the tube audio community are familiar with these consoles. And that amp is well regarded...

Thanks for that - made for some interesting reading. I personally don't plan to modify mine, but it is interesting to see what others are doing with these.

[DaveWM]

I would check the amp for paper caps, although there is a good possibity it has all ceramic disk in the coupling circuit.

I hope you put another micromatic in there, I really like those old turntables, esp the way the tone arm taps the record to size it.

[Adam]

I have a set of good speakers I pulled out of a '59 Magnavox console I parted out that would probably fit that, they're yours for shipping if you want them.

[mary123]

hello!
Went in my least favorite high priced flea market and they informed me that they wanted to show me something. That something turned out to be this big Magnavox solid state portable micromatic record player/radio combination. It has controls for volume, balance, bass, treble, and function. There are also jacks for a headphone, tape in, and tape out. I asked her the price and she said $50 (I almost choked). I fired it up and the radio plays very well except for the pots and switches needing cleaning. The turntable is all gunked up and does not work. I managed to get her down to $40; but, that was the best I could do.

[AUdubon5425]

Sounds like a good unit - if you intend on keeping it for your own use you'd still be in it for less than $100 if you had to replace the idler and cartridge.