curbside seeburg console

[Adam]

It's one of those ones with the "telephone dial" where you dial up the number of the record you want to play. I just picked this up from the side of the road. It had a weird sign on it that said "this is not a bomb." The Buick isn't running, so after I saw it I had to go and rent a van, and hope no one would take it before I got back. I got back with the van, and was struggling to lift it in there when the guy that put it on the curb saw me, but he was nice and helped me lift it in the van. He said he inherited it from a friend who was the original owner, used it for a while, had it in storage for a while, then tried to e-bay it with no success, and finally just decided to put it on the curb today. This unit is heavy, it's even heavier than my Philco roundie combo, and just a bit longer, too. I've wanted one of these ever since I first heard about them, anyone out there with one? Do they put out a "good sound", or have any common problems? I just got it in here, I haven't really taken a look at it yet, haven't even pulled the back off yet and seen if it's tube or ss. I'll post some pics after I get things a bit more cleaned up in here, and shift some consoles around.

Some pics added. I hope it'll hold the weight of that Magnavox I just put on top of it. There was no other way to fit it in here.

[newhallone]

It's a good thing he put that sign on there. In case some cop from Boston saw it.

[Bob E.]

They are pretty well-made, an offshoot of their jukebox technology. You will only be able to play the full side of an album (not individual songs), unless you press reject to move on to the next selected side. You will probably need to do some lubrication of the mechanism, but if their service manuals are anything like the ones for their jukeboxes, you should be able to cope with just about anything that needs doing. The cartridge is special (it has a stylus on both sides, since the tonearm carriage is shifted to one side or another to play the record, which is played in the vertical position). Always Jukin' magazine sells a set of repro manuals for these (the HSC1, 2, 3, AP-1 & 2), you can get it at www.alwaysjukin.com

Have fun! They are definitely unique machines.

--Bob

[gadget73]

That is a very cool piece. How many albums does it hold?

[Fast_Eddie]

Damn! How cool is that?!

[wa2ise]

I vaguely remember seeing ads in magazines for "whole house" systems that had separate speakers and amps for each room in the house, and each room could command the system to play records the user selects, or selects one of several radio stations. Seems each room could select anything without being pre-empted by another user, except the same record. That the mechanism would reside in a closet or other out-of-the-way place in the house. And that the remote controllers had telephone dials like that Seeburg has.

[orthophonic]

I am jealous, I have wanted one of those since I first saw it in 1967.
Great save, i think I would have wrecked had I seen it.

[Thyratron]

Originally Posted by orthophonic

I am jealous, I have wanted one of those since I first saw it in 1967.
Great save, i think I would have wrecked had I seen it.

Yeah I know, it would make my day to find anything Seeburg on the curb.

[Adam]

There was a manual stashed inside, along with some receipts and notes from when the original owner bought and hooked up a wired remote control mechanism for the record changer (unfortunately I didn't find the remote). I also found a list of the records which he had in the unit and their corresponding numbers. It holds 50 33rpm records.

I also figured out why this unit is so heavy, along with all the heavy record changing mechanisms, the speakers are in their own separate enclosures. The first pic shows one. Next pic shows the tuner and amplifier, which are entirely transistorized, and mainly in that top unit, except for the output transistors and some of the amp circuitry mounted to that heat sink below, and according to the manual the phono preamp which is mounted in the record playing unit itself. Third photo shows the record playing unit, along with that box in the upper right which is the control unit for the changer, and you can see a cable coming off of it which mounts to a connector in the bottom right of the picture, that's where the remote hooked up.

[electronjohn]

Cool find!

[similost]

too cool.. I think I would have to install it backwards just so I could watch it change albums when I was playing them..

[Arkay]

Very, very cool find!

Wish I had the luck to find such a thing... AND the space to house and use it, if I did! Alas, living in an apartment that already has too much audio gear in it, this is purely a pipe dream... but it's fun to see your pics and experience it vicariously. Enjoy the !

[dtuomi]

I just stumbled upon this post, and all I can say is that I'm extremely jealous. How's the restoration on it going?

David

[Adam]

I've been really busy taking my phd exams and haven't had much time to work on anything lately, probably won't get to it till spring. As it is the radio doesn't work at all, and the record playing mechanism moves back and forth a bit, then gets stuck.

[jetblack]

Thanks for the peek at a cool piece of history! I wish you luck in your exams.