Got the fever

[Jeffhs]

In your attached photo of your Maggie console, I noticed a black mark running vertically down the right side of the CRT. Is this just some kind of digital-camera artifact or (heaven forbid) an ion burn?

BTW, I agree with magnasonic66's advice regarding repairing and keeping the original TV. These older consoles are becoming rare in this age of digital TV, so any time anyone can get their hands on a beautiful specimen like yours (the cabinet looks excellent), the TV should be preserved by all means.

I personally like those large consoles, and in fact owned a few (my favorite having been my 1963 Zenith K-2739 1963 console, a trash find in 1969) when I lived in a house with a basement. The closest I can come to having a console since moving to an apartment 12 years ago, however, is a small medium-oak Sauder utility cart with concealed casters, containing my 19-inch flat-screen TV, VCR, and DVD. But consoles are out of the question (if you could see how small my place is you would know what I mean).

For guys like yourself who do have the room for a fabulous combo console like that Maggie, however, I'd say do the usual overhaul (new capacitors, at very least the power supply filters, control cleaning, etc.), refinish the cabinet if needed (although, as I said earlier, the cabinet looks great as-is, IMHO), and you will have a pre-DTV entertainment center to be proud of. Connect a cable box or an OTA converter box to the TV and it will work better than it ever did under the old NTSC television standard. Even if the set does not have remote control as standard equipment, the use of either a cable STB (set-top box) or an OTA converter will instantly convert it to basic remote control (channel +/-, volume +/-, mute, and in most cases TV power switching), since all such converters come with remote hand units similar to those supplied with TVs.


As to the stereo-FM indicator, I'd first check the small bulb behind the "stereo" legend on the control panel, as the bulb may be burned out. If the bulb is OK, the problem is likely in the stereo multiplex decoder circuitry, or else the received signal is too weak. Stereophonic FM broadcasting, like color TV, demands a very strong signal to produce good results; if the tuner is set to an extremely weak station, the stereo light will flicker on and off or may not illuminate at all, in which case the solution is to use a better antenna. The built-in FM antennas in most of these consoles will work reasonably well in moderate to strong signal areas, but if you are in a weak signal area, a good antenna is a must for good stereo reception.

[fontzmark]

Thanks for all the information, I really appreciate it. It seems something just dripped down, took the glass panel out and cleaned it off. Anyone know anything about the amp? About all I see on it is "T-1" and 75-67. Also, just firing it up and looking around it seems all the tubes are working except for one and it is on the tuner, could that be my volume problem with the radio? If it is, just replace that tube? The model # is 1MV 355 R. Thanks again.