10" or 12" Blonde Maggie!

[Bill Cahill]

What;s new on the Maggie? Got any more pictures? I'd like to see where you are on it. Thanks. Bill Cahill

Oh. I was watching that set too. Nice set. I have a1947 Maggie combination 12" tv, am-fm-sw radio, two speed phonograph.

[kbmuri]

Bill -

It could probably be tweaked a little bit more but for now I'm calling it a "wrap". It's an ornament in one of the bedrooms right now. It's pulled somewhat away from the wall to hide a VCR behind it for photos, normally it's against the wall. I'm currently recapping a period-correct UHF converter to put on top of it so that it can be occasionally used for nostalgic viewing (no vhf stations nearby). It's a good solid set and a satisfying restoration. Should be no problem using it in light-duty mode.

Your MX combo console likely has the same TV chassis. According to my Sams sheet it came in either 10" or 12" models, and mine has a socket for the radio/phono inputs into the audio-amp section of the TV chassis. I think one or two tubes in mine have survived from day one, the date codes on all the Magnavox-branded tubes were from spring of '49 (I had to replace several of them, but one or two remain). So I'm calling mine a 1949. The ad photo below confirms this (from April '49 Saturday Evening Post).

Post a pic of yout '47. Thanks.

- K

[jpdylon]

man that is lookin good kbmuri

[wa2ise]

Good thing you restored it, or your evil twin would have done this.

[Bill Cahill]

I would have kept the original blonde color myself, but, nice job. It will be awhile before I can get you a pix of mine. I have amp, changer, and all spkrs. out now. Tweeters are shot, and,I'm trying to figure out what to do. I prommisse as soon as I can, and get some help from someone to install pix.,, I will. Mine is mahogany. AM-FM-Sw radio. Push pull audio. 4 6V6 push pull parallel. No tuning eye, though! Strange that a Maggiee wouldn't have a tuning eye. Back panel has the cut outs for it, but, front clearly shows No cut out for the front of the eye. Seems to be, otherwise, the same basic radio chassis used on their deluxe radio combinations.Even has the min. tube for fm oscilator. Rest of radio tubes are octal.I think you are right on the tv. They sure seem to look the same.

By the way. I learned something else the hard way. Don't stand in you stocking feet on a terazol floor, and go to adjust the tv by grabbing the brassh knobs! It's a shocker!!!!!

[kbmuri]

Bill -

I wasn't sure if the socket on back of the chassis was an audio-in or an audio-out connection. It would work as either, as it's just the line between the audio discriminator 6al5 and the audio-amplifier 6SF7, isolated with .01 mfd caps, and chassis ground. Inject a signal there, you'd get it amplified (and chassis volume control would affect it) thru the onboard single-ended 6V6 amp. Pull a signal from it, you could drive your 4x6V6-PP external amp. So for the console set, the socket must be an audio-out, not an audio-in. I would guess your 6SF7 and 6V6 (and transformer) are then omitted on your chassis.

The previous pics were taken dark to show the picture tube working. I didn't go out of my way to change the cabinet-finish color. I don't think it was ever "blonde" in the classic sense, just a light hardwood veneer. The pull-down front-controls cover is in fact left as-found (I didn't have to touch it). The rest of the cabinet had a lot of flaws and required light sanding and re-clearcoating. This photo, taken in bright light, most accurately reflects the color (and flaws). Someday I might re-veneer the whole thing, and reproduce the front facade (which is light-colored solid hardwood). But that would be a lot of effort, and perhaps a crime to the "originality". I think I'd rather take the entire cabinet, wrap it in plastic, and store it in the garage rafters for posterity, and reproduce the entire cabinet in an exotic tiger-maple hardwood. That would be even more work, but it would be something really beautiful afterwards. It was a "budget" set to begin with, and likely wasn't ever a nice piece of furniture. Just an "entry-level" way to see TV in 1949. I suspect your combo set was the "deluxe model". It sounds like a great set.

As far as the shock hazard, I really don't like those 2 capacitors from the AC line to chassis ground (see about 20 posts ago). One of mine was leaky and made the chassis hot, perhaps you have the same condition.

Good luck working on it.

- k

[PioneerGuy75]

Awesome post kbmuri !!
Wonderful work restoring an old beauty!!
Great pictures!

Thanks so much for sharing!!!

[Bill Cahill]

Indeed, a wonderful job. Thank you for sharing your project.

Actually, I see from ebay there were more deluxe versions than mine. Mine is conservative, though beutiful. The other two are book cases, rather large, and both beutiful. Mine is relatively compact, yet, has the same wood beuty as hose. I remove the line caps completely when I re build, They are a shock hazzrd. Also, any resistors going to chassis as well. After I get caught up on customer projects, I am going to get back on my Maggie. Then, I can post pics for you guys to see.

Slightly off topic. After I receive my delivery from our friend Polaraman, after cabinet repairs, I will show patched up case. After I start re building chassis, I will show progress pics on it.
That set is my favorite project=RCA Victor=6T74=rplacement for original family set.

Bill Cahill

[kbmuri]

Not a problem -- glad the series of posts appealed to its audience. It was fun work too.

I'm swayed towards getting the 2nd "Monster Maggie" on eBay (the one at a reasonable starting price). I think the two sets are identical, except the 2nd one lacks the top "detachable crown", which makes it look like a plainer model. The photography is poorer too, making it look like less of a set. But I think they're both the same thing. I don't know if the crown was lost on the 2nd set, or if it was optional to begin with.

Unfortunately North Carolina is just too far away. I drove to Cleveland a couple of weeks ago for my first Zenith color roundie, and that was an ordeal. NC would be a weekend at least, and probably a Ryder truck rental to put it in. Hundreds of dollars and headaches. I'll have to pass.

Polaraman should go get it...

Bill, I look forward to seeing your Maggie when you get around to it.

On the line caps, I'm leery about leaving my set plugged in when I'm not using it. The line caps are connected to AC and chassis, even when the TV's power switch is "off". Anybody have any strong feelings on that? It's how it was made, factory, so it was expected to be used that way. Just wonder how safe it is. I almost re-wired them to the OTHER side of the power switch, which makes more sense, but didn't feel like modifying the original circuit. Curiously, it's wired that way in the Sams schematic, so I could have re-wired it to match. Maybe Magnavox realized the error later in production, and Sams got the later version? Sure didn't look like my set was modified. It was a curiosity.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words. Maybe another project pretty soon...

- Kirk

[blue_lateral]

They make special line caps that are designed to fail open, and not catch on fire no matter what. It's an excellent idea where the caps are always on. Use a "y" rated one for line to ground, or an "x" rated one for sets that have it across the line.

John