Hello. Terry DeWicke introduced me to your forums...I think they're great. He told me about the postings which related to my 1965 Magnavox "Roundie" combination on eBay. I found them very interesting! I had it listed at $475 and had ALOT of email on it. No bids though. So I re-listed with the "Buy It Now" feature and sold it for $369 to a fellow who will be driving up from Florida.

I'm a bonafide Magnavox collector-nut and have literature and equipment dating from the Company's inception in 1911 to the present. I assembled the collection into a Magnavox Museum (approx. 1400 sq. ft.) which covers their top-of-the-line items from each decade, as well as items representative of some of their lesser known businesses (e.g. sonobouys and aircraft radios for US Government, electronic organs, band instruments, satellite navigationfor ships, and satellite surveying equipment). I'm interested in "all things Magnavox" so if any of you have a Magnavox you'd like to tell me about...I'll always be happy to listen. I also have sufficient literature to identify nearly every television, radio and phonograph that they produced.

Technically speaking (from a repair standpoint) I'm pretty handy mechanically, but I have no formal electronics training so I'm not really able to tackle sophisticated circuit repairs - although I have successfully replaced a couple color picture tubes (including rudimentary convergence and color gun set-ups). Someday I would like to find someone local in Atlanta who could help me get a few old Magnavox televisions back in order (dates range from 1948, thru 1950s, 1960s and 1970s).

So long for now.

Best regards,

Hi Terry, welcome to AK!

Good to hear the set found a home :)

What a fantastic collection you have!!

I collect TV's mostly but have a couple Magnavox record players, my favorite of which is this 1955? Radio/Phono combo.
I would be interested in any information you could offer about this.


Eric

Hi Jim,
Welcome to AK!
That's a great collection that you have of all those Magnavox items since 1911!
I too will have some questions about their products, Especially the tv sets from the 60's.
I have the same model that you just sold and love it! I listen to the stereo and use the changer more than the tv!
By the way, Is that a Star system vertical combo in the left side of the picture?

Out of curiosity, do you have one of the early Magnavox "Discovision" laserdisc players??

Jim, that's quite a collection you've got! How did you come across the large Magnavox letters you have in the background?
I have always found that the Magnavox products, especially those from the 40's and 50's were among the highest quality home entertainment products made.
I found some 16 mm films from the Selmer company, Elkhart, Ind. to promote band instruments and were surprised to find that they were a subsidiary of the Magnavox company. Jim, do you have any information about what happened to the Magnavox company? After the consumer division was sold off I know the original company was still a military contractor but I don't know if it still exists.

Welcome aboard Jim. An Aunt of mine worked for Motorola in their black ops secret military division. She's now retired and STILL can't tell people what she did there!

Am too interested in the company's history and how they spun off the consumer division versus the others. Thanks for having the foresight to preserve history!!

Anthony

Thanks for all the kind responses. Here are some specific replies:

Eric - I'm very familiar with your Magnavox, it is The Berkshire model 270B in Mahogany from the 1955 Magnavox line...top-of-the-line in 1955. Has (as you know) a 15" woofer, 12" woofer, and exponential horn. Most unusual (and refined) was the dual-channel mono amp (also called "bi-amplified by som) which afforded separate amplification for bass and treble..hence no crossover network and no intermodulation distortion. This unit was the subject of some "upset" in the Hi Fi community because Frank Freimann (president of Magnavox at the time) took out a full page ad in Time and Life which was essentially an "advertorial" on hi-fi components. He debunked the myth that components were the ONLY way to hi-fidelity, and he "put his money where his mouth is (was)" by proclaiming that "If any of our 1955 Magnavox High Fidelity instruments does not sound better to you than an assembled components rig costing three times as much, your Magnavox Dealer will take back the instrument and refund the purchase price." IMAGINE the COURAGE to nationally advertise a claim like that! Truth is...their equipment was good enough to withstand the comparison.

CAPTAINMOODY: Thanks! No, my Magnavox Armoire is the very last generation before STAR was incorporated into the same cabinet. I wanted it that way since it was the last series with a totally remote operated radio (tuning in addition to volume and record reject) PLUS it was the last armoire to incorporate the 150 watt stereo amp with air-suspension 15" woofers and exponential horns. It's mint, withpractically no use...sat in a telcom company's president's office as "eye candy"!

domfjbrown: Yes, I have a few of ythem...two are mint and never used...but (sad to say) NONE of them really operates correctly!

Chad Hauris: Boy, I'd love to see/have one of those films! You're observations on Magnavox in the 1940s and 1950s are correct. The 1948 Windsor Imperial is virtually McIntosh quality and utilized an 8 cell exponential horn which routinely sells for $1000 on eBay! It was built to Magnavox specs by Stephens Tru-Sonic and the entire rig retailed for $895!! That would be about $7000 today!! The brochure alone has sold for $100 on eBay. I got the letters from a friend who was franchised to sell Magnavox in the 1950s. The entire Magnavox Company was acquired by Philips in 1974. They sold off everything (Selmer, Magnavox government & industrial division, furniture divisions, etc.) over time except the consumer electronics business. The G&I division changed hands many times and was once owned by Hughes. They had an excellent reputation in many advanced fields.

Anthony/Heathkit TV: I'd love to talk to your aunt someday..though she might not be able to answer much! Philips actually saw many of the non consumer electronic businesses of Magnavox turn a profit...but since they were unrelated to Philips' core focus (consumer electronics) they were eventually all sold off through time. One division was Baker furniture...makers of what many consider to be the finest furniture you can buy (antique reproductions are a specialty and a chair for $3500 is not unusual in the Baker line). Philips' old executive offices on Park Avenue in New York were furnished by Baker. At one point in my career, my boss offied in a Baker appointed office at that address...quite spiffy!

Originally posted by MrMagnavox
domfjbrown: Yes, I have a few of ythem...two are mint and never used...but (sad to say) NONE of them really operates correctly!

He he he - well, I'd not worry too much; according to the Discovision site (http://www.blamld.com/DiscoVision/index.htm) the Magnavox machines were bleeding edge technology, and very unreliable. For some reason they never managed to get the laser servos aligned properly on many of the first Magnavox machines, so the second generation Magnavox players were made by Pioneer. A real shame as the Magnavox machines were the first laser optical disc products in the world so very very high tech.

Interesting to note that they got the players working properly by the time the then-Laserdisc format made it here to the UK. Since I can't find a Pioneer combi that'll read analog audio LDs at the right price, I'm tempted to try to get an early Magnavox machine, just so I can play my first gen 1982 copy of Raise the Titanic... I definitely like the style of the first Maggies:
http://www.hypernova.co.uk/total_rewind/disc/photos/dsc_lv01.jpg

Thanks for the info Jim! I will be looking out for one of those combos as they sound like a real nice unit.

Jim, PM me or email me w/address if you'd like the films, I'll give them to you if you want them. They are designed to encourage kids to join band and do not really have much technical info., but they do have "Selmer, A division of the Magnavox Company" on the cases. Just send me a check for the shipping cost when you receive them if you want them.

Hey Chad,

That is real nice of you!!

Colin
from new zealand:puke:

Hi Jim (sorry, I was confused and called you Terry earlier :rolleyes: )

Thank you for the information about the Phonograph, very interesting stuff!

As you can see from the picture I actually use this thing fairly often for playing 45's and 78's.

I got it for $25 at a local Anti-Q store. Someone had hacked a BSR changer into it but I had a new motor board mad and put back the Collaro that I think was OEM.

One more question if I may, do you know what the original cartridge would have been?

I have an Astatic in it now, don't know the model but it has two needles side by side that shift back and forth for LP-78.

Sorry too for asking off topic questions here on the early Color forum :o :D I just gotta know!

Eric