Maggie Astrosonic Console
 

Had this given to me. The phonograph automatic feature is a little wonky, but everything works. It kinda stutters a bit, and then lowers the tonearm. Records sound good. The cabinet has extremely little wear on it.


I hooked my MP3 player up to the "tape in" jacks in the back, and Pandora and Amazon Music sound really good. It gets pretty loud, with good bass and nice treble. I wondered why it sounded this good, so I took off the back and I see 4 speakers.


I don't know the year it was made. Can anyone tell me? It's a model 1P3613.

https://i.imgur.com/Qcn3y6o.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/2OSD0gk.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ckhvNEV.jpg

Judging from the style of knobs, and the later version Collaro record changer (thin, grey tone arm) I would guess 1966-1971 time frame. I've seen many Magnavox variations on that particular cabinet style.

The Collaro changers were good, and you can probably straighten out the stuttering with a good clean and lube. If that version changer is like the older one, it will have 2 idlers (one for the changer mechanism and one for the platter). I have had good luck cleaning up the idler wheels with a coffee filter and a little denatured alcohol.

I peeked under the TT. It's kinda scary looking. In a Rube Goldberg kinda way. Jeez...that's a lot of parts.

I'll get brave in a few days and see if I can identify the idlers and try what you said with the alcohol.

The audio is great. Not even any static when turning the knobs. I did just realize that the light is out on the dial, and the "stereo" red light is out. How hard is it to replace them? If it's hard, I'll not worry about it, as it has been a real nice surprise in the audio department.

Most record changers are complex...Unless the mech is gummed up in a way that adding some lube won't fix you don't need to know what every bit does (though it can be fun watching it in action and figuring that out). :D Just be gentle with it and it should be fine.

What lube is good for these things? And how do you clean out any gummed up lube?

I like white lithium grease, it seems to stay put and holds up well. Thankfully, Collaro used a decent quality grease at the time of manufacture, and it's usually not hardened up like tar (like BSR turntables). Remove the "C" clip from the spindle and lift off the platter...you will see the two idler wheels.

The stereo indicator light is the same style base as the dial lights, but its a lower voltage. If you put a standard #44 bulb in it, a stereo station will only make it glow dimly.

The audio quality on these are very good for being solid state. You might ought to take a close look at the electrolytic capacitors in the audio sections, and if they are Nichicon brand, replace them all. For the first 5 or 6 years of the solid state line, Magnavox bought a lot of caps from Nichicon, and they are at the age now where they are getting leaky. I've brought several Magnavox consoles back to life by simply recapping them. I had a low end 30 watt model last year that sounded good, but after recapping it, it sounded even better.

I took off the platter, but I'm not sure what to look for. The two idler wheels are rubber, and don't have grease on them. With the platter off I don't see or hear any jittering. But when the platter is on, and I go automatic, there is some jig jig jigging going on before the arm drops that shouldn't be there. It carries over a bit while the record starts playing, and then stops.

No, you don't want any grease on the rubber idler tires. If your platter speed is OK, and the change speed seems good, your idlers are probably working fine. You may need a little bit of light oil on the tone arm pivots; it is imperative the tone arm moves freely.

While you have the platter off it is a good time to lube the bearings. With the platter removed, you will see a washer on the bottom of the spindle, and some ball bearings. Just pull them off, clean it all up, and re-lube. When it's right, you can spin the platter with your hand and it will keep on turning for quite some time.

The platter spins for quite a while already, but I will do that. The tone arm does seem a bit stiff on its pivot. I will get some 3 in 1 oil or something to put on it. Or would WD-40 work ok?

NO WD-40!!! It'll gun up the moving parts badly.

LOL. I wasn't going to use WD-40. I know how bad that stuff is. I have some very light machine oil, and I also have something called G-96 which is a great light lubricant.

WD40:yuck:

Three in one oil is OK for that, though. Just a tad of any light weight oil is OK on the tone arm, just be sure to use it sparingly.

I used a tried and true method to try and stop the jittering at startup of the automatic function. I banged on the auto idler a few times with my fingers. Tap tap tap tap.

Guess what?

It's not doing that any more.

I have ordered a new needle that should be here in a few days. Looking at the one it has with a magnifying glass reveals not much left.

New needle. It still skips after a minute or so. I think it is something to do with the automatic feature. Like maybe it needs to be "timed"? I have no idea how to do that.