Motorola console record player

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

According to the schematic, the amp chassis contains two 6V6's in PP to drive the center channel and these are driven by a 12AX7 on the main amp chassis. There is a 6BQ5 for the L channel and another 6BQ5 for the R channel, both being driven by a 12AX7 that's hiding on the preamp chassis that contains the volume, balance, bass, and treble controls. There was also a version of this console that contained an AM/FM radio.

The AM-FM tuner was an option. The dealer removed the plastic record bin and the tuner dropped right in.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by DavGoodlin

Oops, I made an assumption there were no more tubes than the photo shows.
The P-P 6V6 are obvious. I have a Motorola stereophonic amp chassis from 1961, there are three or four 6BQ5 (bass channel is PP?) IIRC.
Im looking forward to hearing how yours sounds.

I have the same amp, but mine was built in late 1959. Mine uses four 6BQ5's, two in push-pull for the bass channel and one each, single ended for the left and right channel.
The amp, pictured was built in November, 1963. It's stamped 11M63 on the back. Probably the last of the larger tube amps from Motorola. Everything newer seemed to be solid state.

[radiotvnut]

Several years ago, I had one lower end Motorola AM/FM/phono tube console that might have been a little newer than this one; but, IIRC, everything was on a single chassis and it was a standard two channel set-up. I junked it because the cabinet was rather beat up and the tuner had bad IF transformers for both AM and FM.

[truetone36]

This thread has inspired me to get started on the '61 model Motorola console I have out in the shop. It has a Danish Modern cabinet by Drexel and the big amp with 6 6v6's. I need to recap it as all I get is very low volume and the typical 60 cycle hum which usually indicates bad filter caps.

[DavGoodlin]

The more circuit schematics I look at on sets of this vintage, Id say Motorola was right up there with Zenith and RCA, as far as High fidelity is concerned.

It would be fun to get some reviews at the time (not necessarily consumer reports) on sets of this vintage

[KentTeffeteller]

These were well built, had quality speaker drivers and amplifiers inside, good changers, and were better than average consoles. And they had nice cabinetry (often Drexel made). Yes, among the better consoles.