EM has saved a Magnovox console form a local thrift

[Electronic M]

Today a Magnovox console showed up at the local thrift store for 40$ and despite being told earlier by my folks that I've blown all money and space for this sort of thing they still bought it for me when I asked without any begging on my part.

Here she is, my first maggie.










The amp chassis looks impressive! With four output tubes driveing one channel of audio being feed to two gynormous identical speakers I'm positively drooling over the mere tought of how it will sound once restored!

This thing is my first multi-chassis radio console, and it has not two, but three chassis! They are AM/SW radio, FM radio, and audio AMP.

I almost dammaged the door trying to open it before locating the somewhat hidden latch button on the side.

The phono is not original (in case anyone missed that), but is a newer VM unit, and came with the 45 changer spindle and a complete spare needle and cartridge.

Sorry about the crappy shots of the back. This thing is darned heavy and got moved to it's temporary resting place in the garage after rearranging the better part of the extremely heavy crap that resides there. When I took those pictures I had (sorta still do) a powerfull back ache and felt 30 times more spiteful than sandyg. I felt like, but refrained from busting a 60's Zenith TV cart that keept falling apart due to a nut that refused to stay put. I literally did a two man job single handedly in less than half the time it should of got done in (with two people).

I haven't the foggyest idea what it is worth and hope I did not over spend, and have some head room to flip it if I need to. I badly want to keep it, but don't know what the future may bring.

I now welcome all questions, comments and info(including the contact info of a good masage place/chiropracor).

The utterly destroyed Tom C.

[mstaton]

I had the same one a few years ago. Mine did not have the FM tuner, just a blank. Was also missing the record player but i did have the original owners manual. It's from 1943.

[Electronic M]

I thought all civilian car and radio production was blacked out in early to mid 1942. Is 1943 even a possible date? And was the "post war FM" band (which is what my set tunes) even established yet in 1943? Could it be I have a 1945 or later model because (hypothetically speaking) magnovox restarted production without redesigning their line?

If this really is a pre/during war set would that make it a more rare or desireable set?

Mstaton, if you have or can make a copy of the instruction book I'd like to have one.

This set is probably somewhat local as it has WGN as one of the presets.

Tom C.

[magnasonic66]

You have great parents! What is the model name of it please? I like that '60s VM changer in it, looks like it wouldn't be too big a deal to slip a two or three speed early '50s Webster back in. I hope you get a lot of pleasure out of it!

[Reece]

That's a very nice find and especially since it has the postwar FM receiver. Sending you a PM.

[sampson159]

i have the same model.it s a regency.spring loaded door with release on the side.it was in a convent in pennsylvania.i purchased for 35.00.all the stations were labeled.the stations were rock and hard rock!it is one of my daily users in my movie room.i have a zenith 12s370 and 6s154 upstairs.they are good performers but i like the magnavox.cabinet is perfect and it sounds great especially the fm.nice find!

[dieseljeep]

Magnavox built that same basic model from 1946-49. I have a pre-war model that has only one chassis with push-pull 6L6's. It also has the optional 42-50 MHZ FM tuner. $40 is a good price, as the parts are worth more than that.

[mstaton]

Sorry i do not have the radio or manual anymore. I thought I made a scan some years ago. let me check my other computer

[Electronic M]

A scan is fine too.

[Electronic M]

It says "Regency symphony" on the plate.
I variaced it today and it powered up fine. There is no hum at all and no noticable distortion. The am/sw radio works but ignores weaker stations, and the base and function controls could benifit from some control cleaner. The fm is remarkably clear, but the tuning knob don't turn as freely as I think it should. The fm tuning knob seems to change the tuning, but the tuning indicator needle does not move. The phonograph works, but has a constant periodic rumble.

I'm probably going to squirrel this one away for a while till I figure out what I want to do with it.

[WISCOJIM]

Originally Posted by magnasonic66

You have great parents!

Ditto on that. I have met them several times and I have been very pleased that they encourage Tom's curiousity with older electronics.

I only wish I had such support when I was younger.

[magnasonic66]

I can change needles and cartridges, that's about all the expertise I have with these things. I had to sneak stuff in, now I have a storage locker a couple of miles away. The only "mistake" my folks made in any encouragement of my hobbies was to bring a car trunk full of my Uncle Charles' old records from his garage in Philadelphia. After that, look out.

[Kamakiri]

Sharp looking set!

This is a "for what it's worth" post......

Back about a year ago, I had a monolith Admiral console TV in my living room, that I ended up giving to a fellow collector in the area. Christmas was coming, and I had to move it to the garage to store it to make room for the tree.

I lifted up the end, and put it on a furniture dolly, where I was able to easily wheel it to my back door. Now, okay, how do I get it down the back step, make the turn, and get it into the garage without damage?

I first struggled like hell being careful while slipping on the ice and snow, and came close to really twisting my back. Then the solution came to me.....I shoveled a whole bunch of snow in front of the door, and let the set fall right into it with me braking the fall. Slid it right on its top to the garage, and stood it right side up, where I wiped off the snow and made the journey without a scratch.

If the set had hit the concrete, so be it, but it was 100% intact. The moral of the story: not ONE of ANY of these sets, not even a CT-100, or a 20 tube Zenith radio, is worth a lifetime back injury. Trust me, my brother has one that keeps him in pain every day of his life. You may keep this radio for life, or it may end up going to someone else, but if you screw up your back, you'll always remember it.

Time to invest in some moving equipment, or find a friend. Only sayin' cause I care.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

It says "Regency symphony" on the plate.
I variaced it today and it powered up fine. There is no hum at all and no noticable distortion. The am/sw radio works but ignores weaker stations, and the base and function controls could benifit from some control cleaner. The fm is remarkably clear, but the tuning knob don't turn as freely as I think it should. The fm tuning knob seems to change the tuning, but the tuning indicator needle does not move. The phonograph works, but has a constant periodic rumble.

I'm probably going to squirrel this one away for a while till I figure out what I want to do with it.

If the radio does not receive weak stations, it is likely because of the antenna (these old sets generally don't work well without an external antenna, even if you are reasonably close to one or more stations). The next thing I'd try is replacing the RF amp tube, if one is used in the AM tuner.

The radio may not be humming now, but it may start to do so at any time. I'd replace the filters in the power supply, as well as any and all wax paper capacitors in the set. Also, if you do not replace the filters, they could (likely will) short and destroy the power transformer.

If the FM tuner changes stations, but the dial pointer doesn't move, the dial cord is either broken or off the pulleys.

The phonograph probably should be relubricated (what grease is on the mechanism now has certainly turned hard as rocks or is gummy) and all worn parts replaced, including the rubber idler wheel. Since your console dates back to the 1940s-'50s, that wheel is probably shot and should have been replaced decades ago. If you don't care about authenticity, you could replace the entire record changer with a used one from a junked console.

It looks to me like you will have your work cut out for you on this set, but it will all be worth it as these are excellent consoles. I had the tuner/amp chassis from a Magnavox console about 35 years ago, and managed to get it to work fairly well using a length of wire as an antenna -- even in the suburban location in which I lived at the time.

The sound was good as well, even using an old car radio speaker plugged into the external speaker socket, and jerry-rigging the speaker connections so that the set would work without a speaker field coil. This coil was a part of the power supply in old radios, from the 1930s until the end of the '40s, and of course was required to be present and operating in the circuit before the radio would work. The advent of PM (permanent magnet) loudspeakers in the '50s eliminated the need for a field coil.

I did nothing to the set as far as recapping goes, but that was a couple decades before VK; had I known at the time (late 1970s) what I know now (that the standard procedure for restoring an old radio begins with a recap), I would have done that without thinking twice.

You will have an excellent console once it is fully restored. As I always say about Zenith and other major makes of TVs, radios and hi-fi gear (including Magnavox) from the '20s to about the '70s, they don't make them like that anymore.

BTW: The name "Magnavox" was derived from two Latin words meaning "great voice", and all vintage/antique radio or TVs made by The Magnavox Company of Fort Wayne, Indiana were built to live up to that name.

[Stromberg]

What a great set. What puzzles me is the added FM tuner. It has a magic eye tube which I thought went out of favor in the late 1930's, but is has the "new" FM band, not the 42-50MHz old FM band that went out around 1948.

Hmmmm.

Mike