I love those Seeburg Select-o-matics. I want one! I have a terrific collection of top hits from the 60s that I would use in it!

Hi Larry.
Your terrific collection of 60's hits is a great reason to get a jukebox. A large collection of 45's is why I had bought my first one. It was nice to have many of my favorites organized and easy to listen to by just pushing a couple buttons.
Not to mention the fun of watching the mech grab the record and play it

I want one, but I don't have $5-6K to lay out for one. I can play all my 45s on either my 45W10 RCA console (which is only a 45 player), or on my Mark I New Orthophonic console in the living room.

I've bought a few sixties Seeburg boxes in the last couple of years, all off of Craigslist. The most I paid was $375, the least $50. Got them all working well and resold them. Later sixties ones, from the LS-2 on, really sound outstanding.

You have some fantastic consoles! If you want a jukebox I'd just wait until one comes along at a cheap price. If you search enough they do come up.

I had one for a short while that was called the discotheque, or something like that. Great sounding jukebox with incredible power.

There were a few models with the discotheque theme. Even huge speakers were available to add to the jukebox. The most common one was the PEAFU (I think I have that right) or also called the Electra. They were blue, around 1964 or 65. Nice looking and sounding machine.

Don't discount the later Seeburgs. Some are not as pretty as the older ones but they went to a ported speaker system from the LS-2 on and had more powerful amplifiers, and they can be found dirt cheap. The difference between the LS-1 and LS-2 is like night and day and they are only one year apart. The only difference was the speakers and cabinet trim. Nearly all other parts will interchange and they had the same case. After the LS-2, they started using a computer selection system, on most but not all models, that can give trouble today although Ron Rich has new or refurbished computer units for sale to solve that problem. He, along with the late Tony Miller, also wrote books all about the Seeburg computer systems and they are available also as is Ron's mechanism book which is a must have for any Seeburg owner. There were models with the older Tormat selection system made to about 1977 which is more reliable although the new upgrades Ron has seems to have fixed any issues. The seventies Seeburg boxes all sound really good right to the last 45 r.p.m. units made into the early eighties and actually the last three models were rather attractive in my opinion.

I'm a Seeburg guy but there was also AMI, Rockola, Wurlitzer, and NSM also. The jukebox market, in the seventies, kind of imploded with Wurlitzer going out of business in 1973 and the name being used by their German subsidiary. Seeburg was sold to Stern, which also filed bankruptcy, and was sold again and finally shut down for good in the mid/late eighties. Not sure what happened to NSM. Only Rowe/AMI and Rockola lived on.

Here are a couple pictures of some Seeburgs I owned.

Hi ggregg.
Yes the later Seeburgs are great machines. I think mine was the Electra model. The last two in your photos are the machines I remember seeing on location when young. I really like the AY and DS series. The second jukebox I bought was a DS and it had two small external speakers that were called "ears" with it. I wish I had kept it.

I wouldn't want a box that you couldn't see the mechanism moving and playing records.

I agree, and many collectors feel that way. That's why the visible mechanism machines tend to run more money.

-David

Agreed. The last Seeburg with a visable mechanism was the DS in 1962. It was also a very pretty machine. The AY, the first one in my photos, is the model just before the DS and uses the same case. The ear speakers were a nice addition and work well. The problem is many have disappeared over the years. Full range 12" speakers are not really full range, if you know what I mean. AMI had come out with a new system called Stereo Round that actually sounded better than Seeburg and this was Seeburgs reaction. Seeburg had the reputation for being the best sounding jukeboxes and with most models, this was true. However AMI came out with a few models in the late fifties and early sixties that really sounded outstanding. One was the out of this world Continental. If you don't know what one looks like, google it. Right out of the Jetsons.

The AY is the one I paid $375 for. The mechanism was stuck pretty good, but that is a common problem with Seeburgs and once you've unstuck a couple, they are pretty easy to get going again.

However the console machines, after the LS-1, do sound noticably better. Really noticably better mostly due to much more powerful amplifiers and ported or sealed speaker systems.

Yes the Q, AY and DS are nice machines and you can still see it pick up the records. The continental is a nice jukebox. I'm restoring a Continental 2 now. Everyone who sees it always comments on it's looks. It has two side speakers as well as the large woofer and horn in the base for stereo sound. It uses four 6973 tubes for it's output which I think Seeburg used in the end of their tube jukes.

Yes, the DS (and I think the AY as well) uses four 6973s in the output and is plenty powerful.

-David

Yep, they were hybrid amps. Transistors in the preamp section but tube drivers and outputs. The fully solid state amps that followed them were a let down but they can be tweaked to perform better. By the time the Electra came out in the mid sixties, the solid state amps had nearly all of the bugs worked out of them and they sounded good.

That's right...they used the hybrid amp with the transistors. Great sounding juke, as I remember and I like how fast the later ones scan for records. They have that arm with the brush for needle cleaning as well. I'm thinking it was around the L100 or 201 when they started scanning fast like the later Seeburgs. The V and VL200 really take their time.

The 200 play mechanism wasn't around very long. For some reason, Seeburg decided that the 160 play (80 records) mechanism was the optimal size so from the late fifties on, they made 160 and 100 play machines. Near the end of production, I've heard that the tooling for the 160 play mech was wearing out so they did make a 200 play model or two again. The smaller mechanisms were faster because the mechanism was not as long but I think they did change the gearing to speed them up a little. Can't remember exactly when though.

I'm fairly sure that the faster scan started with the 1957 KD-200. they also went to printed circuits with that machine.

Right but they got out of them just as fast. Only used in two models, then they reissued the same sets with new model numbers that were totally hard wired again. I've heard it's not too hard to fix them. Can't remember exactly what the problem was but it must have serious for them to change back so fast. Didn't use a printed circuit again until the LS-2.

Yes I think your right. The L100 and KD200 of the same year both scan fast and have printed circuit boards. The L101 of the following year looks like the L100 but went back to the hard wired amp and selection receiver.

I restored an L-100 and a KD many years ago. Somehow with my limited skill and knowledge I got them both working and sold them during those days. I spent many hours on the L-100; the KD did not have as many problems. These machines had a small pre-amp riding around on the mechanism with one lonely transistor in it. I had a lot of problems with the PC boards. Through the yearsI became friends with operators who had used these machines on their locations in 1957. I cannot recall anyone saying anything good about them. The heat from the tubes was tough on the PCB's. I remember boards with wires soldered on repairing tracks on cracked boards. Someone made replacement boards but they are expensive. They are supposed to be designed properly and resolve many issues.
David (Geritol Ghetto)