hello all,

a "The Fisher" Model R-20 came home this weekend. i picked it up from a good friend of mine.

i could not pass it up b/c of the sound. it is absolutely fantastic.

although it has those little bastard Automatic Brand SMD prone IF transformers in it, i am going to restore the amp section and use the TV and AUX inputs, so that is not a problem if it develops SMD.

i want that thing for the amp and that wonderful speaker system.i can't believe how "vintage tube hifi" it sounds.

anyway, before i dive in, i would like the riders, sams, bettemans, or fisher schematic and all the typical info if anyone has it.

i can't do the djvu files from that one pita website.

also, is there any "heads-up" on this unit other than the usual ?

attached is the front of the tuner/amp that i found on the internet. this chassis is like mine but the pic is not of mine. i can't take pics now b/c it is still in the wife's jeep and i'm catching hell about getting it out of the hatch.

i'll post some pics tomorrow after i get the boot out of my hind-end and remove mr. fisher from the jeep.

thanks.

steve

Steve:

I believe this covers everything you need for the Contemporary C-800 console (circa 1958), which uses the model R-20 chassis....

Owners manual: http://www.fisherconsoles.com/contempor ... 0page.html

Supporting documents: http://www.fisherconsoles.com/schematic ... matic.html

Parts list: http://www.fisherconsoles.com/schematic ... 0list.html

BTW, these are PDF files!

Just found the guy "Dave" who uploaded the scans in the above links. Here he shows off his console over at audiokarma.org:

http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php? ... ry.443343/

thanks guys. that is exactly it.

appreciated...

steve

You're welcome Steve. Good luck! Hope to see pictures of it when you get the chance.

Hope you don't need one of these for your rear end...

http://www.carelinemedical.com/products ... hgodVCgCMA

no, all is well here with the hind end, but thanks for the consideration.

i have been hauling stuff out of the shop like there is no tomorrow. although i have downsized my radio collection to about 35 or so which are neatly displayed in my radio room, i needed to dejunk the shop.

it's more neat than it was before and that's good. now i have a couple big spaces to decide for this fisher.

the fisher cabinet is just over the edge of being what i consider not being living room condition, meaning that i would NOT put it in my living room. it has more marks on it than acceptable, but it certainly is not terrible.

steve

here it is.

the outside sunny pics make the wood look to be in better condition than of which it is...

steve

thanks for the docs above.

when i was searching the net, all i was keying in was Fisher R 20 and came up very short.

i did not know it had a full model number of C800.

when i key in Fisher C800, i get all kinds of hits, including the sites listed a few post above.

thanks.

steve

It's nice to see the original turntable is still in it. Would be great for playing old 78's. Nice big 15 inch woofer in there, like what's in the Realistic Mach One and Two.

the speaker reminds me of the big jensen that is in those huge motorola hifi's of the era.

in fact, the baskets of the speakers look very jensen, which i would bet that they are.

steve

unfortunately and as I expected, it is loaded up with SMD.

I am going to kindly disconnect the AM and FM wires from the input rotary switch and install some RCA jacks on the back of the chassis. i will use those inputs on the selector for a tuner, computer, and perhaps a cd player.

I'm not going to bastardize it. all will be left there for reconnect if I ever decide to do the SMD in the IFT's.

I will restore the amplifier section.

now, the big question: where can I find the little "shielded audio wire" that is used in quality hifi amplifiers when connecting all the inputs to the big switch, vol control, and such under the hood ?

this has about 4 of these little shielded wires coming from the FM, AM, phono preamp sections to the switch.

I will take pics of the wire and post another thread tomorrow, perhaps.

steve

Steve,
I think once your are done, you will be surprised how nice that unit sounds. One of the finest 50's hifi's made. Excellent pickup.

Now get to work!

Hmm, I've done a few of those LBABSMDPIFs

Send those lil bastards my way and i'll fix em fer ya.

Nice Fisher indeed!

-Steve

thanks guys.

it does sound fantastic.

steve

i wish that it had 6L6 tubes instead of the 6BQ5's.

in all the magnavox, zenith, and some RCA hifi's of the era, nearly every 6BQ5 is weak and they always look so charred and cooked.

i can't believe the internal discoloratoon along with the burnt, and deep fried look that the 6BQ5 tube usually has.

steve

Steve, The noted Eric Barbour has a method to rewire a 6BQ5 set to use SV83 tubes (Russian 6n15n (6p15pi).
http://www.boiaudioworks.com/TubeData/S ... in_29.html

thanks.

I have plenty of 6BQ5 tubes but instead of matching them and all that, I am considering the new production tung-sols that are a bit bigger and are well recommended for fisher hifi stuff.

I read that on the internet so, ho hummm.

however, they are around $13 a piece and the other brands are cheaper, all the way down to 8 bucks a piece.

before I go to the classifieds, does anyone know where I can get some of this thin shielded wire ?

I did not search yet on mouser or digikey. I guess what I'm asking is for someone who will say: "I needed this wire, I bought it here, and it was exactly what you want."

what would I call it ? small shielded audio wire ?

it is maybe 1/8 inch thick.

thanks.

steve

The C800 is the Contemporary. I have the C810 Contemporary II (R30S) that I restored 2 or 3 years ago. If you want to save the components, especially the output tubes, I would suggest a bucking transformer. I built one in an old wood cigar box and hung it on the back of the cabinet, out of sight. The reduction in heat coming off the chassis is significant with zero impact on performance. If you intend to use a modern turntable you will need a pre-amp. I use an ART DJPre II. It works great. If you need replacements for the festoon bulbs there's a vendor on Ebay who will make them to fit.



Larry

hi larry,

your fisher is a bit different than mine. is it a stereo unit ?

i have to take some pics of those POOR little 6bq5 tubes.

believe it or not, they have "just into the green zone' emissions, but are very slow to get there.

is that an indication that they are a bit tired ?

there is no getter left b/c it is black.

i'll post back with some pics later.

anyone have any help on the wire, what to call it, and where i can get some little shielded stuff like this ?

steve

The schematic shows a mono magnetic phono preamp, with a selector on the rear to set the loading (input impedance). You don't have to add a preamp. Modern cartridges use 47,000 per channel, but just turn the rear selector and choose whatever sounds best. If the front has a choice, RIAA is modern records, the other choices were for pre-1955 records.