Thank you for taking the time to teach and post videos and how you restore vintage TV's Radios The Right way... I like way you check things correct. Another TH-cam user thinks he does not have to check caps on a vintage TV and get by doing it his way... I'm like you were I check all the caps Filter Caps voltage CRT and tubes for Leaks and shorts....
If that thing could talk, it would say "thanks for giving me a second life!". I just refurbished an early 1970's Panasonic 6551 clock radio with the flip digits. The FM on that thing sucks in every possible signal without an attached antenna. I love those Magnavox record changers that "feel" the size of the record before dropping it. I hope to find just a player of one of those in the near future to play my 78's on.
Wow your awesome at wage you do? The average donut your self would not know all the knowledge you know... I like the videos you post I'm learning a lot from you and enjoy you teaching...
Wondering if you would mind giving a brief explanation of what's involved with touching up the FM alignment? Thanks for the videos on this unit, great info.
I've talked to other owners of this series of stereo and they all say that their FM performance is not the hottest. I guess I'm used to Zenith's that will pick up any FM station within 100 miles.
I have a console with that chassis and the tuner performance is not up to Magnavox standards on both AM and FM. Yes it's their entry level Astro-Sonic, but Magnavox was also known for their tuners and even a low end Astro-Sonic 20 was a quality stereo. I'm about to drop the chassis again and see if I can find an issue. In the next room is a high end Magnavox, same model year, and it's a station magnet.
you did not mention using a heat sink on the germanium transistors when removing for test. I did not have that schematic handy but on another (R201 IIRC) the coil was tapped, for the collector connection, so it would act like a voltage divider and have some voltage between the source and the ground. Mine showed what looked like 10.8 but upon closer viewing I was reading an arrow in front of the number it was actually .8
It seems to be performing quite well, probably as well as it ever did. In terms of all radios, not just FM tuners, they are not all created equal, maybe the better performing models had extra RF or IF amplifiers that this set does not have, or simply better designed circuits, or higher quality parts, etc.
oops never mind about the coil thing, I looked at my schematic again, gets confusing but looks like the emitter is getting the B-, the collector is the + thru the coil (ground) on my chassis its an NPN.
My dad has a similar Magnavox console stereo. The FM on it ain't all that great. I've also tweaked it, and not much helps. About the only thing you can do to get the FM to work better on these Maggies is to use a better antenna, if you really want to the FM to work stronger. I actually put a par of rabbit ears on my dads. It really helped. Hope you can use this info. Randy.
To me, FM performance seemed just fine...I saw no issues there. AM is always going to pull in more stations; typical range of FM is around 40 miles, whereas AM will oftentimes DX to around 1,000 miles. But to me, the real gem there is the phono performance...I bet that's a very good sounding unit.
I think Zenith Had a better FM Stereo section for radiio . My dad owned a Zenith 1970's record player 8 track combo unit that sat on top of a table . It could pick up all the fm stations fine .
Was that the infamous wedge-shaped Zenith stereo? Those had an ultra-sensitive FET-based tuner! They were some nice stereos! I've restored a few for people & they really sound NICE when done!
BF324 pnp silicon transistor can be used with or sometimes without a rebias in place of the hard to obtain pnp germanium RF Mesa transistors. BF324 is cheap and plentiful on ebay
I just finished replacing all of the transistors like you did. Am works poorly and no reception or even fuzz on fm. I replaced the 5152p with nte 126. The 126 are the terminal. Where does the 4th leg go? To unmarked spot off the tab on the side? You also mentioned the pack was faulty, which one would that be. I am a novice at best. Any help would be awesome
Oh and is there a schematic available. I would gladly PayPal you something in return. Any help would be immensely appreciated. Signed Dumbfounded in Florida.
Same model and year Magnavox console my grandmother had in her living room. Nice work.
Thank you for taking the time to teach and post videos and how you restore vintage TV's Radios The Right way... I like way you check things correct. Another TH-cam user thinks he does not have to check caps on a vintage TV and get by doing it his way... I'm like you were I check all the caps Filter Caps voltage CRT and tubes for Leaks and shorts....
nice video,i hope find a person like you for fix my MAGNAVOX Astrosonic 1965 in my area of nj
ANOTHER GREAT RESTORATION, Bryan! Nice job!
If that thing could talk, it would say "thanks for giving me a second life!". I just refurbished an early 1970's Panasonic 6551 clock radio with the flip digits. The FM on that thing sucks in every possible signal without an attached antenna. I love those Magnavox record changers that "feel" the size of the record before dropping it. I hope to find just a player of one of those in the near future to play my 78's on.
Wow your awesome at wage you do? The average donut your self would not know all the knowledge you know... I like the videos you post I'm learning a lot from you and enjoy you teaching...
Wondering if you would mind giving a brief explanation of what's involved with touching up the FM alignment? Thanks for the videos on this unit, great info.
Wow what a nice stereo that would a stereo i would want to have Awesome Job
Love your videos. I came across one of these units and can't seem to locate schematics for it. Would you know where I could obtain one? Thanks
Great job on the repairs.Thank you for sharing.
I've talked to other owners of this series of stereo and they all say that their FM performance is not the hottest. I guess I'm used to Zenith's that will pick up any FM station within 100 miles.
Zenith was one of the very first to make a console with stereo fm
I have a console with that chassis and the tuner performance is not up to Magnavox standards on both AM and FM. Yes it's their entry level Astro-Sonic, but Magnavox was also known for their tuners and even a low end Astro-Sonic 20 was a quality stereo. I'm about to drop the chassis again and see if I can find an issue. In the next room is a high end Magnavox, same model year, and it's a station magnet.
you did not mention using a heat sink on the germanium transistors when removing for test. I did not have that schematic handy but on another (R201 IIRC) the coil was tapped, for the collector connection, so it would act like a voltage divider and have some voltage between the source and the ground. Mine showed what looked like 10.8 but upon closer viewing I was reading an arrow in front of the number it was actually .8
It seems to be performing quite well, probably as well as it ever did. In terms of all radios, not just FM tuners, they are not all created equal, maybe the better performing models had extra RF or IF amplifiers that this set does not have, or simply better designed circuits, or higher quality parts, etc.
How did you get the AM and FM to work. I can't get mine to work. It had worked even after I put in new caps then it went silent.
oops never mind about the coil thing, I looked at my schematic again, gets confusing but looks like the emitter is getting the B-, the collector is the + thru the coil (ground) on my chassis its an NPN.
My dad has a similar Magnavox console stereo. The FM on it ain't all that great. I've also tweaked it, and not much helps. About the only thing you can do to get the FM to work better on these Maggies is to use a better antenna, if you really want to the FM to work stronger. I actually put a par of rabbit ears on my dads. It really helped. Hope you can use this info. Randy.
I use amplified rabbit ears on my astro-sonic works great, the amplifier is built right into the antenna housing
To me, FM performance seemed just fine...I saw no issues there. AM is always going to pull in more stations; typical range of FM is around 40 miles, whereas AM will oftentimes DX to around 1,000 miles. But to me, the real gem there is the phono performance...I bet that's a very good sounding unit.
I think Zenith Had a better FM Stereo section for radiio . My dad owned a Zenith 1970's record player 8 track combo unit that sat on top of a table . It could pick up all the fm stations fine .
Was that the infamous wedge-shaped Zenith stereo? Those had an ultra-sensitive FET-based tuner! They were some nice stereos! I've restored a few for people & they really sound NICE when done!
as you was saying parts houses are a joke so is ours you may want to try amazon for belts and bamba cartridges as well as phono mag cartridges
BF324 pnp silicon transistor can be used with or sometimes without a rebias in place of the hard to obtain pnp germanium RF Mesa transistors. BF324 is cheap and plentiful on ebay
Bet the speakers sound great in real life!
marvelous
I just finished replacing all of the transistors like you did. Am works poorly and no reception or even fuzz on fm. I replaced the 5152p with nte 126. The 126 are the terminal. Where does the 4th leg go? To unmarked spot off the tab on the side? You also mentioned the pack was faulty, which one would that be. I am a novice at best. Any help would be awesome
I meant three terminal not the...
Also wanted mention that I connected a n outside source and it worked beautifully.
Oh and is there a schematic available. I would gladly PayPal you something in return. Any help would be immensely appreciated.
Signed
Dumbfounded in Florida.