Nice Motorola stereo

[electra225]

With a Drexel cabinet and reasonably priced.

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/atq/ ... 34590.html

[William]

Nice looking unit, and I believe TOTL. Motorola Minion will know. I believe there should be an extra matching speaker to make it stereo?

Bill

[TC Chris]

Price looks good....

Chris Campbell

[Motorola minion]

I have one, without the extra speaker , called a "Masterpiece by Drexel"

That is a standard 1959 2-channel stereo model SK-17, using a PP 6BQ5 amp in the cabinet that drives 15" Jensen speaker and 5" and 3.5" drivers. The one I got was for $20, and one pair of 6BQ5 was toast because, missing a speaker, only half the amp was being used.
Record player is a VM 1200 series, uses a Sonotone 8t cartridge.

The real challenge is finding the same exact speakers for a second cabinet

[electra225]

So, finding one of these without its other speaker is not uncommon? I have never owned anything that I know of with a Sonotone cartridge. They are fairly common OEM cartridges. Are they as good as the Electro-Voice or GE models?

[Firedome]

Not sure how they compared vs GE etc, but Sonotone Corporation had a reputation as real innovators in hearing aids. Here's the interesting history thanks to Roger Russell of McIntosh Labs who worked at Sonotone before moving to Mc in speaker research. Harry Pearson, later founder of "The Absolute Sound" audiophile magazine, and some folks at MicroAcoustics who made record cutting heads and stylii as well as highly regarded ceramic-electret stereo cartridges also were Sonotone vets.
not much on cartridges in this article but interesting:
http://www.roger-russell.com/sonopg/sonopg.htm

[electra225]

Very interesting and informative, Roger. Thanks for sharing that. I had no idea Sonotone was into that many different things.

[William]

I have several VM units that have Sonotone cartridges. They seem to still perform well, at least to my old ears, and are easy to get needles for from Gary.

Bill

[hermitcrab]

looks like the 3200 dollar unit from the other post ... only no swing out speakers... what year is this?

[William]

Dave said it was a 1959 model so it needs the extra speaker to make it stereo. The one with the swing out speakers is a three channel and looks very similar to my three channel RCA which has swing out speakers as well.

Bill

[hermitcrab]

never knew RCA had three channel sets, I thought that was a motorola thing... was that a big thing in the 50's and 60's?...

[electra225]

I thought that Magnavox was one of the few manufactures who never flirted with three-channel stereos. What was the advantage to three-channel stereo? Cheaper to build, maybe?

[Motorola minion]

never knew RCA had three channel sets, I thought that was a motorola thing... was that a big thing in the 50's and 60's?...

In 1961 there was 3-channel RCA "living stereo" in the Victrola series, who was making spectacular color TVs at the time. I never saw it carried for 4 years (1960-64) like Motorola did. I have two such RCA examples but despite the provision, neither one has a reverb.

There is a member here with a 1960 Philco 3-channel H-1816(?) which is TOTL. I have the smaller H-1814, which uses outboard electrostatic tweeters and has a 15" woofer in the small cabinet which is EA cherry, jam packed with an RT400 tuner and GS-made record changer. I got the main unit but had to pay $120 for satellite speakers on feebay.

[Motorola minion]

I thought that Magnavox was one of the few manufactures who never flirted with three-channel stereos. What was the advantage to three-channel stereo? Cheaper to build, maybe?

Motorola championed it obviously, then RCA, Admiral and Philco tried it for a year or two.
Magnavox, Fisher, Sylvania and Zenith did not offer 3-channel to my knowledge.

The bi-amp configuration was made economical to maximize bass using one dedicated P-P amp, then have crossover-fed amps for left and right for the imaging. I will see if I can find and upload the Motorola "white paper" on 3-channel.

[TC Chris]

On the Sonotone site, scroll down just past this heading:
"Sonotone had a monthly publication titled HEAR."

And you'll see a '38 Buick, front center.

I've got a mid-50s Emerson portable, P-P 50C5 output, that had a Sonotone stereo cartridge retrofitted-- a 9T, I think. They were well regarded for fidelity.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I saw the '38 Buick, Chris. I thought I'd let somebody else mention it.

[Firedome]

I believe they could get away with the 1 ch. bass since bass frequencies are so non-directional.
Altec's big VOT family were somewhat bass shy actually so they once made a big double 15" bass system that looked like a coffee table, with down firing speakers! Of course it was a bit thicker than the usual coffee table LOL!