Classic Hifi Care

Well he got back to me , he said the hard to see letters on the faceplate say.... "Solid State"... boo!

Must be one of the earliest Astro-Sonics

chazglenn3 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 28, 2022 10:58 pm I saw a Maggie of similar vintage on my local craigslist today. The two words toward the top are "High Fidelity" on the example I saw. I tried to add a picture but failed miserably. Here is a link to the ad again:

https://salem.craigslist.org/atq/d/wood ... 76358.html

But zooming into the first picture in the thread it definitely looks like it says Astro Sonic to me now.

Did you get that one Charles? It says free and to me that's a very good price to pay.

It looks like a 1963 with an 8800 series PP amp to me.

That is also my favorite price but I'm just maxed out on places to put a console, sadly.

I thought only the astro sonics had the tuning meter at the top of the slide rule dial.

My Concert Grand has a tuning meter instead of the Magic Eye tube.

I too have been fooled by this model, thinking ASTRO SONIC would be obvious if it was SS. Once you get close, "solid state" is there, but not seen in most pics seen online.

My guess is low priced 5-knob sets like this are all SS, just not saying Astro Sonic, which is reserved for higher-priced units. They all used the same great W-600 series Micromatic record player

There is a signal strength meter on the series 200 tuner (vertical reading dial) I got from a from a 1962 Theatre and along with the 3-tube MPX, its a major upgrade for my 1960 Symphony. Never saw a meter or eye tube on a series 100 tuner.

Only my 47 Berkeley and 48 Windsor have tuning eye tubes, 6U5. I see these standard on CG's or Imperials from mid-late 50s.

What I was referring to is the positioning of the meter. Tube units used a panel meter parallel to the length of the dial. The Astro sonics and solid states used a meter at the top end of the dial, along with the indicator lamps.

Motorola minion wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 6:05 pm
Only my 47 Berkeley and 48 Windsor have tuning eye tubes, 6U5. I see these standard on CG's or Imperials from mid-late 50s.

My '56 Provincial Serenade has a tuning eye. Tuner-preamp is CR-726AA.

Chris Campbell

If we are considering the five knob tuners to be the series 100, then I own two of them. A 1961 and a 1963. They both have tuning meters in the middle of the tuning dial. Both of my five knobber tuners have FM-AFC a huge improvement. The AFC makes them more stable, so seem to be as powerful and sensitive as the bigger six knobber series 200 tuners. The ST has FM-AFC on its series 200. I haven't used it for thousands of hours yet, but what I've used it seems satisfactory.