Classic Hifi Care

I play all my consoles at least once a month to keep them from getting stiff... today played a R2R on the Fisher Regent , one channel is low , tried the phono and the radio they were also low , I figured I now have a cap leaking on the channel somewhere... wife goes to play a album on the SS Imperial because the changer is foolproof to operate ... she says the thing keeps shutting off... I figured she had to be doing something wrong , so I load up a record, start it up, the arm comes over and taps the record ... and it shuts off?... I just played albums on this the day before without incident.... the Motorola I just refinished all of a sudden the FM is real weak... you have to crank it to hear it and the eye tube does nothing... the AM works wonderful they both share the same IF strip I figure it has to be a power problem going to the FM sub chassis now...these things are like old cars .. its always something to be fixed

The main issues I have with Magnavox being unreliable are function switches, controls and Molex plugs. I blame some/most if it on cad migration. I'm beginning to believe the switches and controls are coming to the end of their useful life. I had a VM changer do that to me awhile back. I was playing 45's, shut it off to go into the house for a minute. Came back out, tried to start the changer again, the reject lever wouldn't move, I couldn't turn it on. I pulled it all apart, found nothing really wrong, put it back together, it works fine. Always something......

Yup, always something. It seems every time I want to play one of my toys there is something wrong with it. Usually something minor, but still....


Bill

Find the nastiest, most beat-up GE stereo you can find that has a VM changer. Go thru the changer, give the electronics a "lick and a promise" then just enjoy it. You can't kill it and it will refuse to die. Not the best stereo ever built, but you have to give them credit for being dead reliable.......

just watched a Nomad radio you tube video where he restored a GE console ... he complained all the way through how he hates them for their direct wiring and the spaghetti mess the wires are always in , I felt the same with that 1616 till I took your advise and tore it all out in one piece ...

I second the motion on checking switches. They are a very common source of problems like that. I use a small artist's brush to get DeOxit into the contact points, instead of spraying the stuff everywhere.

Chris Campbell

I think when they built those GE stereos, they figured they would run thru the warranty period, then something better would come along and they would end up in the landfill. Admittedly they are not the easiest to work on, since they have to be unsoldered to get them apart. So I learned to pull the guts all in one chunk, all the wires stay in place. The printed circuit tone boards are particularly problematic. One you get the hang of how to work on them, get them sorted and tuned up well, they actually are pretty good performers. The PC boards can be hard wired with bell wire if the board is cracked/broken or intermittent.