Magnavox Astro-Sonic Stereo Console Refurb
I absolutely LOVE the sound of this vintage stereo console! It's a 1964 Magnavox Astro-Sonic, with hugely efficient 12" woofers and 10" horn tweeters. I connected my iPod to the AUX input on this thing, and it seriously rocked the house! They knew excellent design back in the day, no doubt about it. Solid wood, too--no plastic here. :)
Those 12" woofers move some serious air at 105db per watt.
"Astro-Sonic"... such a great, era-appropriate name.
This turntable is incredibly sensitive, made in England, and extremely well-regarded to this day. It needs a full break-down and cleaning (55+-year old grease doesn't work too well), but once that is done it will sing!
55 watts/channel on this very early solid-state amplifier with Germanium transistors--the sound is virtually identical to tube sound, and they only made this amp in 1964. After that, it was silicone and a degradation in the sound quality. So glad to have such a beast!
The stereo receiver--it works perfectly, and you can see the build date on that sticker: 05-64, aka May of 1964.
The one big overhaul to this unit will be a replacement of all of the capacitors--the originals are in brown on the left, and the new, modern Audio-Engine capacitors are on the right. 55+ year old capacitors don't hold up well, but once they are replaced this console will sound brand new, and should last forever!
Taped, and ready for primer.
Two coats of top quality, oil-based primer.
Done!
I love how it turned out. :)