Phonoland

I'm looking to refurbish an old Magnavox 2x6V6 stereo console and the speaker wiring makes no sense … I know enough to be dangerous.

The right side has a 15" and a 8? (might be 6) an a 4" …
The left side has the same 15" but with two 4"'s (all the same 4") wired in parallel …

None if it makes sense. I can sketch how it's wired - but maybe this is enough for some help?

Um---without seeing the sketch, I would consider this to be impossible ? Upon seeing it, It MAY be possible, for someone to determine ?
Ron Rich

Ron, I noticed that some of these earlier stereo tube models used these seemingly strange (to me) unbalanced speaker configurations, the left side not matching the right. I've read very little literature on these older units, except from older brochures which give some explanation, so I'm completely clueless and just wondering what Magnavox was thinking when they did that. Was it to accommodate the first stereo recordings and the techniques the recording engineers used at that time?

I would also like to see that wiring diagram just for my own curiousity. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

I'll do a sketch and send it in …

Of note, the amp (which I still have & is 6V6) has Volume, Bass, Treble …. and Variable Loudness knob. That might explain the weird configuration.

Hi Bobby,
I am not familiar with any "home units", as most of my work has been on "Jukeboxes", but one of the jukebox companies built several "stereo models", in the late 50's-early 60's with "oddball" speaker arrangements. This was supposedly done to "enhance" the "stereo experience" --IMHO---just more "Marketeering BS" to increase sales--- The company I worked for, used the same speakers in each channel, however a concerted effort was made to "tune" the cabinets, to the sound system. Ron Rich

The purpose, especially with a jukebox, was to give a stereo feel to mono records. For a long time, very few 45s were stereo.

HI all,
Well, "stereo" is also "pretty much hype"-- Almost all records produced starting in 1958, were made with "stereo" equipment, and needed a "stereo cartridge/needle setup" in order to play correctly. Actually recorded in stereo--that depended on the record company, and in some cases, the artist. Some "stereo" records were recorded in mono, and re-phased, into "stereo", by the engineers prior to release--some of these got real "weird". Ron Rich

I followed stereo from its introduction to the present day. They had a lot of learning to do.

The first recordings were made using two-mic techniques, binaural techniques (a fake head with mics in it), and using two mono mixers. The last one sounded very bad - there was no center fill.

Next, they started using the Haeco CSG fake stereo generator. This let them come up with "stereo" versions of old records.

Finally, they developed the modern methods of using stereo mixers with pan pots.

Note that a stereo record should not be played with a mono pickup designed before 1961. The lack of vertical compliance in the stylus damages the record.