Thanks Bobby, I appreciate the warm welcome here! I'm on the two Yahoo sites also, under a different name, I wanted the new one for here in honor of my 1971 Armoire Stereo Theatre. I found it last Christmas Eve in a used and new furniture store less than three miles from here. The man has a 1953 GE combo inside the front door, which led me to inform him that I collect consoles. He said he had an old tv set stereo in the garage bay behind the store. So after three minutes or so, I was treated to an electric thrill with the sight of a complete and virtually flawless 1971 French Provincial Magnavox etc etc.......!! I haven't had that kind of reaction in several years! I have only craved one for the past two, having had to forgo the one in Vero Beach, Florida which is only thirty miles north of here. I bought the set without haggling and had it delivered on January 4 of this year. Television is blank at the moment, the radio and amplifier are lovely, the set had two needles in an envelope, the cartridge screw, and no cartridge. (I've since found a cartridge on eBay) On the way out of the store, the owners wife said "don't forget this" as she waved the remote control at me.
I wish I had the aptitude and space to work on these things, maybe someday when better circumstances present themselves. I too wish we were all closer together, I'm sure there are some guys and gals on these sites in South Florida, I had two friends here, one passed away, and the other one sadly, is on his way out, and I only found out about him because I found a framed portrait of him in an antique mall, the mall owner told me he was parting his collection out on the premises and is hooked to oxygen 24/7. Over the course of time, I've tried half hearted attempts to find a friendly tech or two in my area. Once I was informed by a man who had potential, that "nobody collects those consoles, yes Magnavox had nice sets, nobody wants them" and "nobody collects tv sets either". He collects and repairs radios and receivers, and various other things. By coincidence, he knows the man who sold me the Theatre. Another nice man practically screamed me down when I told him I was looking for Magnavox's finest portable record player circa 1966-69. He didn't collect that "junk".
I had a good suburban upbringing, we had what we needed, and two great parents, but little in the line of luxury. That trip in the summer of 1969 started me down the long beautiful Magnificent Magnavox road, from their pocket transistors, to the biggest and finest consoles. I love GE audio too, as well as many other late great sets. Thanks for the advice, and for being another Magnavox Fan!
I will try the screw on the cartridge again, maybe this time with my full weight on the screwdriver, and try the plier trick again too. I will not be using WD-40, as I sadly recall a time when I found out the hard way what it does to plastics!
- (bad pic of the Theatre's changer)
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