Magnavox Astro-Sonic 1ST698

A couple weeks ago I had a Friday off from work. Had to go to the Northeast side of town for something, and figured I'd stop in at the Goodwill in that part of town. Little was I expecting, sat a Magnavox Astro-Sonic (model 1ST698) in really good condition. Looked to have been one-owner. It was priced at $60. I tried it out, everything worked After trying it out, I pushed it back to where it was sitting, and let it simmer in my mind while I browsed the rest of the store.

Went back the next day, trying to act not-to-eager...it was still there! However, someone else was looking at it, so I decided to hang around another part of the store for a little while until they went away. As soon as they did, I quickly went over to it and tore off the customer section of the price tag, and headed up to the register to buy it.

Unfortunately, when I went back to get it, I noticed that someone had damaged the power cord since I saw it the day before (It also had no needle, but that wasn't a problem.) Got it home, took the back off to dust out the inside. Maple finish. The chassis sticker had a date stamp of 2/65 on it. Two horns, and two 15" woofers. It has the W620 changer, with the curved black tonearm. (Sometime I would like to temporarily disengage the automatic cycle and having it fully manual....I have this "different" liking of watching the needle follow the runout grooves (and the sometimes mistakes that were cut in that section of record (runout groove running short of the eccentric groove; hand-cut groove to meet the two together).) I'll try to post pictures of it sometime. This is one I believe I'll be keeping for a good while!

I did forget to mention that this unit has two Balance knobs: one inside the cabinet, one on the tuner. As well, it also has a Squelch Sens knob.

On the pre-1967 models (the ones that move the arm over the restpost again after feeling the size), you can play that runout groove if you want to, provided you do not want to play it at the end of playing the rest of the music.

With the power off, place the record, then move the arm in toward the spindle as far as it allows. Rotate the turntable backward one complete rotation while the arm is there. Then move the arm out to the groove before the runout groove, without moving it out any more. After that, turn the control knob to ON. This procedure disables the trip mechanism until the arm has moved in about half an inch.

The Reject control still works, so it can be used to end this mode. Moving the arm to the rest post also ends it.

Before I added a manual control to my TSC-640, I used this procedure to manually start a record smaller than 7".

This does not work on post-1966 models (the ones that move the arm back only half an inch after feeling the size).

Thank you for the info about that. Would there be another way to totally disengage the automatic trip on the W620 series changers(to make it totally manual), without damaging it (and should I want to part with it in the future, not that I think that will happen) that the automatic trip can be re-engaged? I do have a model 1P3724 with a W800 series changer in it, that I was able to figure out how to make it totally manual (by removing a small spring).

I can hear the sighs of the Maggie purists out there, about having a changer that is totally manual, but I have to be one of the odd ones in the bunch (still love the great sound it has, though!).

You could remove the trip pawls from the intermediate gear on the newer ones (1967 and later). Or some device could be added to block the advance of the pawl by spring pressure (to prevent damage, and so reject still works). One possibility I thought of is to link it to the cue control on the units so equipped.

On the old ones, I used a small piece of formed piano wire to keep the trip striker from being struck by the turntable hub projection. It holds the striker away from the hub.

On the Conquest models, the Play control can activate this piano wire when held beyond the play position. Its linkage is in the perfect place to work it. In this version, the manual position is spring-loaded, and the changer returns to automatic when you let go of the play control.

Otherwise (The K, L, and M series before 1967), some external arrangement could be made to work the piano wire.

The Play control is the little black knob just to the right of the speed control in this picture. It is in the play position in this photo. Pulling the Play control toward you turns off the motor and disengages the idler. Pushing the play control toward the turntable (beyond the play position) on my modified unit causes manual operation. Releasing it returns the control to the play position and returns the changer to automatic.

Thanks again for the information on (temporarily) disengaging the automatic trip. Haven't had time lately to take a look at it/tinker with it as I have been working quite a bit of overtime, but will do so once I get the chance!