You know you got Bass...

Hey Folks,

Was just piddling around last weekend and kept looking at my poor Santiago Astro-Sonic 100 with a dead channel for over a year. I took off the back panel way back then, and that's as far as I got, so it just sat there. Such a beautiful piece of furniture with great sound.

Well, finally mustarded up some motivation to see what the problem was. I was not in the mood for pulling amps and receivers and doing the usual cap job, etc. After a process of elimination and swapping wires and other connections, it turns out to be two blown speakers...YAY! Well, not yay, but I used some speakers from a parts astro-sonic in the garage and got the thing rocking again. Actually, this is the second time this has happened to this particular unit, so my speakers are no longer original. I address that below.

Anyhoo, I threw on a stack of LP's and went around the house doing my business, and when I came back, half the CD's in my wall-mounted shelving had slid out and were ready to fall. At first, I thought there was a poultergeist in the house messing with me (I had to plead the Blood over that...LOL), but it was just that bass banging up against the wall.

The stereo works beautifully, but a little feedback from that 15" woofer sitting below the turntable. I did build an intermediate shelf a few inches beneath the turntable for some isolation which did help abit, but I think those issues may be related to some dried motor mounts and maybe a hardening idler wheel. Other than replacing speakers and a new needle, I haven't done any serious service on it. As is, it works great, but you know these things with old caps/resistors and who knows what else need to be addressed and I hope to do some more work on it when I take some time off at the end of the month.

Anyhoo, I'd like to know why some Astro-Sonic 100s used two different types of woofers. Is it that the woofers with the heavier magnets came about later during the 1966 model year? My Santiago had the heavier magnets, which are now replaced with the smaller ones. the receiver was built in February, 1966 and the amp was built in Oct/Nov 1966. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

I found a Santiago in our Salvation Army last year, someone had dropped a Realistic plastic turntable in place of the Micromatic, and wired in some speaker switch to it too, it sat there for ages before I dread to think where it went. I am not adventureous enough yet to buy and restore, and such a lack of space at the moment. I applaud that you replaced the woofers with genuine Magnavox, as I know you would. I'll be looking for a good woofer for my '59 set, instead of just shoving it out the door. I rocked out yesterday with my armoire and some Mercury Living Presence LPs myself.

Your guess is as good as mine as to why they had two different type 15s on the 100 series, this is the first I've heard of it myself. I just wanted to share my Santiago experience with you, albeit very brief and unfulfilling for me, until I find a complete, working one that is!

I actually forgot how much bass this thing has. Don't under estimate what comes in some of these small packages. The woofers were kicking so hard that they were pumping air up around the glass plate of the radio/tuner. If you put the back side of your hand there, you can actually feel the air movement...kinda scary, but still thrilling.

My cousin-in-law gave me a beautiful Astro-Sonic years ago, which needs some serious TLC. He had to move back East (Pennsylvania) in less than three days, to help his mom take care of his ailing father. Well,I think Dad died, and he passed as well shortly after. Kinda bizarre. Mom left alone handling two funerals.

Well, backing up, I went over there quickly after Church, still in a suit, and rolled that beast out to my truck on one of those flat furniture dolleys. The thing is gorgeous, and sits under my living room window, and haven't done any repairs on it. I had been looking for one of these for years. I think it's another Astro-Sonic 100, but those cabinets were used for other models as well and ran for several years. Can't remember right now, maybe Imperial, Concert Grand...whatever was out back in the day, and it wasn't cheap, either.

From what I can tell, it does have a W620 micromatic turntable, and it does have the same tuner as my Santiago with a balance (YAY!) and squelch control, so I'm assuming that it does have the separate A575-02-02 amp and the same vintage around 1966. I have not removed the back to get at the innards. All I know is that when you turn it on, it plays very faintly for a few seconds and the sound fades away. Hopefully, it's just a cap and resistor issue and hopefully no DC voltages out of control.

I'm not in a hurry right now to fix it, with at least 5 other Astro-Sonics and some newer 70's Maggie consoles, drum tables and other portables up in the camp.

Below is a model displayed in a 1966 Brochure. There's still that speaker issue, though. When I finally open it up, I'll know what I have going on in there. For now, it's a beautiful piece of furniture loaded with LP's, and a nice Teac cassette deck and lamp sitting on it.

I've been enjoying my Santiago this afternoon, playing some classical, old 45's, R&B, Motown, girl groups. It's good to be alive to enjoy all the music out there (except for that nasty Rapp). I'm a professional musician and can voice my opinion in that aspect, and I'll leave it at that.

Wishing you all a Blessed Sunday and upcoming week. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

That'll be a nice addition to the collection when you can reactivate it. I like the W621 and 622s of the changers before 1970. I like the big platter. My '66 Beaumont has it. I hope to get a big high end console from after '65, when one shows up again. I'll make space.

ya know...

I've had (or still have) RCA, Motorola, Zenith, Webcor, GE and who knows what the hell else up in the house, but there's just something about those Maggies. I even had a Montgomery Ward console with the side woofers and horns (a Maggie wanna be?), but the sound was rather harsh. One of my friends fell in love with it immediately and gave me back a beautiful GE console that I had previously given him. So, that GE lowboy is now going to a coworker that's looking for a console to play his LP's.

I'm not in it for the money, just reimburse me for the parts. No profit here by any means I do have some digital sound up in the camp, and it's really awesome, but analog still rocks with my LP's, 78's,45's, cassettes, 8-tracks and reel-to-reels... it's all good! --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

Next after Magnavox, I love General Electric, Zenith, RCA, and a lot of the lesser seen or known brands. Maybe I should start another topic, I'm wondering if anyone has a Motorola in a Drexel "Projection" style cabinet. They had a tv console in that. I wish I lived closer to someone who was into consoles myself. I don't know how to fix anything, and the situation at present doesn't help anything.

Back in the day...

I think there was really a competitive spirit going on. So many flavors offered by the different manufacturers. Just look at all the styles and configurations they came up with. I love the different consoles, but really like the "portables" that were out there. Kids nowadays wouldn't wanna lug something that big around. These things are heavy!




I used to have a beautiful color brochure featuring a bunch of the Webcor portables, some could even be wall mounted. Some of those models were kinda wide, and when you swung out the speakers, it revealed FOUR speaker cabinets. Well, the two inner ones were part of the main cabinet, but the swing-out extensions matched. I also wouldn't mind getting my hands on a few VM portables.

Nowadays, every component in a modern stereo center has the same black face/finish...everything blends, no variety. Go to places like Circuit City or any other large audio chain. Shelves after shelves loaded with black-faced tuners, amps, dvd players, etc. They work great if you're into contemporary styling, but I like to mix things up abit. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

Hey Bobby I'm curious about the all the Astro Sonics...what determines the number series that they belong to ? 100 series,300series,1000 series what's the diff?

I don't know anything about the stuff that came out after the 100's, let alone stuff before that. The 100's boasted 100 watts of useable "music" power, not peak. There were also Astro-Sonic 50's, 40's and 20's with their corresponding music power. I think the rating was IHF (Institute of High Fidelity), like RMS used in later years.

Back in the day, some manufactures advertised how much power their units had, but, unless you read the fine print, you wouldn't know the true output. Peak power and music power are not the same. For example, A 500-watt amp is not gonna give you that...more like half or way, way below that unless it is specificly stated.

Michael Southerland has a HUGE Magnavox collection and could tell you about the later models, including the Spirit of 76 collection. I went for years without a console and waited too late to jump on the bandwagon to start collecting these things. I always enjoyed them as a kid, but never gave it much thought until about 20 years ago when I bought a small Astro-Sonic at a thrift store to put in my bedroom. Hooked again, and the console frenzy was on, not just Magnavox. The variety was nice with the RCA, GE, VM, Zenith consoles and have fixed many and given them to co-workers and friends. I won't part with the Maggies, though.

Oops, I digress again...BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

Regarding the amount of bass these Astro-Sonics put out.... I have to keep the bass on mine turned all the way down almost all the time, even when just listening to the radio, or it's too much.... in my opinion.

Bobby, There you go again tooting my horn (exponential of course) LOL. Thanks for all the nice comments you make about my collection. If anyone wants to see, most of them anyway, they can go to magnavoxfriends my pics are under oofietoo.. MAN GARAGE and MAN BEDROOM ....HEHE.. as well as some other albums.At last count I had over 70... Im fast becoming a tube fan after really listening to the 59 Concert Grand and the 62 Imperial.....MIchael

Michael,

You've got some KILLER Custom Imperials and Concert Grands. My Maggies are 1966-1968, with maybe two from the early 70's. Your units are absolutely gorgeous and would love to have one or two of those. The cabinets are just stunning, and I love that older (staunch?) Mediteranean/etc. styling, something solidly built.

How much power do those things pack? I used to have dozens of color brochures stored away, but my Dad threw them all out when he cleaned out the basement.

I would love to pick up one (or two) of those 1976 beasts. That means I'll have to part with a few units myself, but sure it will be worth it. I haven't seen any of those around in Tucson or I surely would have scooped them up.

Best Regards, --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

Dozens of color brochures, tossed.......!! I have no clue what our Fort Pierce Florida Magnavox dealer tossed out over the years, but I'll bet he had things that would curl Magnavox nuts hair! The place closed down around 2005, and was taken over by a sign shop. I've been tempted to check them to ask if they retained any Magnavox related signage just for fun. I have a very scant pile of brochures starting from the 1969 model year to maybe 1980, when it was just not fun to look at any more. There were periods (brief, thank goodness) where I didn't own a single Magnavox, and the interest was dormant, but I fervently clung to the literature, which now resides in a sturdy briefcase. I am missing some technical info and my two 1965 pieces, and a packet of owner's manuals, in the clutter.