Magnavox Cabinet Stereo identification - please help

i found this site via web searching
i have a Magnavox Stereophonic High Fidelity Cabinet Stereo Model 1ST657S i have look for almost 2 weeks on the web but have come up with nothing

its about 4 feet long 2.5 feet tall and 1.5 feet deep has 2 slid covers for top it has tubes both ends have speaker material(covering) the front has 3 panels with handles and on each end has speaker material i have all (i think) paper work with it manual warranty slip gold star warranty certificate and factory inspection card but nothing has the date

this unit also has the add-on FM Stereo Adapter Kit Model KO 597

any info would be great

thank you for your help
Brian

im sorry no camera to take pictures

i have finally found out via the serial number that this unit is from 1949

Click on the link at the end of this post and join this group and you will have acess to photo's of Magnavox unit's by the hundreds
and should be able to find a photo of your Console. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Magnavoxfriends/?tab=s

It will never be 1949. I posted a reply telling you more about you set. Maybe it was deleted.

1949??????????

They had.............. STEREO?........... in 1949???????

duh, nope.

shedradios wrote:It will never be 1949. I posted a reply telling you more about you set. Maybe it was deleted.

no i never got your message but according to magnavox themselves its from 1949 so i really dont know

FCVPI99 wrote:

shedradios wrote:It will never be 1949. I posted a reply telling you more about you set. Maybe it was deleted.

no i never got your message but according to magnavox themselves its from 1949 so i really dont know

The 1STxxx series of consoles were manufactured around the early to mid 1960's.
Certainly not a 1940's set, because stereo didn't evolve until around 1958.

While stereo had been invented by 1949 (first stereo recording 1932; the movie Fantasia released in 1940), the first home components were introduced in 1952. Here is a chronology of what was newly available by year:

1952: 2-track offset stereo tape

1953: Cook experimental 2-groove record (pickup mount), two station tuner, stereo amp, adaptor

1955: 2-track inline stereo tape

1957: Westrex 45-45 stereo record (in use today) perfected, Four track inline stereo tape (reel to reel)

1958: First stereo phonographs available, Tuners capable of tuning two FM stations or one FM and one AM station

1961: Zenith-GE FM Stereo system approved by FCC, RCA tape cassette

1964: Fidelipack Four Track stereo cartridge

1966: Lear Jet 8-track cartridge

1967: Philips compact cassette (invented 1961) goes stereo

ok so your basing the date in the comment of the stereo addon? addon is after the fact was not in the cabinet when bought

why would Magnavox say its a 1949 unit?

FCVPI99 wrote:ok so your basing the date in the comment of the stereo addon? addon is after the fact was not in the cabinet when bought

why would Magnavox say its a 1949 unit?

I would like to see documentation to that fact.
Please, show us.

you want to see documentation on what? the KO 597 FM Stereo addon?

FCVPI99 wrote:you want to see documentation on what? the KO 597 FM Stereo addon?

I would like to see where "Magnavox" states this stereo was made in 1949.

i called them and gave the model and serial number

FCVPI99 wrote:i called them and gave the model and serial number

I doubt whoever you spoke with even knew what a record player is.
Most likely some college kid that is into Ipods.

Fact is, Magnavox console stereos were first introduced to the public around 1958, with the optional stereo multiplex adapters after 1960 when stereo FM was first introduced. (invented by Zenith)

So that said, your console couldn't possibly have been made in 1948.

It's listed in the 1961 Magnavox product catalog available online if you do a search.

I can solve this. Look at the record changer in the console. If it is the original changer made in 1949, then it would look like this. Note the curved spindle and the record pusher post on the Webster-Chicago 356 (the first 3-speed record changer ever built). It might also have an upgraded 2-speed Webster-Chicago 256 that looks similar, but has the speed control on the left back corner.



The tonearm might look different (mine from 1949 has an unusual looking arm with the cartridge in a vertical cylinder formed in the Bakelite arm). And it is not stereo.

A drop-in stereo replacement turntable (that fits the cutout in the mounting board) made by Webcor (the renamed Webster-Chicago) might have looked like this:



If the console originally came from 1960 or 1961, the changer should look like the one in my avatar, which came from such a console. Here is a bigger version of the Collaro Conquest TSC-640:



Note that the turntable mat, the cue control, the autospeed index arm, and several attachments on mine are not original equipment.

Magnavox switched to Collaro changers in 1955.