Console?

[8ntractor]

My Small Thors will not fit well in the main living area as we have a small living room with large windows. My wife loves stereo but hates wires. So I am thinking about building a Baltic Birch console. Like the old fashion ones. My question is how do they sound? is there any imaging/ soundstage? I am not sure if full range drivers maybe a better fit. I have room under a bow window about 28" high and a corner about 4' on a side as the only two locations that may work. right now I have a pair of superzeros a foot apart and a class d sure amp to hear the tv. imaging leaves a lot to be desired. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

Ben

 

[chrisb]

I can remember a Silvertone console my folks had back in the late 60s, the overall length of which was just under 6ft - wide enough to give some measure of stereo separation , and the speaker compartment sections were large enough to accommodate 10" woofers, so the bass and overall volume was sufficient for our needs.


The largest issue I could foresee is that they are generally low enough in height that the drivers will be placed well below what many of us consider optimal these days. but that could likely be mitigated somewhat by tilting the boxes upward between 10-15degress behind an acoustically transparent fabric grille, and lining the inside and top panels of the larger speaker enclosure section with thick absorbent material to cut down on very early reflections

 

[8ntractor]

Thank you Chrisb. I am sure there is a reason they are a niche market product now. My wife is looking at 300.00 lofi all in ones. about 4 ft wide is the only option. Thank you

 

[phivates]

Do you mean 4' is all the width you have to work with? I have a 42" Fisher console from the sixties that has 10" LF drivers in it, not original, and modded minimus 7s on the wall just above our flat screen, though those will be replaced with Pluvia 7s sometime soon. Not a sit and listen to music arrangement, but it could be. I elected not to mount the mid/hi in the console, mostly because the baffles angle out to each side at about 15 degrees plus the low position vertically. I think it was Snell who had a model with the tweeter right down at the floor, with a little ramp which was meant to cure the early floor reflection challenge of that setup. Never tried it, but they weren't known for stupidity.

 

[boswald]

Don't give up too easily. Give us a drawing of the room.
We'll figure out a couple choices at least, between us all.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

My Small Thors will not fit well in the main living area as we have a small living room with large windows. My wife loves stereo but hates wires. So I am thinking about building a Baltic Birch console. Like the old fashion ones. My question is how do they sound? is there any imaging/ soundstage? I am not sure if full range drivers maybe a better fit. I have room under a bow window about 28" high and a corner about 4' on a side as the only two locations that may work. right now I have a pair of superzeros a foot apart and a class d sure amp to hear the tv. imaging leaves a lot to be desired. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks

Ben

Your wife loves stereo but hates wires. Therefore, build a powered speaker and power it off batteries. You could stream to it using Bluetooth or WiFI.

I have a bunch of these and I love them. You can power them off of a pair of 12V batteries, or a bank of 20 AA batteries.

Amazon.com: Sabaj A3 80Wx2 Hifi Audio USB DSP Digital Power Amp,Class D Amplifier Bluetooth 4.2 Optical Input Black: Home Audio & Theater

 

[SpeakerBob]

Something interesting could be based on the JBL Paragon .

 

[8ntractor]

thank you all very much. Some very good ideas. That paragon is quite amazing. and the wireless battery power speakers are a great idea.

We found a philips console that is 47" long that may work it is a 3 hour drive to get but may be worth it. Maybe mount the woofers in the cabinet and let the tweeters and mids sit proud on top to Phivates point with the wires coming out of the bottom into the console.

I will put together a drawing of the room

I spent some time listening to the Thors last night and I cannot thank this community enough for all the help on the small thor project. I still expect the artist to be in the room when I open my eyes. I would have a hard time taking them apart to use the drivers but I could if i could even get close to that sound in the main area of the house.

thanks again.

Ben

 

[8ntractor]

Just a correction it is a philco not a phillips

 

[8ntractor]

Here is a bad drawing of the living room the small wall in front of the stairs is about 40" tall. The couch and chair must remain where they are. The view from the bay window in that direction is fabulous and the other direction is not as pleasing.
does anyone know about the ford philco or GE electronics of the late 1960's. The console would solve most of the problems the size and style will work in the tv corner. 4 ft of separation between the speakers may even get some imaging.

I am not against building a new one either. solid baltic birch construction with full range speakers class d amp maybe the better alternative.

Or I could modify an existing console and hook up all the stuff I should have sold long ago but could not bring myself to sell. I have a pretty good tuner from the 70s a dual 510 turntable an old maranz 1060 and a couple of AR 10s and have a late midcentury midfi miracle console.

 

[planet10]

This in intriguing proposition. Lots of possibilities.

If you can reuse an existing console it might be easier than a scratch build, it will have a retro feel, but it will also have built-in constraints. A fresh one could be modern looking (or not) and offers maximum versatility. And do keep on mind that vintage console range from attractive & interesting, thru a spectrim to dogs.

Details will depend on which way you go.

My 1st thot was some medium size FR (like Alpair 10x or i have done a speaker for a console using FF165wk). 2nd was a WAW with downward firing woofers. Baffles can be canted backwards a bit (5-8° i’d guess) to compensate for low height.

If you get a vintage one, plan on replacing everything. If it comes with a tube amp. that might be worth salvaging for parts and build a modern rendition.

So start with what you have. But then you can start swapping things.

dave

 

[chrisb]

Not a necessarily hurtful sounding list of gear, that, but it might be a bit of a tight fit to get all that - particularly the AR10s in a console the size of the Philco. By the late 60's, I wouldn't be surprised to find the electronics solid "state" - but definitely not " of the art." The only console I ever had direct experience with was SS, and not any better that the amp stage of an early Noresco Consolette - mine was not unlike :

If the cabinet is in good enough shape and within budget, I'd definitely be inclined to snap it up, and spend the bulk of your time selecting . fitting the new gear. The Dual and Marantz would definitely be nice pieces for this application, but you might want to look for something smaller for the speakers - if for no other reason than to tilt them upwards a bit to improve imaging. AR6 or 7, or Boston A60s would be in keeping with the vibe - although old enough that surrounds might need replacing.

Then of course there are any number of modern FR drivers or small 2-way kit designs from which to choose.

 

[planet10]

I took the money i’d saved up from working at the swimming pool all summer, took a trip to Calgary (with the parents) and bought one of those and set of Patterson industry speakers with an “higher” range RSC whizzer cone 8”.

dave

 

[chrisb]

I had at least two different models - one I think might even have had a magnetic cartridge? Mine came with some of the smaller Noresco speakers using Isophon drivers of which you must have recycled close to a metric tonne over the years.

 

[8ntractor]

thank you for the responses I do have a set of boston a40s I hooked up the marantz and set it up in the front room with the a40s and using the computer as a source. not terrible. the marantz needs a volume control but I did replace the leaking caps about 5 years ago. I tried to take the volume control out of a different marantz but it was not much better. I still think the superzeros are a better sounding speaker. but the a40s at least have some bass. My wife likes the small philco cabinet and for $75 i could not build it, baltic birch is $120 a sheet tax in. The philco is not ugly and looks well kept and buying from the original owners. the only issue is it is a 6+ hour round trip to pick up the philco. I guess i could buy it try it and replace the electronics /speakers as needed. The marantz is my back up amp as whenever the Primare amp with its great sound but poor solder acts up i have the amp section of the Marantz to use until I find and resolder the cracks in the Primare. Still on the fence but really leaning toward buying the console trying it if worst comes to worst pull the guts and replacing with the old stuff I have. thanks again for the comments. It is intriguing to think about the new console diy to compete with symbol audio type but I dont think it will compare to the sound of the Small Thors. Eventually I will figure out which way to go here thank you all again.

 

[planet10]

The Noresco speakers that came with the package i was looking at had the 5” Philips FR (i didn’t know that till many decades later). The 8” wa smore bass capable. I think i paid $120 for the lot. My 1st hifi.

dave

 

[planet10]

but I dont think it will compare to the sound of the Small Thors

You have to compromise somewhere. A Small Thor is, i would expect, near teh volume of the whole console.

dave

 

[8ntractor]

thank you Dave. I think we are going to buy the console and I think I would like to fix the volume control on the marantz. do you know if a alps 250k log audio amp volume control pot would work in place of the variable resistor 250k the cheaper one would have the loudness tap and the pot is about 1/10 the price. the variable resistor does not have a loudness tap at least that I can find. I dont want to start a new thead if I can just get a quick answer

thanks

Ben

 

[chrisb]

I'd like to try to retain the loudness tap - maybe PM form member anatech for advice and/or recommended part source. In good working condition, I think you could do a lot worse than the 1060 and A40s for what they now owe you.

For any finish touch-up / reconditioning work on the cabinet itself, this stuff is great Restor-A-Finish | Howard Products

 

[8ntractor]

thank you Chrisb I agree I would like to keep the marantz sounding as good as possible I sent anatech a pm. I think the marantz and the a40s will be good for the living room system and that way I can keep the basement setup for real listening sessions. I think we still may buy the console it will fit well in the room. thanks again for the restor a finish tip too.

thanks

ben