80's Fisher Stereo Set

[CivicProtection]

I was at a community thrift store earlier today and found something interesting. There was this stereo cabinet sitting there, seemed like a long time because I remember seeing it there before. This time I took a closer look.

It was a single column cabinet made of particleboard with a smoked glass door. Inside on shelves was a chunky (and heavy) amplifier, tuner, tape deck, turntable, and a CD player deck. Also in there was a large bag with all the cables, remote control, and manuals nice and tidy.

I read the manual and it was sold as a complete unit. The wooden cabinet and all the gear inside. The amp was designed to work with the other components and linked together with special ribbon cable. Probably to make the remote control work right. The tuner, CD player and the rest get power from the amp with power cables that have little proprietary ends.

The manual said Fisher 50th anniversary 1937- 1987 so I assume this bad boy is from 1987.

I tried it at the store and was satisfied with what I saw. I quickly tested it with some real crappy speakers they had there. To my surprise it sounded good! Even with the low end speakers! I walked away with the whole shebang for $20. When I got home; I hooked it all up properly, read the manual and it all works. Used my nice Grundig East German 60's speakers with them. Except the display does NOT light up on the tuner. Don't know why. However it does pick up AM/FM nicely with the plastic loop antenna.

I'm pushing my luck. Those German speakers are 4 ohm bookshelf speakers. The amp is not designed for stuff below 8 ohm.
I can't put my finger on it, but it sounds different. The quality of the Grundig speakers is superb, but the crappy 8 ohm speakers I tried back at the store sounded good.

No problem, I snared some nice Tandy Realistic brand 8 ohm 80's era speakers a month back. I'll use them.

One a side note; there was another stereo I saw over in the corner: there was this 70's amplifier/8-track player lying in a cardboard box with weird plastic speakers. It was made by a company I didn't recognize. I'd tested it a half hour earlier there, then moved on. On this weirdo, the drivers were facing UP against a plastic cone which directed the sound out 360 degrees. Squat little speakers with RCA type ends on the cords. A friend saw me there and gave me a lift home with my stereo. They sold it to him for $2. I would have bought them too, but I already had my toy.

Back to the original point:


This is what I got:

Amplifier:
Fisher CA-854A

CD Player:
Fisher AD-853

Double Cassette Deck:
Fisher CR-W853

Servo Drive Turntable:
Fisher MT-852

Component Cabinet:
Fisher RA-722


I Googled for more information, reviews, opinions from audiophiles, mods
but found nothing. Not even pictures!

I'd appreciate any information, any opinions. Thanks!

[Brian Oshman]

You can use the 4 ohm speakers if that will be the only pair connected to it. Most setups specify 8 ohms since most have an A/B switch to run a second pair separate or simultaneously and if run simultaneously then it would present a 4 ohm load to the amp.

The 8 ohm minimum is so that you don't connect two pair of 4 ohm to it and create a 2 ohm load. That would cook it. The single pair of 4 ohm is fine.

[CivicProtection]

UPDATE:

I just unhooked my nice old German Grundig 4 ohm speakers and hooked up
my Tandy Realistic 80's era 8 ohm speakers.

The difference in sound quality from the 4 ohm speakers in regards to depth and detail was like night and day! Very nice rich sound!
It is MUCH clearer than before. Not to put down the Grundig speakers, they are nicely crafted speakers with four drivers each cabinet, I rather suspect the ohm rating. That is what is behind the DRAMATIC change is audio performance.

[jaycee]

my dad had "Studio-Standard by FISHER" components similar to this

The power amp will be an STK hybrid IC, as at this point Fisher was owned by Sanyo.
It will be fine with a 4 ohm load, the supply is probably undersized so that no damage can occur.

[CivicProtection]

Originally Posted by Brian Oshman

You can use the 4 ohm speakers if that will be the only pair connected to it. Most setups specify 8 ohms since most have an A/B switch to run a second pair separate or simultaneously and if run simultaneously then it would present a 4 ohm load to the amp.

The 8 ohm minimum is so that you don't connect two pair of 4 ohm to it and create a 2 ohm load. That would cook it. The single pair of 4 ohm is fine.

Mine does have the A/B switch. It didn't get hot though and I didn't intend to run it for a long time. The realistic pair I have hooked to it match perfectly. So they are there to stay. I'm all set, off to the races! I'll save the nice Germans for my X-Box 360 which were driven by a 1995 Sony amp. It sounded good, probably had switching circuitry built in, sounded great.

[CivicProtection]

I like acquiring old vintage gear where the owner took very good care of them. Saved the manuals even the warranty papers, remote control, ETC. All in a bag or sleeve.
What a treat!

[unclejed613]

those "component" systems with the ribbon cables were better than most of what you find these days in similar price ranges, i owned a technics system of a similar type. but they were still mid-grade systems at the time. usually the ribbon interconnects took the place of RCA jacks, and so you couldn't mix and match across brands. i bought a fisher dual cassette deck that had RCA jacks, but a 15Vac proprietary power jack. i removed the power jack, and installed a power transformer from a broken cassette deck (to save money, fisher made the chassis blank with the risers and mounting holes for a power transformer, i.e. t hey didn't bother changing to a new style chassis), power cord and grommet, and i had myself a nice working cassette deck, for $35 new as an open-box item at the Army PX. somebody had returned it when they found out it didn't use 120Vac power. the technics system i had had a ribbon cable and SOME (but obviously not all) RCA inputs and outputs, and the small but heavy amp was about 75W/ch. i usually find the best deals like this now at thrift stores

[CivicProtection]

Originally Posted by unclejed613

those "component" systems with the ribbon cables were better than most of what you find these days in similar price ranges, i owned a technics system of a similar type. but they were still mid-grade systems at the time. usually the ribbon interconnects took the place of RCA jacks, and so you couldn't mix and match across brands. i bought a fisher dual cassette deck that had RCA jacks, but a 15Vac proprietary power jack. i removed the power jack, and installed a power transformer from a broken cassette deck (to save money, fisher made the chassis blank with the risers and mounting holes for a power transformer, i.e. t hey didn't bother changing to a new style chassis), power cord and grommet, and i had myself a nice working cassette deck, for $35 new as an open-box item at the Army PX. somebody had returned it when they found out it didn't use 120Vac power. the technics system i had had a ribbon cable and SOME (but obviously not all) RCA inputs and outputs, and the small but heavy amp was about 75W/ch. i usually find the best deals like this now at thrift stores

I have no idea how much this cost or even what year it was made.
I can only assume it was 1987 from the 50th anniversary remark in the manual. But I suspect it might have been a mid range system.

[CivicProtection]

The Grundig speakers had speaker wire wired into the cabinets. So I used them without a need for separate wires. When I swapped those for the newer 80's Realistic speakers; I had to find new connecting wires as the Realistic speakers had the standard terminal connections in the back. I contemplated riffling around for my good thick pair in my basement, but I remembered that there were the original stock speaker wires that were still in the Fisher equipment bag!

Let me tell you they are the thinnest sorriest looking wires you ever saw.
Like normal low gauge wire. But I tried them and I have no complaints. Sounds good.
I don't have a good reason to buy the really good stuff, as the garbage ones are actually doing a good job. Weird huh?


Another side note: the Realistic pair I talk about, they are from the 80's, the same quality or better then the Fisher stereo set., but like the Fisher; I can't find a single thing on the internet about them!

[Cal Weldon]

Originally Posted by Brian Oshman

and if run simultaneously then it would present a 4 ohm load to the amp.

CP, if you can, show us a pic of the amp. Some Fisher SS stuff from the 80's ran the A/B switch as a series connection so it's sounds strange that they would suggest a minimum 8 ohm load. Both the CA 350 and CA 550 I had did that. I can tell you it was pretty weird to hear a drop in volume when you added the B speakers.