Fisher 500c Not powering up

Just received a supposedly restored Fisher 500C in the mail. Everything looks good tubes are in place wiring looks fine etc but it doesn't power up when turned on. Any thoughts or solutions?

 

The obvious...fuse?

 

Is the power/volume knob clicking on when you turn it?

 

Wait for someone with a bit more experience to weigh in and confirm, but provided it's not fuse or power at the plug, my initial suspicion would be the power/volume switch has a bad power section. Not uncommon on some Fishers, and a bit of searching should turn up a replacement without having to break the bank.

 

If that knob doesn’t “click” on when turning it clockwise or click off when turning counter clockwise, the actual mechanism is busted, not the electronics. This happened to my 400. If you’re lucky it gets busted in the on position and you can put a switch on the plug. Less common on the 500 series but the first thing I’d check out.

and…..I think this is a great question for the guy that shipped you a refurbished receiver that doesn’t work.

 

I was just about to link to your thread covering that - for anyone who's interested in reading it:

Dead Fisher 400

 

Thanks so much everyone for the responses! This gets me on the right track

 

Yes, it clicks and that's it.

 

Oh...it was in the off position? Gotta love an easy and cheap fix.

 

Yes, it arrived in the off position. The fact that it clicks is a good indicator that it might be fuse related..I hope it is!

 

Pull the fuse in the back and see if it looks good. After that the options get much more complicated.

was it shipped to you with the tubes in the sockets? If so, they shouldn’t have been and you might try pulling them and re seating them individually. I’m not sure that would prevent the tuner from lighting up but many times when a tube amp isn’t working, it could be an issue with a tube. And something that was working before it was shipped and isn’t working after it shipped likely isn’t working because it had a bumpy ride.

 

Hey that’s my thread. I forgot all about that experience. I’m very lucky to have a local tech that is easy to work with. That was a fast and relatively inexpensive fix to something everyone on the internet claimed can’t be fixed because the parts are unattainable.

 

In the last half decade or so several folks have started selling these - I suspect it's a bit more of a cottage industry than a commercial outfit building these, but it's made it a good bit easier to deal with this problem. Prior to that, it really was a matter of finding a donor, or just putting a separate switch in (or using the cord as a power switch), so there are some older things you'll see about these being unobtainium that no longer apply.

From my understanding, just about every Fisher that uses this style of power/volume control will eventually have this issue. When mine went out, my tech simply jumpered the power over to the other side of the switch; since there's an inrush limiter he put in previously tamping down the current draw on startup, he didn't think that would be a problem. If/when that side goes, I suspect I'll get a replacement put in, since there is a large section of the knob that's somewhat out of balance between channels.

 

I just unplug/plug in my Fisher 440T. Don't use the switch for powering up.

 

The continuing saga continues...

So, I brought it in to my local Audio Shop to see what the issue was and while the receiver is "Functional" they've uncovered a whole slew of stuff that needs repair/replacements, this was they've reported back, please keep in mind this was translated from
French:

The Fisher has been verified.
The device is functional, the fuse does not burn, but the fuse holder is defective, there is hum, the stereo separation is poor in FM reception and some controls squeak. 21 tubes were tested.

- An update of the capacitors is necessary
- the fuse holder must be replaced
- 2 output tubes are weak. it is suggested to replace the 4 outlet tubes
- A cleaning of the controls is necessary
- Multiplex / stereo decoder needs to be tuned / repaired

And there you have it..

The estimate for this job came in at $1500, I wanted to run this by you guys to make sure this is all on the up and up.

Any thoughts on this would be most appreciated.

 

The quoted work is probably completely accurate and also unsurprising for a receiver of that vintage. Mais, il semble que le coût de réparation soit supérieur au coût de remplacement.

 

I would return it to the seller for a refund or find a hobbyist type who can take it on.

 

The refund thing isn't an option at this point, I've looked around and a fully refurbished Fisher 500c goes for roughly the same amount as the repair and the amount I paid.

 

I would be very interested in an itemized breakdown of those repairs. The parts you listed that need to replaced would be about $200 (assuming new production power tubes), that leaves about $1,300 for labor.

the short answer, “hell no”. For $1,500 you can find one in mint condition that has been completely rebuilt.

 

Thanks Dennis for your input, this is how he's breaking it down:

Labor: $850.00 (10 Hours)
Parts: 580.00$

Keep in mind, I'm in Canada and these Fisher tube amps are few and far between.

 

$85 an hour for labor isn’t crazy but ten hours is a bit questionable to say the least.

a quad of new EH 7859 power tubes is about $125, a fuse is $3, the fuse holder can’t be more than $20 and capacitors are $10-20. I’m really at a loss for how he’s getting to $580 on that parts list.

 

This is really helpful, I'll reach out to them tomorrow and we'll have a chat.

 

If he’s setting you up with 4 nos Westinghouse power tubes, $580 would be a reasonable parts total. You should be able to find anything he is listing on partsdirect.com.

 

Excellent! Thanks again

 

I had my Fisher 800c recapped for just under $500 USD. This fee also included installing a replica power/volume pot. There’s an Ebay seller in Brooklyn, NY who sells them for $99.

Mine also needed new power tubes and I went with a quad of new production Tung Sol 7591A for $110 at the time and they sound great.

While my Fisher sounded mighty fine following the repair, the loudness switch no longer worked. While not essential it still bugged me. The tech who did the work was not able to fix that and I let it go. I ultimately I decided to have a different tech have a look, and also install an LED light kit. It’s been in his shop for about 6 months now, most of that time waiting in line to be serviced. I plan on stopping by today to see how it’s going.