Post photos of your systems/rooms here! (Part 15)

Speaking of old Fisher gear, last year, in March 2019, I found a Fisher 400 within 10 miles on Craigslist for $800. It was/is like a time capsule - worked perfectly, needed nothing, all original tubes, and the original cabinet. I didn't like the screen in the cabinet over the tubes because it was super flimsy, so I got a new screen for ~$35. Total of about $835.

A couple of weeks later, I found a Fisher 800C within 10 miles on Craigslist for $500 - non-working. Went to look at it and I could see that under years of dirt, the faceplate and lettering were perfect, the tubes were original, some knob centers were missing, and there was no cabinet. The main issue was the volume/on/off control was frozen solid so it couldn't be turned on. I fixed the volume/on/off control pretty easily to find that one channel was out. I also spent two days cleaning it, and spraying DeoxIT on everything - controls, tube sockets, inputs, outputs. Also tested all the tubes. Got some new knob centers off eBay (cheap). Took it to my amp tech who found a bad or broken solder joint that fixed the channel that was out. Then I got a new cabinet made for it. I have a total of about $900 in it.

The 800C looked like this when I got it... (after cleaning the faceplate)...



The 800C looks like this now...



In between - on the bench... (Also using/listening to the 400.)



Both are like new now and sound great. I gave the 400 to my girlfriend for her home office. (That's her TT on the bench.)



The 400 in the original cherry cabinet (left). The 800C in the new repro walnut cabinet (right).


The 400 has 7868 power tubes. The 800C has 7591 power tubes. All tubes are original in both.

 

The 800C is now in use in my guitar storage room and driving not one but two pair of Klipsch Heresy speakers. I know that seems kinda weird but it sounds glorious. Sounds so good I hate to change it.

 

Visually speaking only, the AR4x is probably my favorite speaker. I am a sucker for Scandinavian Modern styling.

 

Their styling is probably one reason I didn’t catch hell from my wife for putting a larger speaker in our bedroom. She actually commented on how nice it looked!!!!

 

We (the girlfriend and me) found a pair of AR-4x for sale in a record store and bought them. She's using them with the Fisher 400, a Technics SL-D2 turntable, plus a laptop and hard drive with a load of digital music files in her home office/spare bedroom. She sent this pic...



Did you notice the walls are painted bright green?

 

I noticed right away

 

By the way... I love what you've done with the street in front of your house.

 

Loving the Fisherpalooza guys keep it up!

 

super nice looking setup and i bet it sounds even better. speakers and receiver look brand new, perfect.
those classic fisher receivers have lots of followers, i have to hear one someday....conrgrats!

 

Fake plants are like a loud, compressed CD.

 

Thanks, not bad for my secondary rig. I tried The Fisher in my main setup for a short time, fantastic low end and wonderful soundstage, but lacked the oomph to drive my Rogers Monitors. It really is fantastic sounding though.

 

I hadn't noticed, lol.

 

Moved around some of my front end components for better access.

 

Well, poop! While listening yesterday, I suddenly heard a pop and then the left channel died. I tried swapping around the tube pairs to see if the dead channel moved, but the tubes are not the issue. I also tried reversing the channels using the stereo selector knob, but it's not something in the preamp section because the left side remained dead.

I guess I need to drop the Fisher off at a tech; it must be a blown resistor or something.

So, I'm back where I was last week...

 

Bummer.

If you heard a pop, you might remove the bottom cover and look for the residue from a blown cap or burnt resistor.

 

Thank you, I was planning to do that. I'm not the greatest solderer in the world, but if the issue is something obvious, I'm willing to take a shot at repairing it.

 

The “pop” can be a good start... the sniff test next; if I can smell the problem, there’s a good chance it’ll be obvious enough to find. That said, even if I can see what’s burned I think I’d refer it to someone who knows why it went pop before replacing the burned bit myself.

 

Good suggestion and advice!

 

Can't "like" that. Hope you have a good tech. Definitely worth fixing. Hope it's not out of service too long. Best of luck!

 

I appreciate that, thank you.

Not to derail this thread further, but I popped off the bottom plate and my untrained eyes saw nothing obviously amiss, so off to Victor at The Audio Lab it goes...

 

When I had my 500C gone through my tech in a bias pot for the power tubes. Just a thought.

 

Me too, when friends come over I take an empty watering can over to them. lol

 

Late night vision

 

Fortunately the X-100 has one, up by the 12AX7's.

 

This has been my listening room for the last 16 years. We've just bought a new house so in around 6 weeks we'll be moving. I'll miss this place but looking forward to a change.

(I couldn't work out how to post a full image, sorry.)