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Restoration Project: GE Console Gutting & Heresy


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Only snapped a few with my phone since it was late by the time I got around to getting to the console.  We did listen to it for a while and there's some horrible static, along with some kind of wicked ground loop happening.  The woofers only work sometimes, and there's a huge frequency range missing as well.  Tuning the volume is extremely sensitive as well as certain volumes cause the one speaker to drop out entirely, and some really terrible crackling and popping.

 

 

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Totally is.  I really dig the style of it too.  Nice and solid to boot.

 

The AM tuner is botched too.  I need to sit down and take a better look at the amp - I have a feeling it's going to either be a real scavenger hunt to find the parts, or a case of simple replacement.  It's a solid state amp, which helps me feel a bit better toying with it if I need to though.

 

The speakers sound good at low level, but they can't bang by any means.  They started clipping once I drove any amount of real power to them.  The best part about this is that I have carte blanche to do whatever I want/need to do as long as it doesn't involve external modification to the console.

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That's what I'm thinking Carl.  I'm probably going to do some more in depth inspection of the amp Sunday.  If it turns out to be a bust, my hopes is to use an Emotiva LMC-1 in it's place - or if money is shy at the money, wait and do a pre/pro pairing with a XPA-2 and a UMC-200.  The drivers inside look great from what I can tell - I'm not sure how I feel about the angled squawker, but it seems to produce the sound at least somewhat accurately.

 

Happy to oblige. :):P

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So tomorrow afternoon I'll be going over to check out the inside of the actual amp and see what I can find.  There's a fine LMC on the bay right now that I might be bidding on if simple repairs can't be performed.  If that has to happen, we get to do a total rebuild of the insides.  It's set to be loads of fun.  More pics to come. :)

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Those are very high quality drivers especially for a rig like this. I expect if the am has not damaged them thy will sound goo. First thing is to find a schematic for the amp and get it out and on the bench, don't use till you decide to either fix it or lose it. Replace the crossover caps they are garbage now. Give the speakers a spin on a real system (source and amp bypass the original and see haow they sound you might be impressed and they are probably well suited for this kink of system. I would be delighted to fins such drivers in a rig like this it is rare. Best of luck I think you will have a really good time. Best regards Moray James.

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That is a well kept piece of furniture there. I can understand why you don't want to mess with it.

 

Like Moray mentions, those are nice drivers, with horns no doubt. They even took the care to put some sort of padding around the inside behind the drivers.

 

Also like Moray mentions, try a different source/amplifier with the existing speakers in the console. There is probably only a capacitor or two that consists of a crossover for the drivers. Simple to change over for modern capacitors, if you wish to do so. Like Moray mentions again, they are probably dried out. (caps)

 

Find a different source/amp that will get you by, and that will free the original components to be allowed for clean-up and restoration. Cleaning pots and switches will probably solve some quirks.

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Does anyone have any good dealers that would sell parts for this unit, or will it be a case of buying them if I'm lucky?  Around these parts of Iowa, it's hard to find people who know what they're talking about, let alone decent parts.

 

Also, would replacing the crossovers altogether be beneficial?  Would a stock from any particular speaker work, or would DIY be best?

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You would need to draw out the crossover circuit, with the values that currently exist. Then the crossover points can be calculated. Are those three ways? Nice!

Is there a model number for the console? You might be able to get a schematic for it.

Bruce

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They are indeed 3 way designs. :)

 

The digging that I've done on the model number has turned up less than desirable results.  It seems like this thing is a phantom on the web.  I've found lots of references to the manual - but I have access to the original manual already, and it's less than helpful.

 

If I have to do any soldering or desoldering, this'll be a first for me. lol  Not afraid to do it, so long as I know exactly what needs to be done.  Maybe some of the vintage-buffs here might be able to help me out tracking something down that'll push this along a bit further for me.

 

Appreciate the help so far guys. :)

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search in the vintage radio sites. Another way I have foud to search out rare stuff is to do a name search (with moder number) and search that in the images section of Google. If you find a picture that means someone on a sight posted the pic and there is usually info and or a contact. It's a bit convoluted but you can often then find the sight and get some info. Worth the effort I think you have a nice unit there and I also think that the amp might be worth a rebuild also. The cheap and nasty unist have awful SS amps but the early SS stuff was designed mostly buy guys who were Tube designers so they had a quality reference to match up to. See if you can find a schematic, might be a longer project but worth it to end up with a restoration as opposed to a hack job. See too if you find someone with amp info if they can inform you about the speakers. Best of luck.

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Thanks for that Moray.

 

I am a little discouraged though after opening the cabinet up to find several boards with huge cracks through the middle of them, along with a ton of wire corrosion and oxidization.  The amp doesn't look nearly as pretty as the drivers.

 

I put an order in on eBay for an Emo LMC-1.  If I'm able to fix the current amp in there, I'll just take the Emo for myself, otherwise, it might be a permanent replacement.  I am going to do replacements on all of the wiring and the connector heads, as well as the crossovers, when I finally track down where they are.  Does anyone know if they might have been built into the amp board?

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whatever is broken on the inside of the cabinet can be fixed - I would flip the unit over after removing the turntable and amplifier - then remove the components - bad wiring -rewire the unit - modify the amp - a pair of kp 101 speakers on each end would be easy to mount on each side - producing the equivalent of  1.5 heresy cabs - 2 way setup

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I think touching the drivers right now would be foolish.  For starters, replacing the current setup with KP 101's would strip away the full range capabilities that are already there.  I have no intentions of going from a 3-way design to 2.  Save for the oxidizing of the wiring in the cabinets, there doesn't appear to be any issue with any of the drivers.  In fact, they're in pretty darn good shape.

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