Complete restoration of a early 60's Magnavox Stereo console with 23" BW TV 

I grew up with a feeted 1960s Zenith color TV with a remote. Best TV ever that I dearly wish I had again. In our living room, my parents had a combo unit and would turn on the stereo so I could dance. I was around 6 years old and remember The Byrds Turn Turn Turn playing and the sound quality was incredible. The bass boomed and you never needed to turn the volume up very much to hear it. If quality was like this again and not disposable. Great job on Magnovox. It cleaned up beautifully.

My parents had a Magnavox similar to that one, but without the radio. I cut my teeth on it , keeping it running as a teenager. Once I read in Popular Electronics that dust and dirt were one of the biggest killers of tubes. So I decided to take all of the tubes out and wash them, except for the area around the tube numbers. My Mom came home and had a absolute cow over seeing all the tubes floating in water. She was certain I ruined the TV. After she ran out of breath screaming at me all I said was " Mom, these are VACUUM tubes... if they are floating , that means the glass isn't leaking... they are ok". Of course she didn't believe me until it was running again. Later, I heard her tell my Dad what I had done. All he said was " Well it's working ok. He knows what he is doing". YES! Thanks Dad. I was 13 or 14 .

I grew up on MAGNAVOX products my grand parents had a 1966 combo tv and stereo 15” woofers and horns sounded awesome they made quality sound.

I still have the remotes back then so cool

My dad was a fireman, so he had lots of jobs on his downtime-one of which was a TV antenna installer for a Magnavox dealer. We had a house full of Magnavox!!! 1st color TV in the neighborhood (1968). That was a big, heavy TV!

Excellent restoration job

Lovely looking unit Seth..They sure knew how to make things back then..Nice finish also..Ed..uk..😀

The record changer is made by Collaro in England. They are cool to watch in operation, I love how the tonearm comes up and bumps the edge of the record stack to measure the diameter and set the size. They are extremely reliable changers too btw.

Looks like this one console has shown how well you have grown into repairing different consumer electronics offered from back in the day. Kudos to you Seth. I don't think it was bumbling at all.

Seth, I can just picture RadioTVPhonoNut looking at your record player restoration methods and going "NNNNOOOOO !!!" 29:16 🤣 _"Usually Record Players Are Not My Thing"_ 41:41 I'd never had guessed. 😂 That's ridiculous, surely that can't be. 41:51 And I'm not calling you Shirley, Seth. Love the music.

You couldn't have a 1960s houshold, without the deep, lustrous finish of Formica, gracing something within.

What a huge but cool entertainment center! I just can’t believe the great condition you find with the electronics. I look for similar here in upstate NY and you only find the garbage the trash man wouldn’t even take! Thanks for the share. Somebody’s comment here had something to do with rooftop antennas and that brought back that dreaded day where “dad” would go up on the roof to “adjust “ the tv antenna. We lived in the boonies so having an antenna on the rooftop was mandatory. First you’d hear the dreaded sounds of his wooden ladder banging on the roof soffits leaving very noticeable scratches. Then you could hear the footsteps going from where you just heard the crash of that wooden ladder over to where the chimney should about be located if you imagined the trip in your head. He then would yell orders of what tv channel to have the tv on and he’d “adjust” the set into oblivion. That old dumont tv had more ghosts in its picture than Ebenezer saw that night with Jacob Marley! If my dad held onto the antenna, the picture was great! Once my family gave the it’s good shout out the window to my dad, you could hear footsteps coming back from the chimney area to where the wooden ladder crashed up against the house earlier. Each ladder step closer to the ground my dad got, the shittier the v became reception wise. Then the dreaded moment my dad entered the living room and seen how bad the tv reception was. My dad would say the best curse words that myself or my brother ever heard! It was like a space camp for profanity! I never knew so many groups of people wanted to destroy our tv reception until that day with the profanity. There were single syllable and those fast double syllable bad words that I loved at the time until the teacher fought an earful and called my mother from school. Anyway, after a few hundred miles of hiking and “mountain “ climbing, the tv was remedied as satisfactory. Then Saturday night came around and my father changed the tv channel, one of three e got back then, to watch freakin Hee Haw! Jr. Samples selling some clunker to news from corn county then some oh god I hate to say it but some song from z Roy Clark and the Hager Twins! Well, the tv channel selection stunk but those glorious swear words and choreographed profanity of earlier that day more than made up for that. I know, what a stupid weird memory but it’s mine. There are many like it but that one was really mine.

that sounds even better than mine did when i first had it

A friend of mine bought one of these and I got curious to see if there were any restoration channels. I came upon 6 before I got to your channel. I have to say, you are the most thorough of all the channels. You are a true pro! I subscribed! Great job!

I love the tv vids!! Keep up the great work!!

I liked those double idler Colaro record changers. Very nice restore.

This Magnavox dates back to 1963 or 1964. The record changer is a calarro And the CRT is a 24 inch not your standard 23 inch. Magnavox also made a 27 inch CRT model just like this. FYI.

Very nice restore! My parents had a Magnavox with tuner on one side turntable on the other and four speakers! Boy was that thing loud! Turntable always had problems starting I think a cap was bad and my cousin got it working but we never bought a new cartridge for the thing so I was using sewing needles for it and i messed up the weight adjustment and then we got a new cartridge but the weight adjustment wasn't working so it would track to heavy and so we finally got rid of it!

Mrster radio my mom and dad wore alive we I was a kid we had a magnavox stereo record player no radio in side

Wow Totally Amazing Good Job

There are no cataracts on that CRT because it doesn't have a laminated screen. Implosion protection is provided by the flat glass window in front of the screen. It is a good idea to remove the window and clean the screen and both sides of the window with glass cleaner. Years of accumulated dust and cigarette smoke are what's' probably dimming that picture. While you're at it, you can clean the bezel with soap and water.

Nice Magnavox

I love watching these wonderful console restorations. But I often wonder why with American consoles everything is hidden and all you can see is the tv screen. It almost becomes just a sideboard/cabinet...which is why I set out to create a Console/Cabinet where everything is on show, like the tv, the speakers, the dvd machine, the record player and a visible storage space for vinyl LP's. And all the sounds (tv, radio & hi-fi) are all connected to the TEAC hi-fi AUX. I built it over 5 years ago and I'm still enjoying it. Oh I did make a few videos of it and I use an image of it on my youtube channel header. I don't think I've ever seen one like it although I keep looking.

In the 80^s , Magnuson was made by north American Philips also Sylvania and Phil on. I used to service them.

Would like to see 👀 more of the Zenith TV 📺, there the best 👌 👍 !!!! Like what you do, and I love your 55 Mercury , my Mother & Daddy had 1 just like it , same Color too !!!!! Keep up the good work 💪 thanks 😊 !!!!

I like 👍 these consoles. It’s like 👍 one ☝️ we had in 1989, but ours was solid state, and particleboard. This one ☝️ is REAL WOOD 🪵, and tube type. Very nice 👍. Your friend, Jeff.

the turntable in my magnavox was just like that it actually worked quite well, it needed a cartridge , so i got a flip-under type which gave it a fresh sound

Cabinet alone worth the price of admission. Pitch perfect MCM piece. All you needed for your audio/video pleasure through the 60s, 70s Could sell off the amp/turntable/picture tube, then clean up and use the cabinet for modern or classic 70s turntable/updated speakers. Maybe keep the audio amp/radio/speakers if in working condition. I wouldn't cut the cabinet all- make adapter plates/brackets/etc from wood stock as needed that attach to existing mount points/holes/structure, to preserve period piece. Even if you were born in late 60s through the 70s, these kinds of consoles were common and still used through the 70s and 80s, into the 90s for many homes. So a lot of nostalgia for a couple generations, plus just plain good MCM design and build quality

i had a console like that once the tv was no good but the radio and reciord player worked great

The photocell is for auto brightness. Our neighbor had a 27" B&W Magnavox combo. The biggest B&W screen I ever saw around 1963.

I believe that a lot of vintage valve (tube) TVs which had radios, when you switched to the Radio option, only the high voltage to the CRT would be turned off. However, there would still be power going to the electron gun, reducing its life. As a result you were advised to only listen to the radio for short periods.

Where is the museum located? I'd like to see these historical radios and TV that still operate. In our house, we first had a Zenith combination set (black & white I think it was, and it had legs like this does), then we traded that in for our first color TV, a Magnavox combination set that also had the legs. First color program we saw was an episode of the Flintstones, as the TV installer tuned up the set on delivery. Later, we traded that one in for another Magnavox that sat on the floor without legs (Mom didn't like getting under the TV with vacuum sweeper). That unit is still in the house I inherited, but I haven't turned it on in over 15 years. I remember it took 3 men to carry it in, no way I can move it out. 😀

Mrster radio magnavox streo console with 23"black and white TV is cool

Yours not a portacolor True portacolors are all tube sets The portacolor II is a rare solid state set from the mid 70's ( JA or QA chassis ). Yours is an AA, AB, or AC chassis. Never sold as portacolor but most refer to them as. The chassis is famous for cold joints at the feed through griplets. Almost nothing else went wrong on them LFOD !

Here is something that you may have not noticed. Look at the front of the tv. You will notice what looks like a pilot lite near the lower left corner of the tv screen. That is a automatic brightness control that will adjust the brightness level according to the light in the room. During the daytime the brightness of course will be bright during the day but at night when you turn out the lights the brightness will automatically adjust for a dim room. Very interesting feature for this television from this time period

I can’t remember if ours had a record player, or an AM/FM radio 📻. Your friend, Jeff.

Saludos desde Cuba.

6DQ6 is the horizontal output (not vertical). Vertical output tubes don't have plate caps on top of them (I used to be a bench tech in a long-past life). We had a name for Magnavox. "Maggotbox" 🙂 Their color sets could never seem to get the color tint right. Zeniths were the best.

There should be a two button remote that went with this unit. I didn't notice anyone else commenting about it. Ours had a remote.

Great set, turned out beautifully. My grandparents had a very similar unit, maybe a couple years newer, though by the 90s the TV was long gone and the space was used for storage. Tuner still worked though. Does the FM stereo position actually do anything. The tuner section seemed kind of bare, and I noticed it was silent when you tried the position, so I wonder if used a separate MPX decoder.

A vintage store bear me has one that works apart from the crt, I'm wondering if I could just remove that and put some shelves in place of it

the company that made that changer was Collaro Magnavox bought them in 1960

Do you test the resistors to see if they have drifted out of specifications ? So many think " recapping is the cure for everything ROFL . Great Video.

That fly back was supposed to be replaced with a rubber one. Wax ones are fire hazard. The big tube is the horizontal out put. The black filter cap is the input filter.,

I also have a power amplifier like the oon on your bench. but want to get a variac before i try to power it up

20 minutes in. I think that set is solid state. There was a progression of small color CRT's at GE. They had inline guns with a Delta phosphor dot arrangement. Odd for sure. I have a few and the resolution is somewhat lacking, but the color and brightness always impress anyone I show them to. The last one they had made was more geomatrically rectangular with flatter screen. Smaller phosphor and inline. Deep tubes made for deep cabinets and I suspect they looked old and out of date in comparison to comparable Asian and other American sets available at the time. Screen size was smaller also. The color and overall picture quality is phenomenal however. A company must change with the times. GE wanted the maximum return on investment for their picture tubes and Compactrons. This probably hurt their market share over time. Just my opinion. I still love my GE radios and TV's.

New subscriber. What kind of setup did you use for the tv signal?

I enjoyed your video.. what is the value of the unit when restored?

does the square white plug on the wires coming from the tuner go into the power amp or the multplex adaptor?

I worked on the 24 inch version of this set #1 that photocell is not for remote control, it is for automatic brightness control, it will react to the ambulant light levels. #2 the CRTs in them are VERY famous for having short lives, and going bad quickly due to the oversized screen and small guns being driven too hard,

Supertech from Walmart works good on controls too

mine even had the same 4 tube power amp

Is that a Colaro record changer?

Howdy Mister Radio. I really don't know anything about repairing electronic equipment at all, but I do enjoy watching others do it. One thing I have picked up is that in an older TV like this one, if it had a remote for it then usually the tuner mechanism has a motor to mechanically turn the innards of the TV tuner. Did you find this to be true of this TV?

Do you know where I can find the power cord that plugs into the back?

We had one and were able to play music without the tv being on.

what make and year is the blue car? i'd love to have one of those

Photo cell is to darken the pix when the room darkend.

I don't know about the US but Magnavox is owned by Philips, they made TVs in the same facility as Philips here in Brazil up to the late 2000's, I believe until 2008 when CRT TVs stopped being produced. Philips is still around here making crappy flat screen TVs but Magnavox got shut off.

i had console similar to that in the mid-seventies but the tv was toast

i have a power amp like that now but fear the power transformer may not be good .Is there a way to tell

there's an outlet on the back of the tuner marked tv the tv gets plugged in there

Magnavox bought Collaro so they the changer in that

i have a tuner/preamp like that but the jacks are on the chassis

Was MAGNAVOX the American side of Philips BV?

Magnavox was bought by philips in 1974

mine had a changer just like that

An entertainment center. Probably cost as much as a car did.

its not shit mate i like the old stuff too

please disregard the question, i figured it out

doesn't that have a stereo fm converter mine did but i let my little brother throw it away neith of us knew how it could work to decode true stereo fm

i see the cartridge is a Euphonics

How much for the console ?

You should absolutely never clean the rotary controls with WD40. That stuff can easily wash away the carbon track inside the pots and will not make them easy to turn.

For sale?

Another option to reclaim and reuse these cabinets- remove the tube TV and electronics, and put in a "free" LCD panel placed rearward enough for a fresnel lens to be mounted on the front plane , or inset to match position of original tube surface. The fresnel lens would lend a retro look to the LCD image, and lets you use smaller LCD units to minimize weight/space Arcade cabinet DIY'ers are starting to do this to lend that "CRT look" to more modern cabinet builds using LCD panels, and I suspect moving forward, arcade cabinet makers like 1up or others may start to add fresnel lenses to their cabinet offereings