A Look at our Magnavox Concert Grand Console Stereo

Way back in 1962 my grandfather wanted to buy a new stereo, but grandpa didn’t do half measures, so he did his due diligence and made sure he bought the very best that was on offer. And that was this very same Magnavox Concert Grand Console Stereo. Not only is it a gorgeous piece of furniture, but it’s also undoubtedly the very best sounding stereo I’ve ever heard in my life!

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Intro Music adapted from:
Artist: The Runaway Five
Title: The Shinra Shuffle

Thanks for watching!

Chapters
0:00 Grandpa knew what he was doing
3:50 Disassembly and cleaning
7:18 The main stereo unit
10:30 Remote control receiver unit
13:25 The amplifier units
17:19 All tidied up and smoke check
18:40 What a gorgeous machine!
19:52 Jam session with a kitty at the end

[kaa]

I own a 1961 Concert Grand that I bought from the original owner. He gave me all the documentation and the sales receipt. $1500.00 1961 Dollars, Oh, and he also gave me the demonstration record. Spectacular set

[FirstLast-vres]

Stereo MPX is the multiplexer. It breaks the two channels apart from the broadcast to be amplified independently. And poly filament fishing line works excellently as dial string. Restoration suppliers charge a bleeding fortune for basically the same thing. That is an absolute BEAST of a unit too.

[mlprd]

True bi-amp and those 15" woofers and horn loaded tweeter is still great even for 2023. Good on your grandfather for knowing what he was doing!

[TastyBusiness]

I can confirm, this thing sounds pretty spectacular in person. It's classy looking, and classy sounding.

[vwestlife]

I believe the chassis with the sealed bottom is for the FM stereo MPX (multiplex) decoder. That was brand new in 1962 and not all areas had FM stereo broadcasts yet, so it was usually sold as an option. Plus the early tube-based MPX decoders tended to drift, so locating it in a separate chassis away from the heat of the main circuitry helped to improve its performance.

For better AM reception, try connecting a long piece of wire to the external antenna terminal. You should be able to pick up skywave signals from hundreds of miles away at night, even if you don't have not much to listen to locally during the daytime.

[jeromethiel]

What's really cool is a lot of the early remote controls were AUDIO. And the remote itself didn't need batteries. There were a series of metal rods, and when you pushed the button, a little hammer would hit the selected rod and make a ringing sound (very high pitched). This was picked up my a microphone on the system being controlled, and the individual tones would activate relays, that would, in turn, operate the system. Quite often for things like volume up and down, actually controlled a motor that turned the volume knob. So if you clicked the remote, the knob on the TV would turn.

I've seen one of these still in use by it's owner. And yes, this was a tube TV. And the remote worked just fine, although the range was pretty limited. Which wasn't an issue as the picture tubes were small back then, so you usually sat fairly close anyway.

[mpcsmpcs]

I was born deaf in one ear, I’m a musician, music teacher, and I was enrolled for my masters at American University for their audio technology masters program, you are inspiring! Don’t give up. I also work in IT and have been for 15 years, so your videos are all of the sudden more entertaining and inspiring

[GibbonInAmerica]

Anyone who has never heard one of these quality console stereos simply has no clue how incredible they are. The sound is like nothing you can create from even the best equipment today. A few years ago, I was present at a storage warehouse where an abandoned storage bay was being emptied out. They cranked up one of these on the loading dock and it filled the entire warehouse with the richest, most beautiful sound you could ever imagine.

[danmenes]

Good Lord, what a beast! Dual bi-amped monoblock power amplifiers in a home console system in 1962? I never knew there was such a thing! And those horns and 15" woofers look like they would be more at home in a small concert venue! That's a machine to cherish, indeed.

[Wurlyscope]

This is the holy grail of vintage 60’s hi-fi. Your grand-father knew what he bought, for sure! Very powerful and well designed, he must have been the envy of many! Wow!

[matthiasmartin]

Amazing, active crossovers and dual mono power amps - I've never seen a console type stereo executed this seriously. Also the tweeter horns are unusual and rather impressive.

[TheGunnarRoxen]

I like the magnavox coat of arms. Gives it an classy vibe. I can imagine it looking good in an elegant drawing room in a manor. "Jeeves, please be good enough to turn the wireless on to the BBC. Mr Churchill is about to speak."

[KeritechElectronics]

You know best how to warm the vacuum tube witch's heart, haha! Magnificent Magnavox indeed, the name really does it justice. Just looking at those tube monoblocks gives me a shiver of awe (and fills me with determination).

Sorry to hear about your hearing loss. I never realized.

Not understanding radio stuff... well, you could say that about me and tube computers, haha!

The remote control receiver is such an over-engineered thing for a simple purpose it fulfills, it just blows my mind! I'd keep it disconnected for the time being, until you get or reverse-engineer and make a new remote.

The phase inverter used in those magnificent Magnavox monoblocks also blows my mind. Basically, an amplification stage and a voltage divider to an identical amplification stage for the other half of the signal - it has a drawback of introducing asymmetrical distortion. I wonder why a more conventional design (ie long-tailed pair, self-balancing or phase splitter) was not used. Also, driving three tubes from a plate with 220k resistor is rather peculiar here - but sensible for bass and midrange. Equal resistances for plate and grid leak resistors are pretty unheard of as well. As for the other power amp - two 6V6 push pull - it's also that voltage divider and gain stage.
It's no FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER on those 5U4s - it's just a full wave one with two tubes wired in parallel. You could even hot-swap a rectifier tube (but don't do that, okay? :)).

Personally I'd try old school wire lacing here, this device simply calls for this lovely old school method :)

[JayH]

I'm absolutely sure that your Grandfather, Grandpa is very proud of you for taking great care of his beautiful Magnavox Stereo Console! I'd be listening to my Dean Martin record collection on that wonderful Console! Enjoy it. You've definitely earned the right. Thank you for sharing this classic piece of American audio history! 🤗❤

[rlgrlg-ohcc]

MPX means "Multiplex" as already mentioned. Early FM tuners and receivers received a monophonic signal. Around 1960 (not sure exactly when) the decision was made to allow some stations to broadcast in stereo. But this had to be done in such a way that a mono receiver would still work OK. There were several competing designs, so until the dust settled, some mfrs brought out the necessary signal to be fed (optionally) to an external "multiplex decoder" which produced stereo outputs. This is the MPX jack on your unit, and implies that it does not have an internal multiplex decoder. Probably units made a year or two after this one had the stereo decoder built-in.

[linmal]

Yes, I am deaf in one ear thanks to the surgeon who took out my brain tumour through that hole! Very sad, to not be able to hear my classical music in stereo any more, but at least I still can hear it !

[imark]

2:00 so a 1962 sound bar. That sounds better than what's out there.

[mymessylab]

What a beautiful piece of audio equipment!! MPX stands for multiplexer, meant to be connected to an external fm stereo decoder.

[kaislate]

All home electronics should come with a schematic like that. Its like they expected you to repair it if needed. What a time.

[dansimpson]

This looks like a good opportunity for a collaborative video with Mr. Carlson's Lab!