1961 Motorola HIFI stereo. Model SK53CW Cherry cabinet made by Drexel. With Vibrasonic feature

[electronmusicjunkie]

You can't go wrong with Motorola stereo tube units from the early 60s. To me they were the best sounding ones I heard so far. I'm just amazed how it makes old records sound giving them the sound the solid state unit won't and can't. Superb is the word I think of. Hope I can find one of these model to refurbish and have.

[yamajammer76]

Motorola. From that stereo that to my new Droid RAZR smartphone. It's amazing when you think about it.

[wb5oxq]

I remember I had an early 60s Pontiac that had a Delco AM radio with the vibrasonic option. A nice touch that kind of sounded like stereo which was not found in car radios yet. The dash speaker ran off of the radio and there was 1 6X9 soeaker running off of the reverb which was mounted under the rear package tray in the trunk. Sounded good unless you went over a railroad track which cause a sound like someone beat on a washtub!!

[wb5oxq]

My best friend in high school, his parents had one like this with the vibrasonic. It did sound real good. The tube amps in older sets did not make as much power as some of the later solid state amps but the speakers were matched to the power and they sounded real good. I expect this one may have had 3 20 watt amps in it. My 57 motorola hi fi only has 10 watts into 4 speakers including a 15" woofer and it will rock the house with bass. Lots of power is not needed with good speakers.

[force311999]

that long metal box by the 18 inch speaker ? spring re verb like in a guitar amp to make the vibersonic. this would sound great with rock music played on it

[Turkeydoodlers]

@force311999

Hi yes that's the vibrasonic, it is a spring reverb, it works very well, very sensitive. I can only have it set on 1 or 2 it's very sensitive.

[force311999]

@Turkeydoodlers so simple but so elegant. beautiful system this one is a keeper for shire don't sell it

[Turkeydoodlers]

@force311999

I agree 100% I wouldn't sell it for any amount, other than my Fisher Ambassador, it's one of the nicest sounding consoles I ever owned. I'm glad you enjoyed them. Check back soon there will be much more added

[stovallaustin]

i have a drexel motorola for sale see my craigslist account

[Turkeydoodlers]

Well update on the motorola. I had the power amp redone, had the caps replaced and resistors, and it's sounds even more amazing now that it did, much more bass, rattles the floors. I will post some more videos soon, been very busy on the weekends.

[TwinMillMC]

That is an incredibly high end unit! WOW! In excellent condition too! Never saw one with a center ch 18" woofer! Yes, definitely replace all the caps, resistors, test all the tubes, clean the controls, replace the rubber idler turntable wheel and lube all moving parts. Should be good as new. If the sound is good now it will be even better then. If it weren't for people like us this great stuff would end up trashed. Good going!

[Turkeydoodlers]

@TwinMillMC

Hi, yes im going to have that done, im going to start with the power supply amp, since thats the heart of the unit, going to costs me around 175 to redo that, caops resitors Ect.. Then i will turn to the radio stereo amp. All the tubes work but the one broken one, i dont have a tester so the guy im having do the work he will test eash one. There are 20 Total tubes in these beast plau a Tuning eye tube so 21 including that

[Turkeydoodlers]

@paddyotay

Hi yes I already bought. New one should be here this week. I think I'm going to hold off using it till I get the tube as to not cause damage.

I'm going to have the capacitors redone to, are those hard to replace? Or expensive. I know it's always a good idea to redo those as a safety issue.

I think that's what thru are, the tall metal can looking things in there they say capacitor on the side, I think they are soldered in on the bottom? That sound right?

[maynardcat]

Motorola consoles in the early 60's had some unique features., & always had ultra modern styled changers, I think custom made by VM. You don't see many Motorola consoles, but I just saw an early 60's Saturday at a big junk store covered up. It is large & each end slightly curves back projecting the sound left & right, very unique looking. Will ck it out next week. The consoles of that era did not have a lot of power, they didn't need it as the speakers are very efficient. Very nice find

[kirtley2010]

id love to hear a 78 on that monster, its huge the biggest record player i have is a 70s disco deck with 2 turntables on it and i thought that was big

[Turkeydoodlers]

@kirtley2010

Yes I have some nice sounding 50's 78's I can play. Eartha Kitt, crew cuts ect..

I will make a few videos with them and some 45's as well. That huge speaker in the center gives a lot of bass, I can't even put the dial on 2, it's just so loud. I'm sure when the guy I got this from was playing this as a teenager he shook the floor with this thing lol.

[desoto1961]

Wow!! Mike that is so beautiful!! Top of the line and for $25!! I would love to find one here. So many cool options!! Love the turntable light and the vibrasonic system is so fun! Congrats!!

[Turkeydoodlers]

@desoto1961

Thanks Rich I knew you would enjoy this, you know a lot about these so I knew you'd enjoy it. I saw this and grabbed it and ran lol.

I used to have one a long time ago and miss playing my nice HIFI lp's. I need to show the 1960 Voice of Music portable next, bought new needles for that, should be here this week, and then I will show that one.

Nothing like the collection you got :) but I'm still looking for one of those RCA orthophonics you have.

Glad you enjoyed it.

[Turkeydoodlers]

@desoto1961

The guy I got it from said it's been in the same room, same spot since 1961. It was his mothers, said he remembers the day it came, it was bought in Boston, they delivered it in a delivery van he said. He said his mother spent the whole morning cleaning the living room to get ready for it, she was very proud of it. Said he remembers all the high school parties he had, dancing, girls lol. I thought that was nice to have a little history on it, hard to find these in the same family

[RaymondTVinyl]

Very Very Cool!! I just gave away my Emerson. Was just too big for the house...but I miss it! I really love consoles....but the amout of space they need makes them difficult. I will get another one down the road. I want it to be like this one. Tubes rock!

[Turkeydoodlers]

@RaymondTVinyl

Hey Raymond. Yes this one is only 52" long, not like then huge things from the 70's that take the whole lenghth of the wall. So this one isn't that bad.

If you are going to find one, I'd get a tube unit. Either this brand or Zenith is a good one, RCA.

Any unit that's was made between 1955 and 1963 is what you want. But the sweet spot is 1957 to 1961

Those were the best years for this stuff. The Drexel made cabinet on this one is good quality buit piece of furniture to. Solid

[chompo7]

@RaymondTVinyl aw man raymond you should have sent it to me! i wonder how high the shipping would have been?

[MonteCarlotta]

Beautiful stereo console! Vibrasonic= Reverberation; it uses a "type 4 spring reverb" from Gibbs Manufacturing, Janesville Wisconsin; a subsidiary of Hammond Organ Company, Chicago. Quality stuff back in the 60's. The next thing to check are the old electrolytic capacitors. The audio output is similar to "bi-amp" with midrange/treble amps for Left and Right; L+R are summed for a low pass Bass channel. This cost as much as a good used car in 1961!

[Turkeydoodlers]

@MonteCarlotta

Yes I'm going to get that done, I have a few calls into some restoration people this week. It works and sounds fine now as you can see, but the capacitors should be redone, it's not hard to do just resoldering and the parts, but. Won't mess with stuff I don't know :)

Cost for this in 1961 was between 700 and 1200 in 1961 money.

What's the verifier mean? It's one of the buttons on the right side in where the record player is?

[Edisonfans19]

Very nice system, and for 25 dollars. Can't beat that price.

[Turkeydoodlers]

@Edisonfans19

Yes that's a steel for this one, most people you see who sell these have no idea about this stuff, and you don't see to many night end tube stereos. Mostly solid state stuff which I wouldn't get for free really. There is some nice solid state stuff, but nothing in sound quality like a good tube system.

I used to have a magnavox console from 63 but I had to sell that when I went to college. So I was happy to get this. The guy I bought it from said it was well taken care of.

[sideshowtink]

Beautiful piece for a great price!! Sounds BEAUTIFUL! ENJOY it! The echo feature is fabulous!!

[Turkeydoodlers]

@sideshowtink

Hi Tink. Yes the vibrasonic system was pretty sophisticated for 1961, gave the stereo effect a more wide sound. Almost what you'd hear on a modern receiver with a hall setting. But I have many nice lp's and 45's I need to dig out and play again like the one I put on for you.

[JamesEncliffe]

I guess one tube down on the bottom has lost vacuum... the getter is white. Wonderful equipment!!

[Turkeydoodlers]

@JamesEncliffe

Hi, yes that tube was actually broke, but I ordered a new one. It only cost 15.00. So I don't like to use it till that's comes, should be here this week.

It was easy to do I just used the tube chart that's is stuck inside, told me the tube number. That tube controlled the left side speaker, but it still works with out it it's just not as loud as it should be.