[Ron Ramirez]

I have not yet made any measurements. I will replace the off-on-volume control with the one from a 220-T junk set (assuming that one is good) this weekend. When I do, I'll make the measurement.

In the meantime, your posts helped me to remember that I used to buy CL-80 and CL-90 inrush current limiters for a former radio repair customer (back when I was restoring radios for people). This customer wanted an inrush current limiter in every one of his radios. Well, anyway, I still have a CL-80 left from those days. It's rated at 3A max, 0.5A min.

The Fisher 700-T is rated at 19 watts (23 VA) minimum power consumption, 180 watts (190 VA) max. These are the figures from the 700-T manual. Being as how the CL-80 is rated at 0.5A minimum, I don't think it is suitable for use in the 700-T? Assuming 125 volts, at 19 watts that is a minimum current of 152 mA, well below the 500 mA minimum rating of the CL-80.

[morzh]

Yes, you want to observe the minimum.
BTW it also prolongs the switch life.

[Ron Ramirez]

A few photos:

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...00-T_8.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...00-T_9.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...0-T_10.jpg]

Notice the strip of foam on top of the rectangular metal box which is part of the IF board?

Notice also that it looks like it once had another piece of this foam on top of the power transformer, but is now missing save for the residue of where it was once stuck on there?

It looks to me like it might be similar to some speaker gasket material I have on hand...

What say you, Mike (morzh)? Would speaker gasket material be OK as a replacement for the foam here?

Incidentally, after I removed the top cover, I powered the set up - no more thump. So it is definitely being caused by inrush to the transformer as it is energized.

Even though the off-on switch is working now, I think I will replace it anyway. I would not want to leave it plugged in only to have it come on by itself sometime...

[morzh]

Ron

That is what I suggested before on the revious page. I do not know what speaer gasketing is made of, but if it is anything like dense rubber foam weatherstripping which, incidentally, I used for speaker gasketing in 37-116, then yes, should work. As long as the tranny does not get hot so you start sniffing fumes.

I was about to say that it looks like they did use a piece of gasket when I looked at your photos.....

[Ron Ramirez]

That is what I suggested before on the revious page.

Yes, I know.

The speaker gasket material I have looks similar to what is on top of the IF board in my 700-T. Yes, I would say it is very much like dense foam weatherstripping. Its intended purpose is to seal speakers in enclosures. I do not know how it would react when hot...and I do not know if the transformer gets hot...somehow I doubt it based on its sheer size and the fact that this receiver will never be cranked to full blast while I own it.

OK, settled. Speaker gasket it is.

Off-on-volume transplant tomorrow. I might try my CL-80 in this set just for fun, to see how it acts.

This receiver has come a long way from the piece of...garbage that it was when it first arrived here. Now it is a great sounding FM stereo radio. The 700-T was top of the line for Fisher in 1967. Hopefully it will soon be completely finished.

[morzh]

Can you open the old one? You got nothing to lose really, if it breaks, you were about to toss it anyways.

[Ron Ramirez]

Yes, I'll open it up tomorrow after I remove the control. I seem to recall that the switch is held to the back of the dual volume pot by tabs that can only be freed by removing the shell from the rear section of the pot.

But, like I said...tomorrow.

Actually, I wasn't going to toss it...I was going to try to fix it if possible and then save for future use...dual 50K audio taper pots with switches are not easy to find.

[Ron Ramirez]

I applied two thicknesses of speaker gasket material to the top of the power transformer.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...0-T_11.jpg]

The speaker gasket material looks very much like the dense foam Fisher used not only on top of the IF board, but also on either side of the glass dial scale and on the inside edges of the front panel.

After I put the foam on top of the transformer, I put the top cover back in place - no more thump.

The foam on either side of the dial was long gone, so I applied more speaker gasket material to those areas, as well as either side of the inner surface of the front panel.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...0-T_12.jpg]

I pulled the off-on-volume control from my 220-T junk chassis and it seemed to be in perfect shape; both sections of the switch work properly!

A word of explanation here: Most of these mid to late 1960s Fishers use a DPDT power switch. One side controls the receiver itself; the other set of contacts controls the outlets on the back of the receiver.

The switch I had put into this receiver from a junk 175-T chassis only had one set of working contacts.

So I cleaned the dual pot with DeoxIT and into the 700 it went. I set the other control aside for a future attempt at cleaning the switch.

Then I put the covers and front panel back on the unit. The 220-T junk chassis had a set of good feet; these were transplanted onto the 700-T since I will not be using the cabinet. You'll see why I am not using the cabinet shortly.

I then hooked up a set of speakers, and tried it out...

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...0-T_13.jpg]

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...0-T_14.jpg]

The right channel is louder than the left. I did notice as I was testing the transistors on the control amp board, that one of the transistors had somewhat lower gain than the other three - this may be the reason why. Other than that, the receiver sounds very good.

The final thing to do was to put it into my Mid Century component credenza. This is why I could not use the cabinet - there is not enough room for the receiver's cabinet with the unit in the credenza.

[Image: http://www.philcoradio.com/images/phorum...0-T_15.jpg]

Here it is - a nice Mid Century stereo setup in the living room. The component cabinet was sold by Radio Shack between 1961 and 1966. The speakers are Wharfedale W-60s, made in the early to mid 1960s. The receiver is a 1967 model. Now I can choose between this unit and my Motorola hi-fi, also in the living room.

I know a lot of you don't care for the flat screen TV, but we felt that we needed to make some concessions to contemporary life. The TV sound will play through The Fisher and the Wharfedales.

So now as I type this, I am allowing the 700 to "burn in" and it is playing nicely. I have it connected to my attic antenna, which is also used for TV. That is my next home project - to get the antenna off the attic floor and mount it permanently to a pole in the attic, the same way I had the antenna mounted in the attic of my previous house in Evansville. We almost never watch TV, but it is nice to be able to see the news and weather occasionally.

That is it for the 700-T; as far as I am concerned, it is all done.

[Ron Ramirez]

It's been playing for nearly 3 hours straight with no issues, so I would say all is well.

And an interesting note: As it has burned in, it seems that the volume has become louder in the left channel. Not quite 100% equal with the balance control set to the center position, but close enough.

[morzh]

You have conditioned the cables

[sam]

great job ron
is every thing in your house mid century 50`s ?
must be like walking into time warp. hmm keep thinking rod sterling  
sam

[Ron Ramirez]

You have conditioned the cables

Could be...

I just turned it off a little while ago after letting it play for over four hours straight. Works fine.

is every thing in your house mid century 50`s ?

must be like walking into time warp. hmm keep thinking rod sterling

Not everything - witness the two year old HDTV on top of the credenza. Plus contemporary washer and dryer, our computers, printers, etc. But yes, we have been trying to decorate the house as much as possible with Mid Century things.

Other than the TV, yes, walking into the living room is like walking into a time warp. And we like it that way.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi6wNGwd84g]

[Eliot Ness]

.......The 700-T was top of the line for Fisher in 1967.....

Just curious if you know what the power rating is for the 700-T?

[Ron Ramirez]

30 watts per channel according to the specs at hifiengine.com. Not a lot by later standards, sure, but you could say that transistorized receivers were in their "toddler stage" then.

Fisher's first mostly transistorized receiver, the 600-T, had come out only a year before (late 1965). I think its output power is 45 watts per channel, and that's all germanium power (four transistors per channel). The 700 uses silicon outputs. I have a 600-T in the basement; it is a very nice unit indeed. Very heavy, too. Solidly built, as were all of the early Fisher transistorized receivers as well as the older Fisher tube gear.

[Eliot Ness]

That's interesting.  I asked because it was so early in the history of solid state receivers, and very fascinating that a year earlier they were using germanium transistors.  That is a very nice receiver!