![\"A](\"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/a-picture-containing-text-electronics-descriptio.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Made in fairly large quantities yet very hard to find today, the Fisher model 202-T tuner-preamplifier is everything one could want in a tuner-preamplifier in 1959. It is essentially a marriage of a Fisher 101-R AM\/FM tuner and a 400-C preamp, with some additional bells and whistles that the 101-R and the 400-C did not have, such as:<\/p>\n
Conversely, the 202-T did not include an equalization control or a rumble filter; the 400-C preamp had both features.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/a-picture-containing-electronics-description-auto-2.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
The Fisher model 202-T tuner-preamp, 1959-60.<\/em><\/p>\n In all, the 202-T uses 21 tubes and has a provision to add on a Fisher FM multiplex decoder \u2013 only the unit was designed to use the MPX-20, a Crosby system decoder which was incompatible with the GE-Zenith system which was eventually adopted by the FCC. With some work, a later Fisher type WX (GE-Zenith) decoder can be made to work in the 202-T; or a solid-state decoder could be easily adapted to this unit.<\/p>\n The Fisher 202-T tuner-preamp is a large unit; it is the same size as the TA-600, TA-800 and 500-S receivers, but does not include a power amplifier section. It greatly resembles the TA-600 in its frontal appearance.<\/p>\n The 202-T as viewed from the top.<\/em><\/p>\n The 202-T is hard to find today simply because owners of the 202-T are hanging onto them; I have not seen one for sale on the auction site for a year or more.<\/p>\n As regular readers of this little blog know, your charming and delightful Old Uncle Ron has had a 202-T on his want list for quite some time. I was very fortunate in that, a few weeks before Memorial Day, a fellow audio enthusiast offered to sell his 202-T to me. He had been using it strictly as a preamp; the FM dial string was broken. Someone had adapted a Fisher MPX-65 to this 202-T. Anyway, a deal was made, and this 202-T arrived here on June 1.<\/p>\n Under-chassis view of the 202-T.<\/em><\/p>\n It was packed very well and survived the trip from the Bay Area to southern Indiana just fine. I restrung the FM dial cord the next day and tried it out. Once all 24 tubes warmed up (the MPX-65 adds three tubes to the 202-T\u2019s complement of 21), the typical warm, pleasing Fisher FM sound began to come forth through the solid-state amplifier and the Wharfedale W60 speakers I have at my workbench.<\/p>\n It took a little doing to figure out how to get FM Stereo sound from this unit. I finally found that, by placing the Selector<\/strong> switch in the MPX<\/strong> position and the Mono-Stereo<\/strong> switch in the Stereo<\/strong> position, the unit would play FM Stereo after a brief pause of a half second.<\/p>\n One of the four original electrolytic can capacitors. Note the selenium rectifier was replaced with a silicon unit.<\/em><\/p>\n I noted that the Muting<\/strong> control was not working. Everything else seemed to be functioning just fine \u2013 and on electrolytic capacitors that appeared to be the originals. Wow. 61-year-old electrolytics that still worked with no noticeable hum. Amazing! Most of the FM IF transformers had date codes which indicated the 12th<\/sup> or 13th<\/sup> week of 1960; therefore, this unit must have been built in Spring 1960, which would have been near the end of production of the 202-T.<\/p>\n Looking under the chassis, I noticed that only a few parts had been replaced, including a few of the individual electrolytics and the AC across-the-line \u201cdeath\u201d cap, which had been replaced with a ceramic disc replacement, not a safety capacitor. And the death cap was not even soldered in; the wires were only twisted onto the binding post terminals with no solder. All the original brown \u201cdog turd\u201d paper capacitors are still in place.<\/p>\n The MPX-65 FM multiplex decoder as viewed from under the chassis.<\/em><\/p>\n Eventually, I will do a wholesale replacement of paper and electrolytic capacitors, and the four electrolytic can capacitors will get restuffed with new electrolytics. Even though it is playing well, I do not trust using electrolytics that are as old as I am.<\/p>\n But for now, I am just happy to have completed my Fisher want list and am very happy with this new acquisition. The 202-T is just as great as I had imagined and is a wonderful acquisition for my Fisher collection.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Made in fairly large quantities yet very hard to find today, the Fisher model 202-T tuner-preamplifier is everything one could want in a tuner-preamplifier in 1959. It is essentially a marriage of a Fisher 101-R AM\/FM tuner and a 400-C preamp, with some additional bells and whistles that the 101-R and the 400-C did not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2599,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4150","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4181,"href":"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4150\/revisions\/4181"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/a-picture-containing-electronics-description-auto-3.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/a-picture-containing-text-indoor-description-aut-2.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/a-picture-containing-appliance-description-automa.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/philcoradio.com\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/a-picture-containing-engine-description-automatic-11.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n