The ugliest thing ever to carry the Atari brand....

[Level42]

[ChadTower]

Why?  I like it.

[Level42]

Difference in tastes I guess.

I don't like a "modern" machine to be "hidden" in something that pretends to look like antique furniture...

[SavannahLion]

It's intriguing. I admit it won't fit in with my current decor though... not that I actually have one. It's all chosen by my GF and it's all Contemporary. A style that still trips me up once in a while. 

Anyhow, I digress. This is a piece from a bygone era where consumer electronics were so big, they are furniture. So it made sense to make it look as nice as possible (ITEOTB). To me, I find such furniture fascinating. My grandmother owned a stereo record player that was massive. It had a top piece that flipped up to access the player. When top was folded down, it gave all the appearances of a sideboard. I grew up around it for years never realizing what it was until I saw her cleaning it one day.

After her death, I specifically requested that particular piece and all the records in the collection. Unfortunately, my dumb ---fudgesicle--- uncle or my mother must've thrown it away or donated it off somewhere.  That's what I get for having relatives that don't appreciate music.

Level42, what are your tastes?

Lately, as much as I like electronics, gadgets and toys, I'm finding that I'm wanting to see less and less of it. I stare at three computer screens all day with two phones by my side and an ear piece strapped to my head. I go home and my "shop" (for what it's worth) is filled with tools, electronic components, and general junk. When I'm in the house, I don't want to look at more electronics. I watch so little T.V. that my only justification for paying the cable bill is to keep the GF happy. And I got this weird hankering the last three months to read books. You know, those things made out of this substance called paper then glued together into a paging cube? 

Even with the arcades I'm picking up. I'm finding that I don't want just any cabinet in the house. So those ubiquitous Dynamos, Pac-Mans and Nintendo cabs everyone seems to be obtaining and restoring just aren't making the cut for house furniture. The one corner my GF is giving my for my cabinet in the house needs to have a cabinet that's unique.

[ChadTower]

I have a '60s console stereo much like this one that I intend to restore and mod to be a touchscreen juke.  Keep everything original but add a touchscreen LCD and a PC in the vast empty space on the inside.  I'll just connect the PC audio to the inputs on the stereo.  Rebuild the stereo, put in some solid modern speakers, and I have a touchscreen networked vacuum tube juke that also does AM/FM, vinyl, and 8 tracks.   

My grandparents bought it new in the 60s and it has been poking around various family members' houses for the last 20 years.

[Kevin Mullins]

An awesome example of mixing old with new - http://www.themarchives.com/showproject.php?ID=2

[patrickl]

I liked the Steampunk Keyboard Mod

[ChadTower]

An awesome example of mixing old with new - http://www.themarchives.com/showproject.php?ID=2

That's pretty cool.  Not far from what I want to do except I want to keep the original intact and simply add the PC on.

[Zobeid]

Atari?  For real?

I'm not sure if ugly is the word, but that may be the least Atari-like thing to ever have the Atari brand.

Anyhow. . .

I have an old stereo system left over from the early 1970s, I'm guessing around 1973 or thereabouts.  It's built into a huge wooden cabinet with a lid that opens on top to reveal the mechanisms -- AM/FM tuner, LP turntable and 8-track tape player.  Nobody makes anything remotely like that anymore, it really is a relic from another era.

Safe to say nothing in it works, and it would all be hopelessly outdated if it did.  However, the cabinet itself is still in excellent shape.  After I do my MAME cabinet, I may try to refurbish the stereo cabinet next.  Basically that would mean gut it and replace all the innards with modern (and higher quality) stereo equipment.

I'm uncertain about whether I want to use a car stereo receiver or a computer.  With a car stereo I could play CDs, MP3/AAC CD-Rs, AM/FM, satellite radio and have an iPod on the AUX input.  With a computer I could stream my whole iTunes library and play internet radio stations.  Setting up a control interface for the computer might be awkward, though.  (And of course there's plenty of room in the cabinet for both a car stereo and a computer.)

Car stereo with a wireless streaming device (Soundbridge, Squeezebox, etc.) on the AUX input might be a good compromise.

It's awkward because most components aren't designed to sit down in a cabinet and be operated from above.  I might look into something where there's a shelf that pops up when the lid is opened.  Then I could also mount a flat panel on the underside of the lid and make it an A/V system.   

[ChadTower]

It really depends on who made it.  In audio equipment, modern does not necessarily mean better.  Quite a bit of the old tube based stuff is just effin fantastic when rebuilt to replace worn out parts and decayed connections.

[RayB]

It really depends on who made it.  In audio equipment, modern does not necessarily mean better.  Quite a bit of the old tube based stuff is just effin fantastic when rebuilt to replace worn out parts and decayed connections.

Word! In fact, the internet is just a series of tubes.

[SavannahLion]

It really depends on who made it.  In audio equipment, modern does not necessarily mean better.  Quite a bit of the old tube based stuff is just effin fantastic when rebuilt to replace worn out parts and decayed connections.

Maybe he means more "compatible" instead? Sometimes it's mind numbing not only to try and figure out how some of that old tube based stuff actually worked.

[Singapura]

Tube amplifiers are completely back in audioland. As for the Atari, I don't like that particular style but I have been thinking of designing a cab in Art Deco style like the vending machines in Bioshock. Since I don't have the tools here it will probably never happen though. 

[ChadTower]

Maybe he means more "compatible" instead? Sometimes it's mind numbing not only to try and figure out how some of that old tube based stuff actually worked.

You don't really have to figure it out... all you have to do is follow the dozens of detailed guides out there.  How to rebuild a tube system is very well documented such that all you have to do is replace all the parts they tell you to, test the tubes, and repair all of the old connections.  I have a couple very nice '60s pieces and they are fully compatible with modern stuff.  RCA input jacks and everything.  For my money, when rebuilt the tube stuff often pounds the crap out of equivalent level modern stuff in the same consumer tier.  Pure power by comparison.

Speakers, on the other hand, don't bear that out.  Modern speakers are usually better, probably because you just can't refurb a speaker.

[Level42]

Savanna: My taste ? Well, for jukeboxes I like them to look like a jukebox. And it doesn't really matter if it's the "traditional" jukebox from the 50's/60's we all know, or the 70's/80's style one's. As long as it's not disguised as a blanket case like this

Tubes rule, both in picture AND sound

[SavannahLion]

Maybe he means more "compatible" instead? Sometimes it's mind numbing not only to try and figure out how some of that old tube based stuff actually worked.

You don't really have to figure it out... all you have to do is follow the dozens of detailed guides out there.  How to rebuild a tube system is very well documented such that all you have to do is replace all the parts they tell you to, test the tubes, and repair all of the old connections.  I have a couple very nice '60s pieces and they are fully compatible with modern stuff.  RCA input jacks and everything.

To be fair. I didn't have any modern connections on the last circuit I worked with. The last tube base circuit I fiddled with is one that's estimated to be from sometime after the mid 1950's. A proprietary connection on the case and unmarked leads out to a screw terminal block inside was all I had. Took a couple of weeks of consulting with an radio jockey grognard, examining patent papers, and contacting about a dozen museums around the country before I had what I needed to create the interface I wanted. And all of it was done under contract not to alter the museum value... bleh.

[ChadTower]

That's definitely going back further than the audiophiles typically go, too.  Radio enthusiasts, sure, but guys looking for the best sound tend to focus in the late 60s from what I'm told.  That person could have been full of crap, though.   

[fixedpigs]

That's definitely going back further than the audiophiles typically go, too.  Radio enthusiasts, sure, but guys looking for the best sound tend to focus in the late 60s from what I'm told.  That person could have been full of crap, though.   

sixties and early seventies for that tube goodness...!

just look on ebay for old tube amps...marantz tube amps commonly go for $2k-6k...

[Matthew Fisher]

I think the juke is OK, although certainly not my first choice.  I wonder where they placed those "console" jukes, anyway?  Doesn't seem like it would attract much play in a bar, with no blinkenlights, etc.   

My understanding of the "golden age" of stereo is that you're looking at around the mid-late 50's to the late 60's, before Marantz, H.H. Scott, Fisher, Macintosh, Dynaco, etc., more or less switched over to transistors.  Some of that stuff, espeicially Marantz and Macintosh, goes for absolutely nuts prices, even some of the FM tuners.  (Dynaco 70's and the Fisher 500 receiver are well-known values, though)  More proof that "better" from the manufacturer's standpoint usually means cheaper and easier to build... 

I agree with Chad that the general exception is speakers, which most agree are getting better all the time.  Probably because they are mostly passive devices with very little in the way of electronics in them.  Enclosure design and material, driver design and material, etc. are the keys there, and computers and advanced materials are helping speakers in a way they wouldn't necessarily help amps. 

On the other hand, I have a thirty-year-old set of Advent speakers that I love, and the question is not whether you can rebuild speakers but whether it's worth it and the parts are available.  In the Advents' case, I did have to refoam them, but now they sound awesome.  If the crossovers go, I can fix them too for $10 in parts.  Then, they'll be good for probably another thirty years.  I'm not saying they're better than the best that's out there now, but they were a heck of a lot cheaper.   

[Zero_Hour]

From what I can gather, That style of Juke was produced Jupiter in France for the European Market.

http://www.jukebox-guide.com/France/Jupiter.htm

Some interesting pics on that page for the Jukebox inclined.

[CrazyKongFan]

Yeah, my mom has an old stereo console (with vacuum tubes!) that she bought when she was a teenager in the 50's. It's in a big wide wooden cabinet, the center has an open door that flips up with the record player inside, and a door on the front to store the records. I have no idea if it still works, I don't think she's used it in years.

[Ummon]

An awesome example of mixing old with new - http://www.themarchives.com/showproject.php?ID=2

Nice modern rebuild. I like the finish. I have one like that. It looks a little rough on the outside, but is otherwise fully functional. And despite only having a four and six inch driver on each side, it kicks. I mean pound the walls bass. Inside, the case is split in thirds, with the speaker boxes sealed and with insulation even. I never use it anymore but I'd hate to just get rid of it.