Fisher 800-B – Gold Restoration [SOLD]

$1,300.00

Many prefer the 800-B’s sound over the more common 800-C.  And with two of the famous “magic eye” tuning indicators, the 800-B is a superb piece of retro technical art. Its FM receiver is also one of the best ever built, with sensitivity and signal quality that surpasses almost all modern receivers.

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Description

A Gold Level Fisher 800-B restoration with its original American Walnut cabinet.  

 
The sound quality of this receiver could only be described as remarkable: Its rich bass is tight and musical with great depth. The mid and high ranges are clean and clear with a detailed presence. It provides great accuracy and a very wide dynamic range with its 65 watts of power. The sound stage it produces has absolute crystal clarity, marking this as an exceptional piece of audiophile equipment. After our meticulous restoration and component upgrades, thus particular 800-B won’t disappoint you.
 
The phono section has also been completely refurbished, with audiophile quality polystyrene capacitors and a matched pair of ‘primo’ (selected for low noise & microphonics) NOS vintage 12AX7’s installed. The tone control / line amp section has a matched pair of new Mullard ECC83, and the output inverter/driver is a perfectly matched pair of new Tesla/JJ ECC803S. The output power tubes are a brand new, perfectly matched Electro-Harmonix 7591A Quad. All of the AM and FM section tubes are vintage (mostly Fisher branded) and test NOS strong.  
 
The faceplate in in excellent condition except for slightly smudged lettering on the Mono/Stereo switch (see photos) . The original Fisher walnut case has a few minor blemishes, but has been refinished in our cabinet shop and is in over-all very good to excellent condition. (See photos) 
 
AEA Gold Level Restoration Details:   
  • Faceplate, Knobs and Chassis cleaned, hand polished, and silicon sealed
  • All resistors and capacitors checked and replaced/upgraded where necessary – 14 resistors and 22 capacitors were replaced using top-of-the-line “audiophile quality” components including rare polystyrene capacitors in the phono preamp stage.
  • Inrush current limiting and non-polarized polypropylene film capacitors have been added to the power supply
  • Output tube bias circuitry upgraded with precision resistors and modern polypropylene bypass capacitors
  • All switches and controls were cleaned and lubricated
  • All switch contacts were hand burnished
  • Tubes replaced with thoroughly tested matched-pairs (see above)
  • FM and AM receivers critically aligned and tested to meet all original specs
  • Audio amplifier driver balance and output stage bias circuit critically aligned
  • All controls tested and confirmed to function perfectly
  • Sound quality is superb, with a fully detailed soundstage
 
Please see our Gold Level Restoration service description for more restoration details

View the full Performance Report of this receiver


This video also provides a brief tour of the ‘business-end’ of our listening room, along with our A/B switching setup. The large screen is displaying our patent-pending real time spectrum display comparing the input signal and output signals while the amplifier plays music.

Our unique computer analysis measurement system allows AEA to not only measure the performance of amplifiers while they are playing music; it allows us to “see” why one amp sounds different than another, and use that insight in designing each stage of the amplifier. The results speak for themselves. Or should we say, “sing for themselves.”