McMurdo-Silver Masterpiece Sets

[Sam Samuelian]

Hello all you Scott lovers. Can I tear you away to another love--McMurdo sets--for a minute? I never had one and would like to find a set that just might be the last console Anna allows me to squeeze into our place! I would prefer a high end chassis like the Masterpiece V or better and cabinets like the Carlton and Clifton would be fine. I would want only the 18 inch speaker (which I assume sounds best?). Can you give me price level advice and does anyone know of sets for sale. 

BTW, I just signed up for a dealer's table for the Kutztown Meet in September and can't wait judging from the hype I've heard about this show. The only proviso is that I sell more sets than I bring back home, lol.

Thanks for any help,

    Sam

[Norman S Braithwaite]

Sam:

If you are serious about purchasing a McMurdo Silver Masterpiece V or VI with original speaker and cabinet and don't anticipate stumbling across one at an estate sale, you should budget at least $5000.

Norman

[Y2K Bruce]

I think there is an MP VI coming up for sale at the Estes auction this weekend. I know some big dog flippers will be there so it may show up on ebay soon. It was sitting on a Clifton cabinet. The 18" speaker sells on ebay for about $4K+/-.

[Bill Liers]

Sam,

The V & VI are both super radios. I have a VI and it's one of my favorites. The 18" in the Clifton was an early attempt at building an acoustically correct cabinet with a vented back and padded interior. The bass is impressive for it's time. Be careful with the restoration though, it's not simple and I've found factory errors in mine which prevented it from ever sounding like it does now.

 

good luck, Bill

[Ron Ramirez]

I heard the Silver at the upcoming Estes auction is missing the original speaker, but has a 15 inch Scott speaker instead...and (as of last week) they had yet to find the amp/power supply chassis so this may be just a tuner, a Clifton cabinet, and an (incorrect) speaker.

[Ron Ramirez]

Well, I won the McMurdo Silver Masterpiece VI at the Estes auction. I found the correct, original amp/PS myself the night before the auction - it had been placed with a Scott chassis! - and alerted a member of the auction crew to the discrepancy. He kindly put the Silver amp in the Clifton cabinet and pulled the oddball PS out, putting it with the Scott chassis.

I was told the speaker I have, which was inside the Clifton cabinet, is from a Scott Philharmonic.

[Sam Samuelian]

Congrats Ron. You did the right thing for all concerned! I hope you enjoy the new set and maybe you can find the appropriate 18 inch speaker without spending a fortune. If you want to sell it at that point, I think I'd be interested. I have no McMurdo-Silver sets but came close recently. Do you have any others?

[Ron Ramirez]

Sam

Thanks. Sorry, but this one will not be for sale. I have long admired these sets, and the time was right for me to finally acquire one. This will be a keeper.

It is the only McMurdo Silver I have, and will probably be the only one I will have. I've been primarily a Philco collector for 22 years now, as you probably know.

Be patient, keep the $$$$ in the bank, and one will come your way.

[Leonid Soloviev]

By the way, about the speaker for McMurdo MPV and VI. If I remember correctly, two A-12 Jensen speakers make an exact match to one 18" Jensen speaker, if to connect voice coils in parallel and field coils in series. I do remember I saw such radio with two A-12 speakers.

[Y2K Bruce]

That is interesting about the 2-A-12 Jensen's.

I have an uber rare MP IV cabinet, the Mayfair, and the original 2 chassis, and it has the provisions for 2 A-12 pedistal speakers and 2 optional tweeters.

According to my brochures, the std speaker set up was 1 A-12 and 1 tweeter but my set has the optional doubles of both with wood speaker fixtures inside. The original speakers were missing when I got this set but I had a pair of A-12's and tweeters that my radio guy is trying to put together for me.

[Leonid Soloviev]

Very nice radio.

Is shadowmeter working OK?

Here are the pictures of MPV with two A-12 and a tweeter:

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/mcmurdo_masterpiece_v.html

But looking at the color of the board with speakers, it is a new addition to the readio,I assume.

[Ron Ramirez]

That's another beautiful Silver cabinet, Bruce.

Leonid - thanks for the link showing the MP V with two A-12 speakers. I see a tweeter also. I can't help but wonder if someone made reproductions of the Jensen decal that was originally on the back of the 18 inch speaker, and put these on the backs of all three speakers in that photo? I agree that those speakers appear to have been added later.

[Thomas Day]

There are different versions of the Jensen A12 speaker. I have a pair from a Hammond organ tone cabinet. The speakers have the same value of voice coil, but different values of field coil resistance. One has a 250 ohm field coil and the other has a 5000 ohm field. In the Hammond cabinets the 250 ohm coil provides the bias for the output tubes and the 5000 ohm coil is across the B+ to ground. These were used in cabinets with either quad 2A3 output tubes or with quad 6V6 output tubes.

Thom