1970s Ferguson 3054

[kennierobo]

First post on site , Just purchased this item so hopefully when it arrives all will be good, Cosmetically it looks good. This is to replace the modern player I bought at xmas last year that turned out to be an expensive paper weight or door stop cheap Chinese rubbish. The record player I wanted however was the Dansette 'Junior' but after reading posts about how rubbish they really are I was put off. Shame as it looks the part, maybe someday someone will put modern internals into them. Anyway guys great site and very informative

[Nickthedentist]

Hello and welcome.

My grandparents had one of these when I was a kid, though it had an autochanger (stacker) instead of that single-play deck. It worked very well and reliably but got pinched by burglars in the early 1980s. Here's a pic of the same model, taken from a Gumtree ad.

Not sure the speakers are Ferguson (though they're from the same era), they look more like Fidelity to me but I could be wrong.

Good luck with it,

Nick.

[kennierobo]

I was thinking that the speakers looked somewhat out of place, but they will be out of sight for now. When I was younger I had a Fidelity UA4 white, the in thing for teenagers in the 70's LOL. Then that was upgraded to a Bush music centre in 82. Any of those would be better than the rubbish that's posing as record players at the moment.

[Audio1950]

The speakers are the correct ones. I've just cleaned up an identical set-up for someone who found it in their parents loft. The worse thing about the whole job was trying to clean the fronts of the speakers. In the end I used cotton buds dipped in warm washing powder solution.

Barry

[paulsherwin]

It's not going to win any hifi awards, but is much better than the modern player in your pic which looks truly dreadful. You may need to clean the tone and volume sliders with Servisol 10 switch cleaner, available from Maplins or online.

Better speakers will improve the sound. You may be able to find a decent pair of 70s hifi speakers from a car boot sale or Freecycle for little or nothing - look for British manufacturers like Goodmans or Wharfedale. It's not worth spending a lot of money though.

[ben]

I have one of these stashed away and can confirm the speakers are the factory supplied ones. They are really quite horrible and you will notice a great sonic improvement with some bookshelf type 2-way speakers (i.e. a larger cone for the bass and a smaller 'tweeter' speaker too). Only the other day I picked up some in a cash converters for pennies, which had come off a sony mini system, very solid and excellent for the size so keep an eye out. I have some similar Philips ones too. Both date from around 6-10 years ago. Paul's suggestion is also valid but the amp may struggle to drive anything too huge!

That player has a p182 deck which is one of BSRs better offerings. Like the c123 version in Nick's post, these came with a BSR sc12 cartridge, are gentle to records and are capable of good sound. Way better than that dansette. You have quite a decent player there!

[Nickthedentist]

Interesting re. the speakers, chaps. The version my grandparents had much deeper speakers with an 8"x5" (?) driver. All-plastic cabinet in wood-effect finish (though I've seen white ones too) with a fibreboard baffle which was released by removing 4 nylon nuts accessed via the ports at the rear. They sounded OK and were a good match for the player.

[kennierobo]

I found a set of speakers online cheap as chips but they may be to big to power as there is nothing in description to tell me maybe someone on here knows Celestion Ditton 15 is the maker

[Edward Huggins]

Yes, those speakers are definately the weak point, not just on your Ferguson but most systems of this genre. As for the Danstte "Junior", they are what they are. There's no point in putting "modern internals" in these as it will no longer be what it's meant to be - in fact modern internals may mean you would also have to change the cartridge and possibly the low impedence (3 ohm) speaker, so what would be the point?

[paulsherwin]

Those Dittons are fine speakers and arguably wasted on a player like this, but they will certainly work so long as you don't expect the windows to rattle. If they are £20 or less I would grab them. You could sell them on for at least that much if they aren't satisfactory for some reason.

They do seem to have been fitted with at least one nonstandard replacement bass driver, but I wouldn't worry about that for this application.

[Nickthedentist]

Those Celestions are in a different league to the supplied ones and may be "too good" i.e. designed to sound accurate but needing a bigger amplifier to get a reasonable sound level from them.

I have some Bang and Olufsen Beovox 600 speakers which are from the same era and would be entirely suitable for your Ferguson, yet be a huge upgrade from the originals. Yours FOC, happy to pack for a cheap courier to collect.

https://beocentral.com/beovox600

Nick.

[kennierobo]

The only cheap courier that I know of were not that good so I have always used Royal Mail. Happy to pay up front costs via PayPal though, no problems there.

[Nickthedentist]

Let me know by PM if you wish to go ahead. Or do you have any contacts down this way who might be able to collect?

[kennierobo]

Sounds like a plan to me. I also will be looking for a new home for a couple of old valve amplifiers, also a couple of reel to reel players and some projector gear including screen, just as soon as my hoarder father gives me the OK to clear out his attic garage etc. God only knows what other goodies he has hidden away, hopefully someone on here may be into all that sort of stuff. Amps were working 30 odd years ago when I used to use them.

[AC/HL]

That's rather a broad description, but if you post details in the relevant sections we can advise. The valve amplifiers in particular could be of considerable interest, but everything has its aficionados on here!

[kennierobo]

I can't remember off hand the make. I did use them for disco at local youth club many many years ago (amps) that is, just waiting for his new house to be finished then I will begin to clear it all out as he can't take it with him no matter how much he twists on haha. If memory serves me correctly the blue amp had a curved top with brown bakelite type control knobs and the silver one was square again with same type knobs, just found one of them on google images did not think that would be the case.

[Herald1360]

The Linear Conchord will certainly attract some interest- it's not hifi but anything of the sort is very saleable. Just don't power them up "to see if they work" it may do expensive damage that could have been prevented by replacing a few cheap components first! If it was put away working, it's unlikely that any of the expensive parts will have died in storage, just the cheap ones that can cause serious problems to the expensive ones......

This may get split into another thread since it's not related to the original topic.