Poll: Which Seeburg model produced the best sound?

Curios what the options are out there... Which seeburg (exposed mechs)
produces the best sound???

Don....

Jukes aren't like pins, where certain ones "play" better than others.
Almost ANY juke from the 50's to brand new will give you GREAT sound if the
amp in in good shape.
The late 50's /early 60's (when they went away from the visible mech) are
probably the "best" because they are stereo, or at least HI-FI. That being
said, a "100" series juke like a "C" will give you GREAT sound with the
right needles and records.

"Pinsgonewild" wrote in message
oups.com...
Curios what the options are out there... Which seeburg (exposed mechs)
produces the best sound???

Don....

Thanks for the insight I have a AY160 and KD200 both nice shape both
need the reciever and amps rebuilt trying to determine which one to
rebuild. I'm thinking the AY might sound better because of the stereo
sound...

Don...

If you want to sell or trade the KD for pins, let me know!
Thanks!
Keith
"Pinsgonewild" wrote in message
ups.com...

Thanks for the insight I have a AY160 and KD200 both nice shape both
need the reciever and amps rebuilt trying to determine which one to
rebuild. I'm thinking the AY might sound better because of the stereo
sound...

Don...

I want to qualify this post on the "sound" of 1950s jukes. I own some
Wurlitzer and Seeburgs and find they sound nostalgic. 45rpm records
have pops and ticks and the speakers in these older jukes don't have
much high-end clarity. The cabinets tend to resonnate mid-bass
frequencies and given the lack of damping, you can get rattles.
Re-caping the amp is a good start. The tube amps have what some people
call a warm sound. Tube amps exhibit soft clipping and tend to have
even order harmonic distortion which is more pleasing than odd-ordered
harmonics. I have a Wurlitzer 2500 with a stereo tube amp. I simply
re-capped the amp and changed the needle. It sound fine. I think it's
a bit 'boomy' in the bass, but you can't expect 1950s or early 1960s
technology to sound like a modern stereo. It's a different sound.
It's a time capsule for me ... it takes me back. It's like asking is
B&W better than Color for movies. I have a great new stereo with CDs
and I also have a loaded MP3 player, yet I love my jukes. They're just
different animals for me. I have one in my office, one in the garage,
and one in the gameroom (basement).

The Seeburg R has five speakers, a nice well designed mono-amp, and a
good mono pick-up. I think Seeburgs are better engineered than
Wurlitzers of the same year. If you're not too worried about being
original, you could swap out the speakers with more modern ones. You
could also re-cone them - there's a guy in Colorado Springs that's
good. You could also consider upgrades to the tonearm pick-up wires.
I personally used good capacitors when I rebuilt the amps and in some
cases I replaced some of the critical wires with more modern ones.

So ... among the Seeburgs, I like the HR100R. For a stereo box, I like
the Wurlitzer 2500S because it's inexpensive, sounds nice, and looks
decent. You can still see the mechanism and it's height (somewhat low)
was ideal for my toddlers. I also have a Wurlitzer 1700 which I think
looks great, but honestly doesn't match the Seeburg in terms of sound.
If you've listened to earlier Wurltizers (like the 1015 bubbler) with
original 78s, you sometimes wonder why people pay so much money for
them. I agree they're works of art, but you don't buy them for the
sound.

For me, I would have to say the Seeburg HF100R. That is of course if the
sound system in its entirety were rebuilt to original specification
performance including cartridge / stylus ( an updated replacement cartridge
/ stylus may enhance the sound from original ), Amplifier a complete and
proper rebuild including all new caps, Quality replacement tubes, resistors
and other components within spec. tolerances, new cross-over cap(s) and if
necessary re-coned or replacement speakers that met original Seeburg Spec.
The HF100R was a fantastic model for its day, great looks, great sound.

later models I thought sounded exceptionally well are the SS-160 " Showcase
" and a few years later the Bandshell and Firestar models. AMi also had
many great sounding models. Although all Jukeboxes have good sound when
they are working within original spec. Rock-Ola and Wurlitzer never sounded
as good to me as certain Seeburg and AMI Models.
"Pinsgonewild" wrote in message
oups.com...
Curios what the options are out there... Which seeburg (exposed mechs)
produces the best sound???

Don....

I too feel that most jukes sound nice when everything is rebuilt. The
warmth of the 40's Wurlitzer is great for your living room type box.
The Seebrug R is the best sounding of the 50's boxes. If you are trying
to do a large gameroom, I like the SMC's, they can rock with good bass.
I just did my first Rockola, 200 play Empress and it sounds better than
I thought it would.
As for your AY, rebuild the amp, check all resistor's and find good
tubes. I went through about six 7199 till I found some with no noise.
Don't use the Sovtek's on this amp, I had bad luck with them. I have
also restored some 50's AMI and they actually sound very nice when
done. The F's and G's are kind of ugly to me but they did sound nice.
Good luck with whichever one you do.

Bret
www.psapinball.com

Thanks to all who have posted this is all great information for me and
for those that read the post. I going to move ahead with the AY160
rebuild and see what the results are. My father had a AMI G80 in our
house when I was growing up and I always loved the sound and the mech,
I know this was not the best juke but I grew to appreciate that old
juke sound. Thanks again and I will post an update when I get her
working....

Don...