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Up for sale is the ultimate crown jewel of post-war American audio engineering: a 1947 Magnavox "Windsor" Radio-Phonograph Console. Built as Magnavox's absolute top-of-the-line flagship model, this massive unit cost as much as a small car when new and was renowned for delivering true high-fidelity sound long before the "Hi-Fi" craze of the 1950s. Housed in a gorgeous, heavy Chippendale-style mahogany cabinet built by Drexel, this piece is an incredible piece of mid-century furniture art and a legendary tube audio powerhouse.The Electronics & Speakers: This is a powerhouse dual-chassis tube setup. It features the original Magnavox CR207A tuner/preamp chassis paired with the legendary, ultra-heavyweight parallel 6L6 power amplifier chassis. For guitar players, audiophiles, or tech builders, these massive transformers and 6L6 tube configurations are holy grail components for warm, high-headroom vintage tone.The speaker array is equally legendary. It features the original massive 15-inch main woofer paired with three upper high-frequency horn drivers behind the central grille cloth, delivering a rich, fully-divided multi-speaker sound stage.Phonograph & Documentation: The slide-out drawer houses a vintage Webcor (Webster-Chicago) 3-speed automatic record changer (supporting 33, 45, and 78 RPM), which was a common premium period-accurate upgrade to allow microgroove LP playback. This unit also comes with an incredible time-capsule bonus: its original box of documentation including the Magnavox Noise-Reducing Antenna System guide, physical installation instructions, and the official March 1947 Record Changer Service Bulletin.Condition & Selling as a ProjectCabinet: The Drexel wood cabinet is in very good structural shape with beautiful grain and original hardware. It shows light, honest cosmetic surface wear, scuffs, and minor edge chips consistent with age, but is an excellent candidate for a light cleanup or refinish.Functionality: This unit has been sitting safely unused in a home environment for decades. Because it utilizes vintage point-to-point tube wiring and original capacitors, it has not been powered on or tested to ensure safety to the transformers. It is being sold strictly AS-IS / as a restoration project. A qualified technician should bring this up slowly on a Variac before attempting to power it.This unit is incredibly heavy and built like a piano.
This reads as ambitious at US$475. Against your own comp set, that’s well above the 75th percentile of US$192 and far from the median US$175, so it’s priced at a premium rather than in the typical used range.
The upside is the appeal of a large mid-century console from a respected console-era name, with cabinetry and presentation doing a lot of the heavy lifting for collectors and decorators. But as a project, value depends on what’s actually intact: chassis originality, speaker condition, the phono mechanism, and whether any electronics work has already been done. At this ask, I’d want clear proof of completeness and cabinet quality before treating it as a buy.
Independent perspective — not a price guarantee. Always verify condition, accessories and provenance before purchase.
Magnavox traces its origins to 1911 in Napa, California, where inventors Peter L. Jensen and Edwin Pridham, operating initially as the Commercial Wireless and Development Company, pioneered the world's first moving-coil loudspeaker in 1915. Named Magnavox—Latin for "Great Voice"—this breakthrough allowed a single human voice to reach an entire town, marking a pivotal moment in audio history. The company formalized in 1917 after merging with Sonora Phonograph Distributing, evolving through innovations like the first all-electric tone arm in 1916 and single-dial radio in 1923, under leaders such as Frank Freimann during its mid-century "glory years."
Historically focused on loudspeakers and pioneering consumer electronics, Magnavox expanded into phonographs, radios, televisions, and phono/filmstrip projectors like the Illustravox. Its legacy includes the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console, alongside early plasma displays and Navy-grade speakers. Today, under Curtis International Ltd. since 2025, it emphasizes budget-friendly home appliances and electronics, though specific modern hi-fi categories like amplifiers, turntables, or DACs remain less prominently detailed.
Magnavox holds a revered position as a vintage pioneer in American audio, celebrated by collectors for its foundational loudspeaker patents and mid-20th-century dominance in TVs and radios from Fort Wayne, Indiana plants. No longer a high-end or boutique contender, it occupies mid-tier, accessible territory in today's market, its innovative heritage preserved by dedicated associations while evoking nostalgia for hi-fi enthusiasts.
See all Magnavox listings on RADAR.
