Lehman Black Cube or Fisher 500C?

I just picked up the Fisher, they did a nice job. The tech says he owns 4x500c's personally and one 800 (is that a model?) and loves them. That said, he poured his heart into replacing everything he thought it could use and cleaning it up nicely : Note: he kept the tubes which he found in it which were not all original but all tested strong and appear pretty "vintage" to me. He said they were playing music through it for the last 3 days to break it in and it was the best sounding receiver he has had in his shop....He compared it favorably with some Mcintosh unit he still uses, I don't know the model..... He also says he thinks my Benz may be ok for the "low-output" input of the unit. My TT should be set up asap and I'll try to post my experience with it then. Thanks for all the help..

The Fisher phono section should work OK with 2.0 or 2.5mV input. The Benz has about 1mV output. So you really do not need the Lehman at all, and I should have thought of this before. Any decent SUT will have an easy time supplying the missing drive, IF the direct input into the Fisher phono section from the Benz is not quite adequate to make you happy. Also, there are many great MM and MI cartridges that IMO surpass the Glider in both output and overall performance and could easily drive the Fisher phono stage, for less than half the price of the Glider.

Thanks for the input Lewm. The crossover does have a high pass filter (choices of 50, 80, or 110 hz) which is what helps the CJ handle the Apogees without issue. Should I really ask the tech to try to increase the phono gain or should I just try it all first? My other question for the tech is should I have him install an IEC jack (which I happen to have available) into the Fisher so I can use aftermarket pc's or would that be blasphemous (all else in unit will be restored as original). Thanks for your input. And yes, I'm excited about hearing the Fisher into the Silverlines too.

I am surprised that even the CJ is adequate for the Apogees, since the REL crossover does not have a high pass filter (i.e., the CJ has to drive the Apogees full range, I think). You certainly could try running the Benz Glider straight into the MM input of the Fisher. If you have a talented tech working on the Fisher, perhaps he could even perform a trick or two to increase phono gain, if that proves to be needed at all. I bet the Fisher into the Silverllines will be divine.

OK, Thanks for the input so far guys but I should have completed the scene with the rest of my system. The Fisher was brought in to act as a full featured unit for a secondary pair of speakers which I know it will match up to beautifully: Silverline Sonata 2's (8 ohm with very little variation from it and 95db efficient). This will be fed from the dac of my main system when I'm not simply using the tuner on the Fisher. My main system would not permit the Fisher to power it... Speakers are Apogee Duetta Signatures (approx 83 db efficient and a pulverizing 3.2 ohms +/- a little...) Amps are usually my Conrad Johnson Premier 12's (140 per channel using 4 x 6550's per channel) which is fed into the Apogees after going through an external crossover which splits the signal at 50hz and below into a Rel Stadium 2 sub while the CJ's handle above that into the speakers...
While I'm pretty sure the turntable should sound very nice through the Fisher into the Silverlines,I was hoping to integrate it into the main system as well. So: TT to Lehman to Fisher (aux input?) then the Fisher as a linestage... but that must make it all the way (18') via unbalanced I/C's all the way to my crossover.... which might be limiting on the top-end frequency extension?... I don't know. I was hoping I could skip the Lehman and run TT to Fisher's phono, then out to the Line 3's input and take it from there...
Regardless of all this, that's an awful lot of I/C's..
Maybe I'm better off not trying phono into the main rig and just enjoying it into the Sonatas... I'm sure it will be very nice there....

Dear Lisnr and Jig, Read this review from Stereophile: http://stereophile.com/historical/605fisher/

A restored 500C will at worst compete with the Lehman and Line 3, plus you get a very good sounding amplifier in the bargain. I would not assume that the sonics are "vintage" in any way. Unless you have very power hungry speakers, the 500C would seem to be worth a try. But you have not told us what other amp you own.

I would say that the true answer would lie with your speakers and amplifier. If the speakers are hard to drive then I don't think the Fisher will get the job done. OTOH, if the speakers are easy to drive, then what Lewm recommended.The Line 3 is an awesome preamp but would generally be considered nuetral whereas the Fisher would be decidedly euphonic in character, i.e. old school tubey sound.

I'll take a stab. You only need one phono stage, either the one built into the Fisher, which is probably strictly for high output MM cartridges, or your Lehman. Either of those could be run into the Symphonic Line 3. It's probable that the Fisher does not have quite enough phono gain for the Benz Glider, however, but there is no harm in trying. OR you could run the Glider into the Lehman and hence the Lehman into the high level input of the Fisher, and use the latter as your linestage, Assuming you intend to use the amplifier section of the Fisher to drive your speakers, which you have not stipulated, I would personally choose to use the Lehman/Fisher and eliminate the Symphonic, if only to minimize the number of different pieces of gear and ICs in the signal path. You can have lots of fun sorting his all out yourself, but less is usually more in audio.