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View Full Version : Hacker Centurion GA 500 plus Fidelity "all in one"



combwork
12-09-2008, 12:28
Does anyone know how old this is, and assuming it's in good order, what it should sound like? "Centurion" seems to be a model name Hacker used a lot, but mostly referring to smallish music centerer type things, complete with radio tuner. The 500 is a record player only; quite heavy in good wood with a pair of matching speakers. Ok, I know it's not audiophile, but back in the 1960's and 70's, Hacker had a good reputation for well built and good quality radios and record players.

The Fidelity "all in one" was a single unit containing a 21" colour television, record player, cassette unit and multi band radio. When working they sounded pretty damn good. Problem was that they were not modular. Any fault that couldn't be fixed on site meant that the entire monstrous thing had to be lugged back to the workshop. I've got one (which I hope to unload soon) which I think was quite late; it even has a remote control. I'm curious about when they were produced.

pure sound
12-09-2008, 15:07
I used to work with someone who had been an engineer at Hacker. He was always full of praise for the quality of what they did & inspired me to invest in one of the fabulous Sovereign II radio's with its Alnico magnet driver & remarkable sound quality. It still does great work in our kitchen now & is far better than any of the comparably priced Roberts efforts. I seem to recall him saying that Hacker did buy in their cassette mechanisms from Nakamichi which gives some indication of the seriousness with which they made these things. It would be interesting to see some photo's to see which record deck they were fitting to it. Probably a Garrard SP25 or something similar.

DSJR
12-09-2008, 22:38
The Centurion was around 1970 IIRC. Does it use a Garrard AP75 or a lenco, I can't remember.

My first record player was a Dansette Popular and my first "proper" record player was a Hacker GP42 "Gondolier" with 2025TC changer/Acos GP96 and with a beautifully made 7W valve amp inside (Glenn Croft would be very proud as it used tag strips to mount the components). The speaker was a 10"x6" Celestion and the tone was very good, altthough max treble was actually "flat." There was an external amp/speaker unit available to make it stereo too, although I went the separates way a few years later and never bought one....

combwork
14-09-2008, 09:20
The Centurion was around 1970 IIRC. Does it use a Garrard AP75 or a lenco, I can't remember.

My first record player was a Dansette Popular and my first "proper" record player was a Hacker GP42 "Gondolier" with 2025TC changer/Acos GP96 and with a beautifully made 7W valve amp inside (Glenn Croft would be very proud as it used tag strips to mount the components). The speaker was a 10"x6" Celestion and the tone was very good, altthough max treble was actually "flat." There was an external amp/speaker unit available to make it stereo too, although I went the separates way a few years later and never bought one....


The Centurion was around 1970 IIRC. Does it use a Garrard AP75 or a lenco, I can't remember.

Thanks DSJR. It has a Garrard deck; I can't test it as the stylus is missing but it makes a satisfying 'thonk' when tapped so I guess the cartridge is OK. Playing a tape through the tuner input sounds good; nothing too wrong with the amp. The deck looks like an autochange but it's fitted with a short single play spindle. Next thing is to find a new owner for it; I hate waste but I need the space:smoking: