What to do, what to do... (or, this thing is HUGE!) (1 Viewer)

When my grandparents finally moved out of their house of 50 yrs, I got my grandpa's '61 Westinghouse stereo. I think this style, (console), was short-lived, as I can't find anything like it online, (even tho I've found 3 others in my neighborhood!)
When I got it the speakers were the only things that still worked, (the rest had some blown tubes.) If I were to replace / upgrade everything I'd get new speakers too, but the question is, should I actually fix this thing back up? If so, what should I put into it to make it worth my while?
Here's a frontal shot to show just how big it is. I haven't measured it lately but it's about 3ft wide x 3ft tall x 1 1/2ft deep.

Some pics of the guts can be found here.

I notice it has had one driver replaced. Regardless, there are folks who collect consoles, so if you need NOS parts or prefer to sell it as is, do some Google searches for vintage consoles, radios, etc.. Unless you just want a so-so stereo in a vintage cab as a conversation piece or small room music, I imagine it will have more value if returned to original.

Dave ([email protected]) has quite a collection of consoles and can probably give you much more info.

GM

Instead of bringing it back to original I would keep the cab and change everything else. I would remove the speakers and the board and biuld some new ones with a new board. For the top I would look for a top loadind cd player and a pre amp and have your amp sitting were the old one is. I think it would be great to have a vintage cab with a updated stereo It just looks so good.

You could make it into a subwoofer! Gut the insides, cut a hole in the bottom and mount an MDF box inside it. It would definitely be unique!

Thanks for the replies guys.

If I were to add a cd player it might as well be attached to a laptop so I can play mp3's too. I'd like to see it restored to good musical form; I don't care about the current electronics. In fact I gutted it aside from the speakers awhile ago.

My dimensions we a little off; I've only got a 13" depth on the bottom to work w/. I could put in one 12" or 2 10's side to side, (yea i'd thought of adding subs/woofers before; not one huge sub tho)

So if I did that I'd have a couple issues. I tried to find tweeters that fit in place of the 4" speakers but couldn't. I guess I've just gotta find tweeters w/ an outside diameter less than 3 3/4" and make a extension mount for them.

Also, I found an old Zenith stereo, (from another console), that'll fit where the old one was; just gotta make a new board to support it. The only problem w/ that is it's old. I didn't listen to it extensively, but it works. I think I'd be satisfied w/ it; mostly I want this setup for mp3's an cd's. Thoughts?

I would biuld new cabinets for the speakers. I would look at some speaker kits that would fit in there.

Yea I planned on making boxes for the speakers. I found 8" and 5"ers that should fit in place of the existing speakers; i'd just have to cut holes for tweeters.

Dunno if I wanna make a new front or just glue/screw a board onto the back of it. The latter would most likely be easier; not sure if i could cut tweeter holes w/out taking off the fabric tho.

I need to find an amp for it too; haven't seen a straight stereo amp yet. I saw a stereo amp w/ a tuner; dunno if I could implement that very well. Any suggestions on that?

What will you do about crossovers for you speakers.

After finding that it's easy to take out the front baffle, so I can make a new one easy enough, I figure I might as well go w/ sizes I'd rather have. Those would be 10" woofers, 6.5" mids, and 1" tweeters. I figure I'd cross the mids @ 800Hz, and the tweeters @ 5000Hz.

To get the most out of it I think it'd serve best as a TV stand, (or would the speakers be too low for that?) However, I can't seperate the panel where the handles are to make it pull down (and provide an area for the receiver an such), w/out tearin up the wood.

Just thought of somethin; if the existing speakers would be too low, i could put the receiver, etc in there w/ doors covered w/ speaker cloth, and put bookshelf speakers on top. Only problem is w/ a 27" TV i'd only have 11" of width left; coud use stands I guess but I think it'd be cool to have an all-in-one deal.

I saw another console stereo awhile ago @ a yardsale down the street; looked in good shape, dunno the width tho. If it's 4Ft maybe I could hack that up an do like I said above; add a sub in the cabinet mebbe. Would ~6" off the ground kill the purpose of a sub? I could extend a box for it down to the ground I guess.