Crown 702

[stereorob2.0]

this one is a early model crown 702 halftrack deck, mono in nature, in shabby shot out terrible condition *fit* this is probubly one of the oldest decks in my stash. the transport works fine but its in dire need of a restoration and is just screaming at me to do so.

the story..

i scooped this one at a barn sale out in the country many years ago on one of my stereo gear hunt expeditions when i was a kid, i used to gas up my 1955 pontiac and drive all over the state, riding from town to town trolling for gear. i would leave friday, right after school, drive overnight to the farthest proposed destenation, grab something at mcdonalds, smoke a joint, and crash in the back seat till first light, and begin the intracite drive back home, hitting every thrift shop, junk shop, garage/rummage sale, estate sale etc trash pile etc that i could find. id go to one of those "out of the way" off the beaten track places full of in-breds, scary rednecks, big belly sherriffs, voodoo queens, talking parrots, and guys that ware white sheets on the weekends kind of places. (i used to do this usually solo as it was my first taste of real freedom being 16 and just getting my drivers licence and it would scare the shit out of my parents) i had many epic adventures, met many intresting people, got a true perspective of the good ole boy deep south and white trash in general! i even had a few one night stands with country farm girls and got into a few fights at country hick bars, and all along the way, made some of the greatest gear scores of my life! it was always an exiting adventure and i loved every damn minute of it! those "tube stereo expeditions" were some of the greatest times of my life, and ill never forget them.

i used to keep a journal about these trips and write about them as i went along.

stereorob stereo expedition # 3,


udiophiles log (so far) jensen field coil speakers and a rusty newcomb tube pa amp found in a trash pile on the way up last night

stereodate.. september 15th,2000.

time. 6:45am, place, keystone hights, florida (small hick town north of ocala)

the sun had just began to rise, when i woke up to the misty foggy humid north florida morning. i lit my first doob of the day, took a piss, popped the trunk to inspect last nights trash finds, started up the green monster (my 1955 pontiac starchief, it was jade and seafoam green, i had chosen its color soley because it was the same color as weed *grin* and the name, starchief, my friends used to call it star-chiefin') and started down old route 44 into town (i had spent the night sleeping in the car, witch i parked behind a old barn out in the woods. it was very foggy that morning as i went rumbling down the sleepy country road, suddenly, i see a old man wearing suspenders putting a home-maid wood sign out by the road saying "barn junk sale" -of course, i ran right up to him, and explained what i was looking for. this place was pretty amazing. big old run down victorian house, with huge live oak trees full of spanish moss, with a large barn in the back totally covered in kudza vines and a few old rusty cars on bricks here and there, i asked him if he had any old radios stereo gear etc, -he stood there looking at me like i was from another planet. me, being a 16 year old punk, standing infront of my 1955 pontiac with 20" dayton spoke rims (they didnt have 22s yet)talking a mile a minute wearing shorts hanging down past my ass, rufled boxer shorts, a wife beater tee with a fubu jerzy, big silver chain with a pot leaf and my dark blue spiked hair with frosted white tips. he just looked puzzled. wile he chewed his tabbaco and spit every now and again. he looked at me, and said. "err give ya a grand for the car", i told him it wasnt for sale and continued talking to him, when i finally shut up, he told me to go into the barn, past the stuff sitting outside for sale. he told me there might be something sitting on the back wall. so, into the barn i went, rummaging around for whatever this something might be. -there under a rust coverd chicken coop full of tractor parts i found a dusty large cob-webbed box with three rusted claspsand a rotton handle on the top, o cracked the lid and saw what at first was a old film projector untill i saw the single UV meter, i pulled the box out of the barn to look at it in the misty early morning light, CROWN it said, it was a old reel to reel deck that looked like it was from the 1950s, and (judging by the crusted layers of spider webs and dirt) looked like that it had probubly been there SINCE the 1950s! i asked the old skinny man in the suspenders spitting tabacco what he wanted for it. "ill take 15" he said. i offered him $5 for it, he grunted and said "gimme 10 for it" being the cocky little snot i was back then i told him $7. he said "FINE DAD GUMMIT GIMME 7& AND GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!!" so i put it in the trunk and went about my day, hitting town after town, shop after shop, scooping up some other cool stuff along the way, and stopped in eustis that evening and went down to the lake they have there, set up like a little beach, with sand and all. parked the car, kicked off my shoes, lit up another joint and went for a swim, waded out into the lake, and smoked the doob and watched the sunset. i guess the smell of the reefer had drifted to shore and i saw some other kids hanging out on the beach, and they waved me to shore, asked if i had any more grass -witch i did, and they invited me back to there place a few blocks away. being the social butterfly that i am always intrested in meeting new people especailly locals, i followed them back to there house (there was 5 of them, 3 girls and 2 boys, in a beat up ford f-150) wile introducing myself i noticed the thick dark haired girl kept smiling at me, when i went to get into my car, she said, very loudly, "HI BOBBY IM MYSTI !! WHAT A COOL CAR CAN I RIDE WITH YOU?" -in a somewhat trashy country accent being who i was at the time *devil* i said "hi mysti you fine too yeah you can ride with me, u wanna blaze some krippie with me?" "HELL YEAH" she said. so we followed the other kids back to there place, the two guys were brothers, donny and joey , the other girl, sara was joeys GF and mysti was just a friend of saras, donnys GF was at home. we went back to donny and joeys house, *there parents were gone for the weekend* and got piss drunk on his dads booze and got stoned as hell on my grass. i met a few new people that would end up being good friends of mine later in life, and met a really cute virgin -yes virgin country girl atleast untill that night *devil* that i still keep in touch with to this day, that night, me and mysti did our thing and ended up spending most of the next day together and that sunday evening i rode back to home to orlando. -it was a great weekend, i scored some neat old tube gear,*Hi5* got sky high, met some new friends, and got laid. *grin* mysti was a really sweet girl and we had alot in common but sadley long distance relationships never work out. i spent a few more weekends up in eustis with her but eventually had to let her go. she was country, i was city, she was innocent and pure, and i was a pot dealing little asshole. oh well. now, she is all grown up, is married, has 2 kids, and still lives in eustis, a town of locals with generations of the same people, that really hasnt changed that much at all in the last 100 years. i lost touch with her for a about 7 years and she ended up finding me on facebook lol. -sadley the years were not kind to her -at all. she gained about 150 pounds and is downright shit ugly now. still a very sweet kind harted girl, but not the hottie she used to be. -its sad sometimes to see GFs of the old grow up to be fat and horrible. *bigthumbdown*


anyways, enough of my teenage ramblings of yesteryear, down to business..

*reelspin**reelspin**reelspin**reelspin**reelspin* *reelspin*

the crown 702, its mono halftrack, i cant find much info about it on the web. it seems fairly obscure. the transport works fine, and back when i got it, the whole thing worked i guess, but i have never been able to score the right size reels for it or tape, -i think it takes 1/2inch? i plugged it in and got some hiss and static in the pots, tried to load a normal 7" plastic reel on it, but the tape was too small and the deck spins WAY too fast, so it sat in my rig in my garage for awile, and faided back into obscurity abandoned and forgotton in the darkest bowels of my hell for stereo stuff, untill 2010 when i went up north to see my folks and dragged this one, along with 50 or so other receivers and components back down to west palm with me. sadley, the transport still works but one of the tubes got snowcapped somehow so i cant plug it in untill i get a replacement. i was wondering, dose anyone have a old crummy pair of reels i could get from you guys for this thing? ive had this deck for over a decade and have never been able to hear it! *fit* the bad tubes are a 6sn7 and a 12at7, i know i have a spare 12at7 laying around but not the 6sn7 but i can probubbly find one around someware. i really wanna restore this one cause its really nice looking and would probubly sound damn good! also, if its possible, can i run this just as a transport without the preamp? and how hard would that be to do?

thanks for reading the story, and about the deck

i hope you liked it!