Fisher 100-B (circa 1962–1963)

A twelve-tube FM stereo tuner that a lab once called the most sensitive it had ever measured. Fisher sold it at $229.50, then quietly raised the price.

Overview

The name is a mess. The Archive's source material calls this tuner both the "Fisher 100-B" and the "Fisher FM-100-B," and the two designations appear to describe one and the same chassis - an FM stereo multiplex wide-band tuner sold in the early 1960s. The "FM-" prefix is the form on surviving eBay listings and in the period advertising, so collectors generally search it as the FM-100-B. Don't confuse it with the Fisher X-100-B, an entirely different product - a Stereo Master Control Amplifier - that shares the trailing digits and shows up in the same search results. The X-series parts listings that span several X-models at once are another trap. Read the listing title carefully. The amplifier is not the tuner.

The tuner is a tube design. High Fidelity (August 1962) noted that the FM-100-B contains twelve tubes, and the tuner section uses 6DJ8 and 6AQ8 types in what the documentation describes as a Golden Cascode front end. The step-up FM-200-B carries fifteen tubes, and Fisher's own comparison material was candid that the extra three gave the FM-200-B "a measure of performance that is superior to the already fine results obtained with the FM-100-B." The 100-B was not the flagship. It was the middle of the line.

What made it notable was a single lab verdict. HiFi/Stereo Review put the tuner on the bench for its "Laboratory Test of Stereo FM Tuners: Part Two" (February 1963), and testers Julian Hirsch and Gladden Houck judged it the most sensitive FM tuner they had measured to date. Fisher reprinted that line in its own advertising. Audio (March 1963, p.11) ran the quote as a headline, then admitted the 100-B wasn't even the most sensitive tuner Fisher made. Several higher-priced models outdid it. So the maker was happy to call its own tuner second-best in its own house.

Key Features

Golden Cascode Tuner Section with 6DJ8 and 6AQ8 Tubes

The front end is the part that earned the lab praise. The tuner section uses 6DJ8 and 6AQ8 tubes in a Golden Cascode arrangement, a low-noise RF configuration that in the period made the difference between pulling in a weak stereo station cleanly and not pulling it in at all. The twelve-tube count across the whole chassis is modest by the standards of the flagship tuners of the day, and Fisher's own literature framed the 100-B as combining wide-band design with advanced multiplex circuitry rather than as a no-compromise statement piece. The sensitivity figure Fisher quoted in microvolts IHFM is lost to OCR damage in the Archive's copy of the advertising, so the number can't be stated here.

Stereo Beacon Indicator and Automatic Switching

Two conveniences defined the user side of the tuner. A Stereo Beacon lamp lights when a stereo station is tuned in, and a tuning meter indicates signal strength. Together they let a listener find and confirm a stereo broadcast without guesswork. The Beacon and its automatic switching system were called out in Fisher's own 1963 guide material, and they remain the features owners mention when describing the tuner's day-to-day behavior.

Twelve-Tube Chassis and Wood Case Option

Twelve tubes is the middle of Fisher's tuner range - enough for a wide-band front end and full multiplex decoding, without the three extra tubes that separated the FM-200-B. Units surface today in a wood case, and surviving listings describe examples "in very good condition with wood case," sometimes serviced and aligned. The case was an option rather than a given, so a bare-chassis example is not incomplete. It simply left the factory without the cabinet.

Historical Context

The FM-100-B was Fisher's FM-stereo replacement for the 1959-60 FM-100, a tuner designed around the Crosby multiplex system, an earlier approach to stereo broadcasting that ultimately lost out. The 100-B arrived after the FM stereo standard settled, and it sat one step up in price from Fisher's least expensive tuner, priced $50 below the FM-200-B. High Fidelity (March 1962, p.8) listed the 100-B at $229.50, a figure repeated in HiFI-Stereo (May 1962, p.16), and by late 1962 the price had moved up to $249.50. High Fidelity (November 1962, p.13) ran the 100-B beside the $299.50 FM-200-B and invited readers to decide how good the cheaper tuner really was for fifty dollars less. The ad reappeared in High Fidelity (February 1963, p.23). Fisher's marketing claimed the 100-B outperformed all other makes regardless of price, and the same company's 1963 advertising conceded it was not the most sensitive tuner in its own line.

Production years are approximate. Sources give "circa 1962-1963," with one reference offering 1961-1964. The Archive treats the run as early-1960s and does not claim a confirmed span.