Fisher 500D
A model number that turns up in the archive's source pile attached to at least two other companies' products — and almost nothing verifiable about the Fisher itself.
Overview
The honest state of the record on the Fisher 500D is this: the supplied research contains no verified facts about it. No production years, no original price, no power rating, no circuit topology, no confirmed product type. What the source pile does contain is a cluster of "500D" documents that, on inspection, belong to entirely different products — and sorting those out is the only real work this page can do.
The first trap is the BGW 500D. A period advertisement in the source pile touts the BGW 500D as a 150-watt-per-channel power amplifier rated from 10 to 20k Hz at no more than 0.2% distortion, built with an SCR crowbar protection circuit and output transistors sized to handle ten times the current the supply can deliver. A separate write-up describes a BGW 500D putting out 200 watts per channel RMS, or 500 watts mono, with a two-speed fan and carrying handles. Those are BGW figures. They have nothing to do with Fisher, and any collector who searches "500D" and lands on a BGW spec sheet should not carry those numbers over.
The second trap is Altec Lansing. Several 1958-vintage Altec pages in the pile list a "500D" dividing network — a crossover priced at $39.00, specified for a 500-cycle crossover point and intended to pair an 803 bass speaker with an 802D driver on a 511B horn. A companion Altec network, the 800 E, is described as sharing the 500D's characteristics but crossing at 800 cycles. Again: Altec, not Fisher. The resemblance is a shared model number and nothing more.
A third item worth flagging for anyone doing their own digging: a HiFi-Stereo Review new-products column from July 1971 mentions a "Roberts GH-500D" tape deck. The "500D" there is a suffix on a Roberts model, not a Fisher receiver, and it should not be conflated with this page's subject.
So what is the Fisher 500D? The brand catalog places it among Fisher's receivers, and Fisher's receiver lineage in this archive is deep — the 500-C, the 500-B, the 400 series, the 800 series. A "500D" designation fits naturally into that naming pattern, but "fits naturally" is not documentation, and this page will not pretend otherwise. Until a Fisher service manual, owner's manual, catalog page, or period review naming the Fisher 500D specifically surfaces, the archive treats its specifications, years, and pricing as unconfirmed.
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