Zenith Cobramatic Self-contained record Player Information needed
 

Hello Everyone, today I was looking through one of the local antique malls near me and there was a Zenith Cobramatic with built-in strobe that was a self-contained unit with built-in amplifier and speaker and I was wondering if it was something that was worth getting and restoring, also maybe an approximate year of when it was made.

Pictures of the unit in question posted below.

Not seeing an image.


http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...1&d=1556390594

Fixed, sorry I was trying to use the embed image link at the top of the compose message wizard.

Got it now, thanks.

So do you know anything about this record player? Is it worth going back for and trying to restore? It has the strobe built into it which I have only seen one other unit like it online before and it was one that Shango066 had fixed up on youtube (I believe he's a member on here). And it was kind of cool how it worked.

Well I got the unit, its missing the sticker that tells you whether the record player is in manual mode or if its in 7", 10" or 12" automatic mode.

It still has the original power cord intact that is in really good shape yet surprisingly enough.

the tonearm though don't seem to want to lift very high which will make it very hard to service the cartridge and needle (it needs a needle but I can't see what kind of cartridge it has to see what kind of needle I need to order.)

Changer mechanism details are likely covered in this book:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yugkm3oc8...UL5vINQ8a?dl=0

That is, if the link works... (on edit) which it looks like it does.

Recommend downloading rather than reading it straight from Dropbox, as it's pretty darn slow.

Ok, thanks chip!

It does have a high pissah factor. Not very common & probably one of the
few things that will rise in value over the years. They also sounded pretty
damn good ! Probably the only hard part is finding a cartridge for it if
you want it to be original.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

BTW try carefully putting it upside down to access the cartridge. Odds
are it was made by EV & uses the T shaped needle.

Its an Astatic Powepoint Cartridge, which is available over at Voice of Music Enthusiasts website for $16 for a double tipped unit.

http://www.thevoiceofmusic.com/catal...th&Categories=

See link above for the needle this unit takes.

And its nice to know this was a good unit, I paid $35 plus tax for it, was that a good price?

Good working units stick at least a 1 in front of that number.

I THINK my Granny had one of these Bad Bois when I was a Tadpole. As I remember, it was Bakelite, black or dark brown, had an integral AM radio, & I THINK it had a changer, too. It was all curvy & swoopy looking, maybe put you in the mind of Buck Roger's Space ship, sorta like. I'm thinking it died-at least the record player part, anyhow, when I was 4 or 5, which would been 1961-62. It got tossed-Over my vigorous protests, but them's the breaks. They bought my Gran a wood tabletop Zenith AM-FM radio, which looks down at me even as we speak from a bookshelf.

Sandy, was it like the one in this ‘bay listing?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Zenith-Cobr...UAAOSw04Vcwldg

not affiliated,
jr