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Old 10-13-2011, 12:09 PM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
<----Zenith C845
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Fairport Harbor, Ohio (near Lake Erie)
Posts: 4,035
Cheap plastic record changer...in a Magnavox? Horror of horrors!

I am surprised Magnavox would ever dare use any kind of cheap plastic record changer in its phonographs or radio/phono combination units; after all, Magnavox (the original Magnavox Company of Fort Wayne, Indiana) was one of the best manufacturers of stereo combo units, phonographs, TVs, and radios in the '50s through the '70s or so, second only to Zenith and Motorola. I've seen several '50s Magnavox consoles personally, plus the occasional one that shows up on eBay; every one of them had the Magnavox Micromatic 4-speed record changer with very low tracking force. One ad in the '60s for a Magnavox 3-way console entertainment unit (TV, phono, AM/FM radio) stated the record changer had very low tracking force and that "your records can last a lifetime" when played on it. I simply cannot believe Magnavox would abandon this type of changer for a cheap plastic one, unless the phonograph you are referring to was a cheap rebadged offshore import -- the Magnavox name plastered onto a piece of junk. (I wonder if any of Magnavox's 3-way entertainment centers of the '70s had this kind of changer.) If I had one of these sets and the changer went West for any reason, I'd pull it and replace it with a decent one without thinking twice.

BTW, the Motorola phono mentioned in this thread, IMHO, also deserves much better than a plastic changer; I'm glad that one has a real changer made primarily of metal parts. Moto is, again IMHO, in the same class with Magnavox and Zenith sets of the '50s through the end of the sixties; as such, any piece of entertainment gear made by Motorola deserves the best as far as replacement parts are concerned, including the entire record changer if such needs to be replaced.
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Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002

Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten.
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