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Old 05-10-2016, 12:21 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
Quote:
Originally Posted by dieseljeep View Post
That is one well-built solid state radio! Even uses the standard size IF transformers. Very few import parts used!
Not only that, but this one has the permeability-tuned FM tuner. I thought it would after I saw the linear FM tuning scale, so I wasn't surprised when I saw the tuner under the chassis. The other interesting thing (to me, anyway) about this radio is the unique dial drive system, which tunes AM and FM simultaneously. The only thing I don't like about that design is just that, i.e. the AM and FM dials move together when you turn the tuning knob. I have a feeling this might have been a cost-cutting measure by Zenith in the late '60s, so they didn't have to use a separate dial drive and tuning knob for each band. The only FM tuners I ever saw with such a tuning arrangement (separate dial drives for AM and FM) were the ones that were designed for the old AM-FM stereo broadcast standard, which of course was abandoned when multiplexed FM broadcasting became the new standard for stereo FM.

Another cost-cutting feature was the lack of a tweeter speaker, as was used in the early '60s Zenith radios; at least I didn't see a separate tweeter in this one. The large pulley driving the dial cord is in the position where I would have expected to see such a speaker. The only thing I can think of that would have prompted Zenith to design these late '60s radios without tweeters is the solid-state design; the audio output transistor may not have been powerful enough to drive the main speaker and a tweeter as well. The earlier Zeniths with tweeters (K731, C845, et al.) drove them directly from the plate of the audio output tube.
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Jeff, WB8NHV

Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002

Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten.

Last edited by Jeffhs; 05-10-2016 at 12:32 PM.
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