1965 Zenith model MM2670 stereo console score

[Electronic M]

Well earlier this week while browsing my local thrift store I came upon what I almost mistook for an old credenza....


Stylish as it was it didn't give off strong enough "I'm a console stereo not furniture" signals to keep me from almost passing it by......Then I noticed the grove in the top for the lift door and had a look. When I opened the lid I became very excited as I've seen similar models here before and knew this was a good one.





The micro touch phono and the horn speakers give it away as a TOTL Zenith audio console.


It is a tube SS hybrid with the receiver circuits being tube the pre-amp on the tuner chassis being SS, and the output amp being SS. A dead giveaway of this is that if you turn on to radio mode it will take time to warmup, but the phono will come on instantly. The model and chassis numbers are shown below.




The radio chassis was working fine when I tried it at the thrift, and the phono platter spun at a convincing speed, but it did not produce any sound.....A removal of the back(thanks Zenith for putting those cool service saver clips on ALL your consoles) showed that the wires that go to the solder posts for the changer's audio output had been unsoldered so I'd have to resolder it at home later. The unit actually has it's complete sam's folder with it along with spare fuses, pickup cartridge and styli, and a record cleaning cloth(the cloth had something weird happen to it that I'll describe later).
It clearly has had work done to it at some point because in addition to the disconnected pickup wires the tuner chassis has enough of it's mounting screws removed for it to only be held in by gravity.

I'm too smart for the concentric loudness balance knobs...... They move in unison and I initially thought it was because they were sticky(and I was perplexed because if I adjusted balance and then held balance still and adjusted vol the balance would change too), but apparently they are supposed to move in unison and you adjust balance by moving the balance knob RELATIVE to the volume knob. Initially I thought it was an unusual and bad design, but it makes sense when one looks at the lighted tone/tuning control scales and changer compartment....This sets ergonomics were designed with operation in a darkened room in mind, and the balance setup was done that way so someone who could not see the labels in the dark could grab either of the concentric knobs and adjust the volume with out disturbing balance by mistake...It is so quirky it is genius! It took me a few minutes to figure that out and as I did that the weird incident in which the record cleaning cloth was lost happened.


The weirdness happened when an Italian or Greek man in his 50's with a pronounced accent approached and the following conversation transpired...
The guy: Hey! I'm buying that.
Me: Oh, I'm sorry. I would not have moved it if I knew you were going to buy it.
The guy: I'm only joking, my son!(part of it I could not make out as I had the volume up)
Some jovial back slapping insued.
I said that it was a good model Zenith, and that I hoped I could convince my mom to let me get it.
He made some other jokey comment that I could not make out between his accent and the radio station I had on.
He then walked off and casually GRABBED the record cleaning cloth off the far end of the console!! Between the shock/disbelief of what I was seeing, and how strange I thought he was I let him walk off with the thing, but within minutes I started to regret that. Had he been a jerk before grabbing that cloth I'd have not let him get away with that. I have people randomly strike up unusual conversation topics with me at Goodwills from time to time, but this takes the cake for strangeness HANDS DOWN!

After bringing the console home I resoldered the pickup wires and found that aside from the speed being slow, and the record change function wanting to hang up that the changer is in good working order. Not bad for 20$ if I do say so myself. Five of the various indicator bulbs were bad and have been changed.

This has to be among my top 3 favorite stereo consoles I own. It is just that cool. From the tone control indicator lights that move when you turn the knobs to the awesome looking nearly flawless cabinet with it's hide away speakers to that great changer that has high end 70's features, but the mid 60's look, this thing just exudes cool. And the audio sounds great too.




The only things I still need to look into are the dead FM stereo indicator light, and the changer before this becomes a regular use set.

More pictures here... http://s1095.photobucket.com/albums/...ent/?start=all