Im finding some pretty rare non tv stuff lately at estate sales. I figure its electronic and we all like estate sales, this is the place to show the finds.

I got my most favorite zenith HI FI stereo ever yesterday. Its the first zenith HIFI with stereo! From 1959. I forget the chassis already and its in storage so I cant go back to it easily. Its kind of a beater, but atleast I got one! In 1960 zenith had the same tuner layout like this set but it had a slide rule dial for the mono/stereo mixing called "extended range stereo" The set has been rigged up pretty good, some fool drilled 4 holes in the back for on off toggle switches that controlled his extention speakers. They broke the tuning dial cord. Its wierd because zenith had stoppers at the end of the dial so you wouldnt over turn and snap a dial cord. I pulled the back off and all the lamp sockets were unhooked from the dial and laying on the chassis and the dial cord was on the bottom of the cabinet. Im guessing someone tryed to change the dial bulb and broke the dial cord as the bulbs are just above the cord. Oh well, its an easy fix.

Its got a cobramatic turntable, needs to be worked on, very sluggish but gets better when you speed it up by hand. Most likely dried grease on the idler shaft or motor.

A friend of mine helped me move the set into storage today. When he looked at the tone arm he said it looked like the head of a snake. I never put 2 and 2 together, as the phono is called a cobramatic! I never paid any attention to that, perhaps its just a coincidince.

I remember seeing this exact model at the chicagoland car exchange on display when I was about 13 and I thought it would be a cool set to have. They had 20 console hi fi's on the perimeter of the show room and they refused to sell it too me no matter what. I got one now so the heck with them.

the tuner layout

the cobra matic. The set does work, just needs some touching up to get it back 100%

Doug,

I found half a Zenith stereo at the Goodwill yesterday. :D

It was just the one speaker unit from a two piece system of the type was popular in the late 50's early 60's. Had a nice little 6BQ5 amp and a couple speakers in a wood cabinet.

If they had wanted $15 for it instead of $30 I might have picked it up. :mad:

The cobra-matic you have is actually made by V-M corporation of Michigan...they made OEM record changers for a lot of different makes.

I don't know if this one uses it but some of the older Cobra-matics had an unusual phono cartridge using an RF oscillator and detector to operate the cartridge...don't know exactly how it works though.

The original Cobra system with the RF oscillator (basically a one-tube miniature FM transmitter and demodulator system) was mono only. If it's a stereo turntable, the cartridge is totally different, and not a Cobra at all beyond the name and the plastic tonearm shell. By the time stereo came out in '59, all cartridges were light tracking (the claim-to-fame of the cobra system in 1946). You can't do stereo and have a heavy tracking force unless you don't care for the life of the records. The vertical compliance will kill the grooves. Original cobra tonearms had *zero* vertical compliance and weren't designed for any vertical component of stylus movement.

Just picked up this beauty at an estate sale today for $75.00. A saba stereo 3000 with automatic tuning (like a wonderbar radio) The set even worked when I found it, both channels too. This set is from 1963, I have the stereo 2000 which is a more basic model.
This sets sound quality will blow you away! Sounds good with the EL95 outputs. On the right speaker grille is a metal hang on tag that says this saba HIFI is FM stereo equipped. inside is a seperate stereo multiplexer sub chassis. The multiplexer is an optional add on by saba and was made by Fisher. FM stereo works excellent. What is interesting to note, the motorized tuner is constantly operating. Since this set does not have AFC, you can see the dial knob slightly rocking back and fourth keeping FM stations perfectly tuned in! You can select manual mode to turn off the motorized tuning.
The set appears to be all original, all original tubes and a nice original Dual turntable. Like most german made consoles I find, they seem to always come with their manuals and paperwork.

cabinet

has the orignal Dual Turntable. dwight, I am guessing this is the exact turntable your saba TV would have had.

the tuner

that little sub chassis is a fisher FM stereo multiplexer unit, which was a saba option