Zenith K731
 

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post in this forum. On my way back to work from lunch I popped into the thrift store. I found a nice old Zenith radio. They researched it and were asking what it's worth, or maybe even a little more. But I thought it was really cool so I bought it. I haven't had a chance to take a close look at it, but it's a very neat radio. Can't wait to play around with it.

This is just a picture I found on the interwebz. Mine's not quite this clean, but I think it will clean up well.

Take care,

Ed

These are great little radio's. They put out pretty decent sound for the size. This particular chassis and slight variations of it were used from the late 40's all thru the early 60's by Zenith as it was a good performer, reliable and easy to service. Dont be fooled by its plain Jane appearance as you will definately be surprised by its performance. I've picked up stuff on mine that i was never able to on other radios i have from the same era. You did good Ed!
-Tony

Hey, that radio looks familiar.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=136531

Murray

I plugged it in, turned it on and got noting. Then I remembered. Doh! Tubes. It has to warm up. A few seconds later, sure enough, it works like a charm! AM and FM both working well.

Skippy, mine isn't quite as clean as yours. I think I'll probably have to refinish the wood work, but yes, it's exactly the same radio!

Even my wife thought it was cool and didn't give me a hard time for dragging it home.

Take care,

Ed

A couple of pics...

Looks pretty good. The front panel will come completely out as it's just screwed to the cabinet, from the inside. A little tricky to get to the screws but it can be done in a few minutes.

Yours has a little more fancy grill cloth than mine.

Murray

Zenith must have made 3 blue million of that style of radio from the late '40s til the '60s...They had the formula right-those guys are usually good performers. I have a blonde 1st cousin to that one, plus a BUNCH of the earlier "K725" styles...

I read a couple of things that said there were indeed a lot of them made and that they're still reasonably easy to find. I checked e bay and prices seem very reasonable and most are advertised as working well, so they must be pretty robust.

I removed the back for a peek inside. It's not too bad. The tubes all look pretty clean and everything looks to be in order. There is some dust collected in there, but it should be easy to clean up. It will be a fun project. But my history finishing wood isn't too good. I may have to practice on something else.

I really like the radio and my wife has agreed to let it live in the dining room. NPR is on AM here and she loves to listen to it all weekend. But the AM on our modern radios sounds horrible. I tuned it in on this little gem and it sounds sooooooooo much better!

Like Sandy, I have several of these, different flavors.

The sound is really amazing, and at 1/10th the cost of a Bose. And, as you're finding out, a reasonable WAF!:thmbsp:

They're actually acceptable in the living room or kitchen.

In it's new home!! I cleaned it a tiny bit and put some butcher block oil on it. Shined up pretty good and helped minimize the rough spots in the finish at least a little...

Murray, the thread about your radio talks about several items you replaced. This was a tiny bit over my head. Did you replace the blue thing? I think this radio will likely be used daily. I'd like to get it into tip top shape. I can solder and such pretty well. I'm sure I have the skills to put it all together, just not the knowledge of what exactly to do...

have the plastic version of the same radio made in 1959

I replaced all the axial caps underneath and one that's on top where the tweeter connects. The new caps are all Illinois Capacitor, 630v. The little "black beauty" striped cap that was on the left connected to the volume pot is .01 µf.

I powered it up and got some nice sound on AM but nothing on FM as I didn't have the antenna connected (hopefully that's the problem).

I'll probably change the blue thing this weekend although I'm pretty sure I don't have a larger value resistor (one of they guys in my thread suggested a 33 ohm to change the 22 in place). And, I did get new caps to replace the multi section cap. Nich 160v,100 and 47 µf.

Murray

I may have a look in mine this weekend. It is working perfectly and I can get ok FM with no antenna, but I live in the city. AM is wonderful.

I joined an antique radio forum to ask questinons about what to do for it to keep it happy. They suggested some caps like you're talking about, but advised that if the selenium rectifier looks to be in good shape and the B+ voltage checks out that it's probably good for another 20 years. They also said the health concern is largely overstated. So for now I'm going to leave it. I'll just check the caps and enjoy it!

I can't believe how much better AM radio sounds on this thing than our modern radios. Even my stereo systems are harder to listen to. AM has always driven me nuts, but I can listen all day on this thing.

Murray, I may be incorrect, but I believe that the AC cord functions as the FM antenna, so if all you're getting is silence, you may have further issues.