[Sandy G]

Zenith's decline ? Same as virtually ALL American industry. They stopped paying attention to "product development" & became slaves to cost accounting. I got an MJ-1035 about a couple of years ago. One of my Objets De Lust for a long time. Didn't work, so I took it to Terry, & he of course got it going again. But I was pretty underwhelmed-to say the least. This was the TOTL radio of a proud company-12 tubes. Does it receive all that well on AM or FM ? No, not really. AM is OK, but nothing spectacular, & FM is muted to where it only picks up the REALLY "Blowtorch" stations. OK, I know they set these up to "Selectivity" rather than "Sensitivity", but come on...OK, but at least it SOUNDS good, right ? Well....no. I mean its OK, but on a radio of this caliber, I'd expect a LOT better. And the whole thing sorta has an aura of "Cheap" about it- The finish on the wood is mediocre, the plastic is carnival side-show chintzy, & the plastic knobs are chrome plated by the same people who chromed bumpers on AMT model kits...Compare to a Grundig, Emud, Telefunken, SABA...They had GORGEOUS finishes, TO ME, about all of 'em I've seen are more sensitive, the knobs seem somewhat more substantial & have a better "feel" to 'em, you have better/more of a variety of tone controls, plus, the Germans gave you a tuning eye tube, & shortwave capability, something Zenith, of all firms, should have known Americans MIGHT have liked to hear...I mean, in many ways, Zenith's TOTL table set comes across as sort of a somewhat slightly gussied-up version of the loss-leader bedside "Wake-Me-Upper"...And it SHOULD have been better than that. Helluva shame.