Why did Zenith's cabinets get cheap, and why?

[Carmine]

Per radiotvnut, in another post...:

So far, I'm liking it real well. Will like it better once I get it going. I just wish the cabinet was real wood; not particle board and plastic. But; the chassis is built like a tank!

He is referencing a mid-70 Zenith console.

I have to say that I'd agree. Seems like Zenith's cabinets were at one time higher quality than most any other brand I've run across... (until the early 70s)

The older Zenith tops are usually solid wood, while most RCA's in the same price range are either veneer, or such a thin piece of wood that I fear a 70s VCR might have collapsed them! Then it seems like somebody flipped a switch and suddenly the Zenith cabinets relied too much on plastic details and particle board, even as the chassis remained 1st rate. Seems very out of character.

Your thoughts?

It seems that there is somewhat of a bias here against console sets. I do understand that the more elaborate consoles are space-eaters, but ultimately I prefer them... Much the same as I'd rather have an Imperial, vs. a Plymouth Valiant. Sadly, all my Zeniths have been bottom of the food chain. (Until I finally scored a diagnonal-dial colonial roundie last year) I keep the low-line sets around and working... secretly hoping to find that perfect Danish-modern roundie that has been gutted and waiting for an organ transplant!

[drh4683]

That '68 zenith colonial console I picked up this past saterday is much cheaper. All that colonial "woodwork" on the front sides and bottom of the cabinet is molded plastic! Even in '68! The woodwork on top of the cabinet and the sides is real wood though.
In that same TV, zenith used plastic angle braces to reinforce the cabinet from the inside. Most sets used the triangular cut pieces of wood to do this.

Ive seen alot of cheaper zeniths with photofinished cabinets, beginning around 1965 model consoles. They used some kind of composite board, not wood though. Alot of times, heavy things got placed on top of the set and you can see it cave in and in most cases, a permantent dip can be seen on top after prolonged support of a heavy object.

[fsjonsey]

Originally Posted by drh4683

That '68 zenith colonial console I picked up this past saterday is much cheaper. All that colonial "woodwork" on the front sides and bottom of the cabinet is molded plastic! Even in '68! The woodwork on top of the cabinet and the sides is real wood though.
In that same TV, zenith used plastic angle braces to reinforce the cabinet from the inside. Most sets used the triangular cut pieces of wood to do this.

Ive seen alot of cheaper zeniths with photofinished cabinets, beginning around 1965 model consoles. They used some kind of composite board, not wood though. Alot of times, heavy things got placed on top of the set and you can see it cave in and in most cases, a permantent dip can be seen on top after prolonged support of a heavy object.

My late 60's zenith is exactly the same. The entire front fascia, including the scrollwork is plastic, the bottom fiberboard, the sides paper thin plywood, and the top is slightly thicker plywood with real wood scrollwork, all built around a 1x1" frame. At this point im thinking of having someone build a danish modern cabinet for it. This ones uuugglllaaay. Does anyone know what model year 16Z8C50 chassis is?

[Carmine]

By the same token, they did seem to offer some really NICE cabinets, at least until the late 60s. But after the early 70s, it seems like you couldn't get a nice cabinet even if you had the bread.

I can only figure they had to go cheap on the cabinets to have any hope of selling against the wave of cheap import sets. You can't keep building hand-wired, steel chassis sets with huge transformers forever.

Far as I'm concerned, tubes and printed circuits don't even belong in the same sentence, let alone cabinet!

Too bad they didn't have me to write slogans for them.

[RaymondLeggs]

There is an old zenith console TV in a pile of junk in my grandmothers house
The whole picture tube has slid into the TV and there are various other solid state TV's in another room too...

[bgadow]

Originally Posted by RaymondLeggs

The whole picture tube has slid into the TV

Never a good sign! But some of us have fixed worse...

[RaymondLeggs]

Originally Posted by bgadow

Never a good sign! But some of us have fixed worse...

I wonder why it slid in... now If My mom would allow me to haul it in and use it as a big heavy TV stand...........

I remember back when I was little that TV was a superb TV it had better sound than any of the plastic TV's I've heard lately no to mention better picture quality.Funny thing is that cheaper branded CRT Tv's tend to outdo
more expensive CRT TV's in the picture quaulity area......

[Blue Meanie]

Originally Posted by RaymondLeggs

I wonder why it slid in... now If My mom would allow me to haul it in and use it as a big heavy TV stand...........

By definition, putting a functioning TV on top of a broken TV would make you a redneck.

Jeff

[RaymondLeggs]

Originally Posted by Blue Meanie

By definition, putting a functioning TV on top of a broken TV would make you a redneck.

Jeff

LMAO

[Adam]

What about stacking broken sets ontop of a working one (see pic)?

About the Zenith cabinets, only have 1 Zenith out of 9 that is in a really nice heavy wood cabinet (1961 b/w console 23" -- not the 1960 21" console pictured below). But I also like their metal tabletop cabinets (4 out of those 9 are those). I think the 1960 17" b/w in the metal cabinet I have is actually a nice looker. But by the early 70s most of what they seem to have made is those plastic table top cabinets which I don't like at all, one of these days I'd like to find one of those 1971 or so 4 tube color sets in a nice wooden console cabinet, I don't think I've ever seen one in anything but the plastic cabinets.

[Blue Meanie]

Originally Posted by Adam

What about stacking broken sets ontop of a working one (see pic)?

Best to ask Jeff Foxworthy. I was just paraphrasing him.

But not very picturesque, I must admit.

Jeff

[Bill R]

Originally Posted by Blue Meanie

By definition, putting a functioning TV on top of a broken TV would make you a redneck.

Jeff

You also get extra points if you use one set for the picture and the other for the sound.

Bill R

[JohnAdams]

I have a home theater cabinet that Zenith built in thier Springfield, MO factory for me in 1969 or 1970. The plans were left over from about 66 or 67. I had a 21" 64 model color set in a metal cabinet and a bunch of hifi equip. When I got married my wife wanted something done about all the junk so I got the cabinet and built everything into it. I still have the cabinet. No plastic anywhere and no "photofinish". I paid $300 and I see cabinets like it in Home Theater magazine going for $2K and up. How did I get Zenith to build me a cabinet?? I worked for the oldest and largest Zenith dealer in Northwest Arkansas from 1963 to 1971. We moved enough tv's that if our order was large enough our tv's came straight from Springfield with what was left on the truck going on down another 65 miles to Ft. Smith, AR to the distributor.

[Keefla]

Originally Posted by Bill R

You also get extra points if you use one set for the picture and the other for the sound.

Bill R

[Carmine]

Originally Posted by JohnAdams

I have a home theater cabinet that Zenith built in thier Springfield, MO factory for me in 1969 or 1970. The plans were left over from about 66 or 67. I had a 21" 64 model color set in a metal cabinet and a bunch of hifi equip. When I got married my wife wanted something done about all the junk so I got the cabinet and built everything into it. I still have the cabinet. No plastic anywhere and no "photofinish". I paid $300 and I see cabinets like it in Home Theater magazine going for $2K and up. How did I get Zenith to build me a cabinet?? I worked for the oldest and largest Zenith dealer in Northwest Arkansas from 1963 to 1971. We moved enough tv's that if our order was large enough our tv's came straight from Springfield with what was left on the truck going on down another 65 miles to Ft. Smith, AR to the distributor.