estate sale finds again, for 2004

[drh4683]

The turntable is a true zenith turntable, belt drive and has a built in 45 spindel that actually hinges in half and folds slightly beneath the surface of the turntable. This is an outstanding phono unit. The needle cartridge is suspended by two springs and as the paperwork indicates, no matter what you do you cant ruin a record by dropping jarring, or sliding the tonearm on the record. It absorbs shock very well too, record doest skip, miss or flutter when the doors are opened or closed.

[drh4683]

you can tell its a zenith just by looking at the well designed chassis

[drh4683]

This is the last year zenith had a tube type amplifier for their HI FI equipment. This set uses 4 7189's and has a nice 5U4 Low voltage rectifier. This is probably the best console Ive ever heard!

[Jeffhs]

Doug (drh4683),

I just saw the pics of your Zenith stereo. Great! You're right. Zenith audio/stereo gear was built every bit as well as their TV sets in the '50s until GS bought them out, which is why I like pre-GS Zenith gear every bit as much as you do.

I have a Zenith K731 (chassis 7M07), an ebay find last year. It's also a 1963 (!) model; the picture of it is below (in my next post). Got it for just a hair under $25 from a guy in Florida, and I was the only bidder! The radio is in a large and rather heavy walnut table-model cabinet, but I swear, it sounds like a console (with its 6x9 oval speaker, electrostatic tweeter [the latter being the first one of its kind I have ever seen in over 30 years of electronics experimenting] and tone-compensation circuitry, not to mention a wide-range tone control--and I like it, a lot. It has become my favorite Zenith, next to my H511. Man, this thing has incredible sound for a table-model set, especially in the bass range! I keep it tuned mostly to AM standards and oldies stations (there are two such stations within 50 miles of my small town that come in very well; I'm only sorry one of the stations is daytime only), although it sounds great on FM as well. (Another of my favorite oldies stations is on FM, which this receiver reproduces every bit as well as AM--another hallmark of pre-GS Zenith audio gear. My next TV may well be a used Zenith from perhaps the mid-'70s. I like Zenith, as I have for many years, but don't want or need the aggravations GS-built "Zeniths" seem to bring with them. As you and I, and every Zenith collector, knows by now, the Zenith name on these GS-built sets doesn't mean anything anymore.)

BTW, what are the three colored lights for on the tuning dial of your console's AM/FM tuner? I'm guessing they are function indicators (AM, FM, phono). And that record changer--boy, they don't make them like that anymore! That changer is the first one I have ever seen in a console that will almost ignore vibration and/or mechanical shocks. That it is nearly impossible to damage records with this changer, even if you scrape the tone arm across the record as you say, seems incredible. (That's practically the same claim the original Magnavox Company of Fort Wayne, IN, made for its Micromatic record changer in the '50s and '60s. This changer had an almost incredible 0.5-gram [IIRC] tone-arm tracking force, which Magnavox claimed would "banish record wear" to make records last virtually forever as I read in an advertisement for the Micromatic used in one of Magnavox's fabulous 3-way color theatre consoles of the mid-1960s. Whether this was true or just advertising hooey by Magnavox [in direct competition with Zenith, RCA and other manufacturers of stereo consoles of the period], however, I don't know.)

Not to be long-winded, but I have one more question. I just saw the picture of your set's power amp/power supply section, with the 5U4 rectifier. You said in the pic's caption that 1963 was the last year Zenith used tube amplifiers in its stereo consoles. I thought they had waited until the '70s or later to abandon tubes. Did Zenith even make stereo console units (stereo radio/phono alone, no TV) after 1963, and if so, were they all solid state? Somehow, I can't see them using solid-state circuitry in any of their audio or TV gear at any time in the '60s (was always under the impression that they had waited until at least the late '70s or early '80s to make the switch to full solid-state production; I once had a Zenith modular stereo, solid-state, with a BSR changer, which was made in the early '80s).

[Jeffhs]

Here's a picture of my Zenith K-731, ch. 7M07:
(finally got the attach function to work)

[jstout66]

Doug, You ALWAYS find the good stuff!!!!!!

[Sandy G]

Wonder if it was playing when "We interrupt this program for a special news bulletin. President Kennedy has been shot in Dallas-" came on. In any case, it sure is lovely. Bet it cost a small fortune when new. -Sandy G.

[bgadow]

My mother still has her Zenith console stereo, which must have been one of the last. Dad got it for her for Christmas, maybe 1980? Was the same year I got my Lionel train. Anyway, great sound, at least to my tin ears. Hmm...it might be looking for a home soon, though it won't be here 'cause I'm already loaded to the gills. In the late 80s I bought an early solid state Zenith console stereo (late 60s?) and while it didn't quite match Mom's it was pretty good.

Tonight my wife brought home one of those 70s Zenith "Circle of Sound" clock radios. A co-worker asked if maybe I could fix it. Turned out to be just dirty controls. While I had it open I noticed it was made by GoldStar. Depsite that, not a bad radio as these things go.

[drh4683]

Just picked this set up saterday. Got it for free. Its an all metal cabinet sylvania color set from 68. Doesnt work, but it will be soon. Luckily its in nice shape.

[bgadow]

Doug,
I used to have a small console like that Sylvania and it had one of the better color pictures that I've seen on a 60s set. Too bad, I was pretty helpless back then and when the vertical went out I tossed it.

[rca2000]

Yes-- Zenith DID make console stereos all the way through the 1960's- into the late '70', I think.

1964 was the first year for the solid-state AMP and PREAMP form Zenith. It was in their top-of-the-line console, and the tuner section was still tubes.( I own a roundie color combo with this setup- chassis # 25lc20qs(TV), 11l8t25( tuner), and 8lt25(amp). Most of the other Zenith stereo products in '64 were still all tube In '65, they still had the hybrid setup, but in '66, they went to all-solid-state, for most of their consoles

This information is NOT a guess- it comes from a number of Zenith hi-fi manuals I have, ranging from the early 60's,(1962 is the oldest), into the mid 70's.

[Chad Hauris]

I worked on a Zenith console stereo for someone that must have beem very late '70's if not early 80's. It consists of a Zenith stereo receiver mounted in the cabinet....the chassis was not specifically designed to be a console unit. Also has a magnetic-cartridge phono, cassette player, and 8-track...the sound quality is very good.

[drh4683]

The latest estate sale find is this 1963 Zenith b/w 19" portable, with a 15K37T chassis. Whats unique about this set is that it has the optional sleep timer on it. It has a variable time limit up to 3 hours. Works too! The set came from 1145 Alima, LaGrange Park, IL for $10. Its funny as when I walked in the people at the house were surprised to see me and asked what it was that I was looking for. I said "old tvs". The lady said weve got one downstairs, and to my luck it was a zenith portable, and older than expected model. I generally dont find sets in the 1962-1964 range.
It works of course when I found it! Only tubes it needed were the 6EA8 mixer/osc, and a 6BZ6 3rd IF to bring it back strong again.

[drh4683]

Heres the side view with the sleep timer.

[drh4683]

Inside view.

The "T" followed by the chassis number indicates "Timer" for models equiped with sleep timer. Also has dual speakers.