Moto combo vs Zenith and Mag - Videokarma.org TV - Video

captainmoody · #1 05-17-2005, 06:07 PM

I fired up my '68 Motorola combo today, listened to a record on it and was really disappointed with the cheap tinney sound it put out! It can't compete against my '66 Zenith I just got! Geez, even the Moto's turntable is cheap and noisy! Listening to the Zenith the other day really spoiled me..
So then I fired up my '69 Magnavox astro sonic combo and was in for another suprise, it sounded a little better than the Zenith. I suppose it's the horn tweets and nice big woofs.
To be honest, I never really paid attention to the stereo side of these units until now.
Does anyone else have any comments on their combos? I am curious what anyone else thinks on this.

Big Dave · #2 05-17-2005, 07:38 PM

The one in my Silvertone produces good sound, but the radio dial needs recalibrated.

I tried the Zenith on a test speaker. I think it's stuck in mono. Unfortunately, i don't have a print for it. I'll get a rear view of this just to show the speakers.

drh4683 · #3 05-17-2005, 08:58 PM

For the past year now, my daily watcher has been a 69 zenith space command set, a twin speaker console. Has 2 6x9's. Not a combo, but it certianly has outstanding sound. Watching a movie is great. Nice deep bass and crisp treble. truly outstanding sound quality for using a "Non HIFI tube", zeniths very own 6Z10! I dont have a combo yet. Id like to have a danish modern zenith combo (with space command of course!).

Charlie · #4 05-17-2005, 11:02 PM

My '63 Curtis Mathes b&w combo puts out an impressive sound. It has two 12" woofers and four 3-inch tweets/mids. Puts out both good bass and treble. Output is thru two 6BQ5's. Sounds great with radio, records, TV, and a CD player plugged in.

My '66 CM color combo is alright, but not near as good as the '63 model. The '66 CM is running two 8" woofers and two 4" mids driven by two 6BQ5's. It does have a clean sound, but the smaller woofers take away from the bass.

The '65 Magnavox combo I brought home last week is definately lacking in the audio. The Astro-Sonic stereo is all solid-state. Sounds like it could possibly use some new output transistors. I think it has 4. I'll probably change those old electrolytics on the cross-over as well. The audio is somewhat garbled. Looks like it has either 10 or 12 inch woofers, and also has a set of horn tweeters. The bass is pretty deep... but garbled.

So, between the 3 of mine, the 63 CM sounds best and gets the award. I've been listening to it for 10 years now, and I've always been impressed with it's sound.

peverett · #5 05-17-2005, 11:21 PM

I do not know about the the audio side of Motorola consoles, but I do know about their B&W portable TVs.

I have both pre-1965 and post 1965 Motorola portables. The quality definitely is much worse on the post 1965 ones. They followed the GE/Philco trend of putting hot(horizontal output, etc) tubes on PC boards, etc after 1965. Before this, they were like Zenith with the metal hand wired chassis.

One big fault with all Motorolas that I have ever seen (even the 1950s ones) is that they used the horrible wafer style tuners instead of the much esaier to clean barrel type.

andy · #6 05-17-2005, 11:33 PM

Why would you change the output transistors? They don't wear out like tubes. Either they work perfectly, or not at all.

peverett · #7 05-17-2005, 11:39 PM

Some power transistors are made in sections. If the metalization between sections opens up, the transistor may still function somewhat, but performance will be degraded.

However, I would still check all caps and resistors before changing transistors.

captainmoody · #8 05-18-2005, 06:46 AM

Sounds like what I am hearing so far is that most every manufacturer had a decent sounding combo except Motorola! (At least late 60's Motorolas)

Chad Hauris · #9 05-18-2005, 07:07 AM

It could be that one transistor in the output pair is bad...we have been using a B&K in-circuit transistor tester with success to check out problems like this.

Charlie · #10 05-18-2005, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by captainmoody

Sounds like what I am hearing so far is that most every manufacturer had a decent sounding combo except Motorola! (At least late 60's Motorolas)

I wouldn't say that... I'm sure Motorola probably made some kisk-ass audio. Wasn't Doug the one that brought home a Motorola console stereo that rocked pretty good? Seems I recall it had one huge f**king center woofer and no television. It ran on a bunch of 6?6's I think? I bet an LP of Iron Butterfly would rock on that system!

I suspect that all makers had their better sounding ones and they're crappy ones. All depends on how much someone had to spend at that time.

I had compared my two CM units. I find that the older one sounds better. Of course, it has more and bigger speakers than the newer one. There's another CM model out there that's basically the same as my older one, but uses four 6BQ5's instead of just two. I'd really like to get one of those! Hmmm... as if i need another!

Capt, my Maggie sounds like shit right now. It just needs some attention. Maybe your Moto needs a little attention? They can't play perfect forever without having to make some kind of repair/adjustment.

orthophonic · #11 05-18-2005, 01:45 PM

If you put your '69 Maggie against a '69 Zenith Combo, the Zenith will win
hands down!

captainmoody · #12 05-18-2005, 02:21 PM

I guess I am getting partial to the Zeniths! My Moto is in excellent shape with good audio, just not as good bass as the zenith or Mag. I agree with you on the earlier Motorola stuff as I have had the ones with the center channel and they do rock!

captainmoody · #13 05-18-2005, 02:30 PM

You know, I never checked but I will bet the Zenith has more watts per channel than the moto.
Even with the bass boost switch on it can't compete. The other item I dislike is the cheap turntable Motorola used on this combo, too much plastic... The combo cost 1400.00 new in '68 and they skimped on that and the amp...
Now the cabinet is a different story, it was made by Drexel and is solid as a rock!

bgadow · #14 05-18-2005, 03:30 PM

My wife has a cousin in KY with what I think is an early 60s (its tube) Motorola console stereo. They had me do a minor repair to the turntable so they could use it. Didn't sound too bad but a bad case of noisy controls. Had some sort of spatial control of some sort that made everything sound like an old Elvis record if you turned it up all the way!