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Zenith console... but different

O

ohenry

New Member
Has anyone seen this?

Today I stumbled upon a Zenith phono console with matching speaker (no radio). The console and speaker were almost the same size and each contained a 20 watt tube mono amp with 12 and 5 inch alnico speakers. So, two cabinets/four speakers/two mono amps. The phono stage was selectable with RIAA, 78 and two more settings. It appeared that this item was from the late '50's or very early '60's.

I wish I had gotten the model number, but I was hurried. I'll go back for that soon, but in the meantime I thought I'd ask here to see what you guys thought. I've never seen anything quite like this set, it appears to be quite a cut above the usual Zenith console line.
 
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You need to tell us more and with pictures!! That "does" sounds like a cut above the rest, especially with switchable phono equalization. And with seperate mono amps? I'd be grabbing that one!!
 
You walked away from that? Why? I'd have called the wife, changed my dinner plans, called in sick, skipped class, run a redlight, begged, borrowed or stolen a way to get that console home. Go back an' gitit!
 
Yes, I've talked myself out of it several times over the last 1.5 years. It sits in a corner of an upstairs junk room at a local antique shop. I saw yesterday they marked it down to $50 and now it's just too much to resist. :drool:

They'll be open tomorrow and I may go by and buy it. Unfortunately, my truck isn't here and I'll have to pick it up next weekend. :sigh:

If anything, I'd like to rescue it, restore it, and find it a deserving fool. Of course, this may fulfill my recent captivation with playing 78's and this may be the platform I need.

The only downside is that someone "upgraded" the turntable in the '70's and put a pedestrian plastic TT in the hole where the original would have sat. I will probably need to find a higher quality solution for that and hope to find a nice older unit. It appears it will need to have a ceramic cartridge for the phono preamp to operate properly (that's what it has now).

Once I get by there and copy down some numbers, I'll post more about what I can find out... and then solicit some opinions from the knowledgeable. :thmbsp:
 
Okay, it's a Zenith SF119E console with an SRS10E powered speaker. It brought them up gently to full speed and with a little TLC (a few tubes and cords), they play amazingly well. Not hifi, but wonderful stuff.

I need to clean them up a bit and find a better turntable than the '70's BSR that's been put in as a replacement. Also, some new caps are needed as well to be safe.

Here's a few poor shots of these cool relics. :thmbsp:

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The original Table was a Voice of Music, 1200 series I think. You should be able to contact V-M and see if a version of that table is still available. They had some stock, but don't know how far back it went. Even the newer V-M they sell can be got with a Ceramic cart and would be a better unit than the BSR.
http://www.thevoiceofmusic.com/
Larry
 
larryderouin said:
The original Table was a Voice of Music, 1200 series I think. You should be able to contact V-M and see if a version of that table is still available. They had some stock, but don't know how far back it went. Even the newer V-M they sell can be got with a Ceramic cart and would be a better unit than the BSR.
http://www.thevoiceofmusic.com/
Larry
Click to expand...

Thanks Larry, I'll check it out. I was thinking it may have been a Cobramatic, but I don't know. I'm not so worried about making it perfect as making it have near original performance.

I hooked a small FM tuner to it's tuner/tape input and it sounds really nice. The BSR has no stylus, although the cartridge appears viable. I may pick a needle up to spins some 78's until I get something better.
 
Believe it or not, the cobramatic is a V-M. Most of the OEM console Co.'s contracted to V-M for their TT's. The RCA 205 I have in my SHF-5 was made by V-M.

Larry
 
larryderouin said:
Believe it or not, the cobramatic is a V-M. Most of the OEM console Co.'s contracted to V-M for their TT's. The RCA 205 I have in my SHF-5 was made by V-M.

Larry
Click to expand...

The odd man out there was Maganvox, who bought theirs from Collaro in the UK. Some of the higher-end console companies used various Garrard changers.
 
40 watts from an EL84 push-pull pair...boy is that wishful thinking. Even the reasoning that each channel (2 EL84 per channel) is 20 watts would be very very optimistic. And, these amps are probably cathode bias, which would put their realistic output in the 8 to 10 watt range per channel.
 
Thanks for all the useful information. I appreciate it very much. :thmbsp: Here are a few shots of the inside.

The first one is the mono amp in the console. It has 12ax7, 12au7, (2) EL84, and 5y3GT. Excuse the dirt, little cleaning yet...
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The second is the speaker unit mono amp. Very similar to the console amp except this one has a 6at6 instead of the 12ax7:
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Here's a blurry shot of the external speaker cabinet:
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I hope to find time to get the restoration started soon. I found the schematics at the antique radio museum and once I get them downloaded, I'll know some real part numbers... especially helpful for tracking down the turntable possibilities.
 
That looks to be identical to the stereo my college room mate had in 1967. We had the best sound in the dorm.
 
Looks like a nice score. I'm guessing that thing is late 50s vintage. Seems most stereo consoles were one piece by the early 60s. Nice score.
 
Nice unit you found. The cabinet looks to be in good shape for its age. You gotta get that BSR out of there. The proper changer for the unit would be one made by VM but it had grey cobramatic arm and a ceramic cartridge. If you search ebay using the word cobramatic you should be able to find one. The earlier cobramatic changers were made in house by zenith and would have the arm in the front of the unit rather than on the right as the VM unit does. Just so you know they won't fit the cutout. Again, congrats on the nice find.
 
wmlask said:
Nice unit you found. The cabinet looks to be in good shape for its age. You gotta get that BSR out of there. The proper changer for the unit would be one made by VM but it had grey cobramatic arm and a ceramic cartridge. If you search ebay using the word cobramatic you should be able to find one. The earlier cobramatic changers were made in house by zenith and would have the arm in the front of the unit rather than on the right as the VM unit does. Just so you know they won't fit the cutout. Again, congrats on the nice find.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I am going to be patient and find the right turntable... or one very close. It appears the BSR installation required that the cutout be slightly modified, but I don't think any issues will arise when reinstalling another TT.

The cabinet is cleaning up very well. I'm looking for grill cloth since the aux. speaker cloth has pulled loose at the top... it's like it has shrunk. Also, it doesn't quite match the console cloth. Otherwise, things are looking pretty good.:yes:
 
Still working on it...
I found a Zenith Cobramatic model S-14093 that is almost identical to the original. The original was either an S-14091 or S-14901. This is the same except it has chrome on the base ring and spindle arm. On the original tt these were painted white.

I still need to redo the grill cloth and caps in one of the amps. I've retubed the amps and this thing sounds really, really good. I can see why someone kept it all those years.

More to come...

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