Zenith console options

[xbart]

I picked up a small Zenith tube console and I'm trying to figure out were to go with it. It is very small compared to most consoles I've seen, about 38" wide, 26" high and 16" deep. It weighs less then most of my speakers. I easily lifted it up myself and carried it home in the back seat of my Toyota Camery. It looks to be a bottom of the line unit for sure, hot chassis and no output transformers. Cosmetically it is in very nice shape and everything works including the turntable. The console model number is RN2410 with a 3L02 amp and 6L01 AM/FM tuner. I had no luck finding much info on any of these Zenith model numbers.
I could leave it as is and find a place for it in my shop or leave it as is with the exception of hooking it up to some better external speakers. Another thought was pulling the tuner and putting it in a small old pioneer wood case I have and use it with my Dynaco SCA 35.

 

[Phototone]

It surely does have output transformers, and they are shown in your 3rd photo of the amp standing on end with the speakers behind it. They are just very small. I would expect about 3w per channel.

 

[gadget73]

If its something like a pair of 50c5 or 35c5 outputs, maybe 2-3 wpc is about it. You won't be losing anything by putting better guts in this one. The speakers are probably also nothing to write home about. I would suspect the tuner is also a hot chassis, so truthfully I wouldn't use it for anything outside of it's original box. You can find inexpensive mono tuners that are great performers, and just add an MPX unit outboard. I've seen nice Eico HF-90s go for 10 bucks or less at auctions. I paid 5 for my old Realistic mono jobber.

 

[Tom Bavis]

Needs an isolation transformer for safe operation if you're plugging anything else into it. About 35VA for amp, another 35 VA for tuner.

For the amp, 3K01, 3K02 are probably close: http://techpreservation.dyndns.org/schematics/63/63_Zenith_3K02_185.djvu Sams 739-11 covers both, not in my files.

Tuner

 

[xbart]

I'll leave it as is for now and enjoy it in my shop. The speakers were pretty weak and it definitely sounds much better hooked up to these CS A50 Pioneer speakers. Here is a photo of the little Zenith console.

 

[wa2ise]

If its something like a pair of 50c5 or 35c5 outputs, maybe 2-3 wpc is about it.

I can see "7695" on one of the output tubes, which is similar to a 50C5 on steriods, about 4.5 watts output apiece. And they have heaters at 50V and 150ma, which means that this set is a hot chassis.

Using a chip stereo decoder, you could build an MPX decoder and patch it into the audio selector switch.

 

[avendlerdp]

I just came across one of these. It's in good shape but doesn't fire the tubes. I am thinking of starting by replacing the big paper caps and seeing if that brings it back to life. Can anyone here tell me how to set up an isolation transformer so I can plug an iPod or other source into this amp? I'm just learning about this stuff and don't really know how to deal with a hot chassis other than to be careful.

Thanks

 

[Phototone]

I just came across one of these. It's in good shape but doesn't fire the tubes. I am thinking of starting by replacing the big paper caps and seeing if that brings it back to life. Can anyone here tell me how to set up an isolation transformer so I can plug an iPod or other source into this amp? I'm just learning about this stuff and don't really know how to deal with a hot chassis other than to be careful.

Thanks

If the tubes don't "fire", then one of the tubes is out. They are wired in series, so if one filament goes out, they all won't light.

 

[gadget73]

yep, just like christmas lights. Cheap and easy way to test this is to get a multimeter and simply check the heaters for continuity. You'd need to look up the tubes to figure out which pins are the heaters but most of the datasheets are online.