Zenith console, tube or SS?

[KentTeffeteller]

Nowadays I smile at the woofer size in those old consoles, as they had so little bass. My father never caved-in to my frequent bugging him to get a console stereo with their UUGE woofers ... Solid-State, of course. Our 6BQ5, single-ended, Channel Master stereo might have sounded as good, or better, in comparison.

Bigger woofers, and extra power. Cost extra money. Higher end consoles were more likely to have them. And most likely to be seen in the $600-$700 and higher price class in say 1962. Define for you UUGE Woofers? Mine is 12" or larger. 10" is good. But do remember what that cost in the era. And most consoles are bass-light to degrees. In the name of acoustic-feedback reduction in phono. Remember, that $600-$700 upwards was seriously high amounts of money for the time. When a new VW Beetle was $1200.

 

[Bone Yard]

I tend to think the slightly narrower but taller facia's mean tubes.

A lot of these companies were still pumping out tube equipment very late in the game, as kids we'd joke about the old lady down the street and her tubed console, it seemed like the older crowd and large families like these more than the trendy components.

 

[elitopus]

Heres how the amp looks out of the console and on the work bench. It’s interesting that the PT is mounted crooked. Seems to have come that way from the factory though.

Underneath looks intact and all original

I’m wondering why there was a new rectifier tube in the box that came with the console…

 

[twiiii]

Look else where. Maybe Altec or JBL in a Barzilay cabinets with Mac or Marantz electronics and AR or Thorens or Empire Belt driven turntables. I would stick with SS so you don't have continuing maintenance issues. The last thing you want is any type of record changer.

 

[elitopus]

But we’re not talking about JBL or Altec, Mac or Marantz gear here. It’s a Zenith tube console. It is what it is…

Some of this stuff is fun to play with and sounds pretty good too. Probably not an end game system for most though.

 

[Bruno Primas]

Honestly, if you are careful, (and know what you are doing), this amp is relatively easy to rebuild and will sound pretty good when completed.

 

[tom3]

What I've seen is the reverb can be fed back into the power amp to give the effect through the main speakers, Ideally there would be rear speakers with the reverb output but not with the consoles. And I have a similar SET Zenith amp and it sounds best though the console speakers, probably designed to match up with the amp. Really a nice sounding amp too. Surprising power for the unit.