Listen to a 1967 Zenith Console Stereo

A demo of the '67 Zenith...

[@DesiluTrek]

My dad worked for Sears repairing Silvertone and Sears-brand TVs, hi-fis, stereos, and more for 30 years from 1958-1987 (his TV repair career began in 1949), so your videos remind me of how much as a kid I enjoyed visiting his "TV shop." My dad had an awesome talent. He could diagnose and fix as many as 12-15 TVs/stereos a day, even winning national internal Sears shop vs. shop contests. He evolved just as the tech did, from tubes to solid state to printed circuit boards.

[@vwestlife]

The tuner sounds fantastic on AM -- it really shows how great it can sound, if the tuner is built well enough to allow the full bandwidth to be heard. That LP sounds wonderful, too.

[@adriancressy8363]

AM was KING during the 60's.....the 70's brought the enemy called FM into our lives and AM became talk radio. There are still music stations on and even AM stereo

[@bobg69]

I remember the love my Father had for these console systems. We had several of them. there was a 1960's Fisher President, Dad's pride and joy. She sat in the living room. We had several different Magnavox and Zenith consoles in the dining room and basement. They all had a wonderful warm sound to them. They all would get pretty loud when the parents left us kids home.

[@aaronharris6921]

Oh I envy you 😄

[@ghsgtnayhmd4792]

My god these old zenith consoles were great!

[@fromthesidelines]

"At Zenith....'The Quality Goes In- Before the Name Goes On'!"

[@daniellaubach7544]

Yep i do remember that slogan from the tv ads back in the 60's.

[@luisreyes1963]

Doesn't apply to the junk being crapped out of Chinese sweatshops.

[@robertwhite6203]

We once had a Zenith console tv yrs ago & the back it said the quality goes in before the name goes on !& service. Saver chassis

[@michaeloram6957]

I have the same one I bought it brand new and it still works good zenith was one of the best at that time

[@adriancressy8363]

when we would visit cousins aunts uncles in Pa. my cousin always wanted to show off his parents Zenith stereo and the fabulous sound. He knew I would like to hear the bass from those little 45's during the 60's. His fav songs on that stereo was Barbara George "I Know" and the Chantels "Maybe"

[@markshafer9452]

I have this exact unit ! It was my mother's and it still works great and I use it a lot!

[@gedisdiop]

An excellent choice to demonstrate the turn table.

[@CoopyKat]

SO cool........also hearing "WBBM" really takes me back a LONG way!

[@franciscogomez9404]

No words, what kind of hi fidelity machine, a masterpiece

[@ShokaLion]

That record sounds awesome.

[@bones007able]

Zenith was a major employer in Chicago when it was the manufacturing hub of the nation

[@BrokebackBob]

Absolutely stunning! I love Peter Nero! Nobody makes em like Zenith anymore!

[@BrokebackBob]

***** Very true! I have gobs of Heathkit component stereo equipment that is still working perfectly. I built some of it and collected some of it and restored it. But a big old super-expensive Zenith console from their hey-day is a thing of beauty in sight and sound!

[@MegaRadio90]

Awesome...keep it alive and what a wonderful home it has, somebody who appreciates its past and our greatness as innovators in history too!! :)

[@danmurphy7713]

I used to go to my Aunts house in Des Plaines ,she had a Zenith console that had the tuner on the underside of the lid. I thought it was cool . We lived out in Streamwood west of Wood Dale . We had a Packard Bell HI FI . I love the old stuff!

[@luisreyes1963]

That there is a beautiful piece of functional furniture.

[@Christianpreaching]

What a beautiful stereo. Im jealous. And what a fine choice of music.

[@mysteryjesus]

I had one like this. It had a really nice sound.

[@jimmyday9536]

No doubt about it, Zenith made some quality electronics. Thanks for sharing this.

[@ChadQuick270W]

Hand wired point to point chassis just like my Zenith Transoceanic radios. Back when things were made to last and built with pride in the USA. Sounds great. Has the dot at 99.7 FM as all Zenith products did as they owned that station in Chicago from what I’ve read.

[@gns423]

I have a ‘65 model that my parents bought in early ‘66. It has the exact same cabinet, even the same speaker grill. I still play it every now and then. I love it.

[@EddieJazzFan]

I love those old consoles. I see them from time to time a yard sales, but I have no way of transporting something that big to my house. But nice presentation that you made of this unit. Thanks for sharing. BTW, I have that Peter Nero record. Now I have to go dig it out and play it.

[@brownfranklin]

My mother had one exactly like this. In 1990, I bought one exactly like it at a yard sale for $25. The cabinet was all beat up and I refinished it. Got rid of it some time ago because I had no room for it. Wish I still had it.

[@gsnfan]

This console has an excellent sound on both the radio and turntable.

[@tjfreak]

The most amazing thing to me is there aren't the stupid glass rings all over it.

[@CoquiAudio]

thank you for upload, this is really value information for electronic history

[@JRobert111111]

Awesome stereo and demonstration!

[@RandyOnTheRadio]

I Google Earthed that address for Zenith on the instruction booklet in the video. Like so much in the Untied States these days, it's one of the those multi-complex places with tons of different businesses, that all totaled up, won't employ as many people as Zenith did at this same address. It is sad how this country has just gone to hell so badly... and so quickly.

[@2vacuumboy]

Beautiful true sound with the record playing

[@sobroed]

Wow...somehow I accidentally came across this video you posted. Awesome...and even more outstanding with Bose headphones on. It sounds amazing. 👍

[@douglasfernandes9969]

Incredibly well maintained and too beautiful this device.

[@dam4274]

I looked up 1900 N. Austin in Chicago and it’s now Metroplex Business Park.

[@stormlight4184]

Very nice sound! Thanks

[@Wooley689]

You give a lot of great info in this video.

[@aldiakaroofus]

My uncle Serge had a Zenith console from late 60s with color TV and it had that same turntable. It was rather gentle on records.

[@spatsbear]

Nice. Seems that the specs on that receiver/amp is very similar to the one on my '67 Zenith Sonderborg TV combo. The layout of the controls on yours here is almost exactly exactly the same, except yours is horizontal and mine's vertical. It'll be a while before I restore mine, but it puts out plenty of low end bass, and the tuner works superbly. Very impressed with it. Turntable needs a little bit of TLC, and I do have a spare idler for it.

[@TruAnRksT]

That is a nice machine. I once bought a full truck load of them for $5.00 each. I still have an admiral with huge 15" main speakers and killer horns. It worked when I bought it but not the last time I powered it up. I tried to give it away but nobody wants it. By truckload I mean a half dozen.

[@Pisti846]

They can be restored electronically. Usually the caps go bad and need to be replaced. I have a friend who has restored some pretty dodgy consoles.

[@williamlaskowski7184]

Nice stereo. I grew up with the 1965 MM2604 and still have it along with other Zeniths that I have collected. I'm in Chicago as well; would love to talk. BTW nice GE Vortalex fan in the background.

[@curtchase3730]

Those consoles had a special sound that modern component systems don't have. Special was the over exaggerated mid bass! That throaty boom sound made famous by the open rear baffle design. Bass rolled off pretty fast below 50Hz or so. Those things sounded the same no matter where they were in the room!

[@briq4409]

Mainly because they were a small room in and and of themselves!

[@Trance88]

What a beauty! It's got those angled "peg legs" that I really like.

[@wb5oxq]

We had a Zenith top of the line 68 model. It advertised a 320 watt amplifier and had 2 15" woofers, 4 4" midrange mounded in the center of the woofers and 2 horn tweeters. All switches were touch type(capacitive?) electronic. A very powerful set that could realy rock the house. It had the louvered doors also.

[@ChadQuick270W]

That chassis looks like my Zenith Trans-Oceanic: all hand wired and soldered. Not machine stamped out. This is an excellent console. Especially nice that it has all the original documentation with it.

[@Crankerny58]

What a Beauty, Total Class!

[@rpm3689]

Sounds Great!

[@SkeetGeedler]

Judging by the traffic report, this Chicago built gem is still in its hometown. 👍

[@Nintendoman2020]

My grandmother used to have something similar to this. The only difference was that it was a Magnavox.

[@125southernnh2]

My Aunt bought one like that at White Front but I think it was more a 1964-65 vintage.

[@progx8679]

1967' how about Creams 1st album "Disraeli Gears" or Jimi Hendrix and later on Santana, Mountain, Grand Funk, Yes and Crank it up ! like my older brother did when our Dad would go out grocery shopping on Saturday with Mom. My Dad loved Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass and that sounded great also , we had a 65 Fisher and 67 Motorola I believe.

[@GabrielTheGuitarist]

Hell yea! I never hear anyone mention Grand Funk and Mountain. I have a Motorola that works great and sound thunderous. I just picked up a Zenith but can't find any info on it. It needs a new power cable so I havent gotten to test it yet.

[@barryflick54]

My cousin bought a brand new 1967 Motorola top of the line console stereo. $500 in 1967. That would be a months wages in a factory. Very expensive. 200 watts peak power. Their first year for an all transistor amplifier. 12inch woofers with horn tweeters. I own it now and I can still literally rattle my windows with the bass.

[@PauloRossanezi]

Fantastic!!!

[@DF13939]

These systems have always sounded better than the setups they have today.

[@NewMediaFormat]

Sounds Great even over the camera mic! ***** : )

[@greenlimesystems]

Thank you for posting this; I have the exact same model and I love it! The plastic connector between the record changer and the amp is cracked on mine and the little "spring" in the connector has been lost so I cannot get power to the changer. do you know of a replacement source or workaround to get power over? I wouldn't mind hard-wiring it if needed. Thank you for all your videos!

[@dougg1075]

Beautiful

[@QuaaludeCharlie]

I really wish I had unlimited space , I have nice stuff and way too much of it for the storage I have , this Zenith Sounds great , I was born the same year , I like how you take care of your stuff , I pray whoever gets it when you pass on takes as much care with it , thank you for Uploading :) QC

[@thomaswyatt9509]

I owned this model in 67.

[@ldchappell1]

We had something like that in our living room when I was growing up in the 1960s. I remember that diamond decal on the corner of the turntable. The kids weren't allowed to touch the console stereo. My parents used it to listen to their Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. albums. My parents were so square they thought The Fifth Dimension was hard rock.

[@markanderson350]

Has a good sound, even on AM

[@manidig]

My grandfather bought one of these new. His had the AM-FM chassis with input jacks for tape and external speakers. Same VM changer with the narrow ceramic cartridge as this one. And lots of bass. Boom...boom...boom. I eventually got it to sound pretty good by removing the tone controls from the circuit. I guess Zenith didn't want you to hear any treble.

[@ducklandwikeno]

Central service is long gone . I remember them still being around in the early 1980's . But there gone like polk Brothers on central ave in chicago .

[@drh4683]

@rat52066 Very true, in fact this was recorded exactly one year ago today. I never intended for this one to go on youtube because it was a little too jerky. I just had it on my camera all this time. Not sure what was wrong with me.

[@paulofagundes6632]

Magnífica. Parabéns.

[@BrokebackBob]

It tracks at 2 grams which was incredibly light at the time.

[@LiviuDragon]

it was good to have an cassette player and a 8 track

[@AI4QT]

lOVE IT !!! AI4QT Greetings from Huntsville ALABAMA

[@yeksrub]

I think that turntable was made by V-M Voice of Music,to Zenith specs they were a Zenith supplier.I have a Zenith portable stereo record player with a V-M made turntable.

[@78Point26]

Interesting speaker doors. I've seen an older 78 RPM acoustic phonograph that used multiple sliding wooden doors to help mute the sound from a loud stylus or record.

[@anthonyscalise6937]

very nice unit, wish I could find an old webcor tube unit

[@jimrick6632]

beautiful sound...do you still have this one...if so, how much to sell it????

[@yeksrub]

That one is all transistor, including the output amp.

[@ericpinto3276]

Thank you!

[@capitolemiproducer]

Supposedly Electro-Voice made the ceramic cartridge and to me it rivals some magnetic ones

[@TheTarrMan]

very nice

[@dam4274]

Can you just see Rob Petry and his wife dancing in their living room?

[@alanmaier]

You might be surprised - the tracking force is only 2 grams, and that cartridge had very good sound. It rivaled magnetics back in the day.

[@Rarevintagefinds]

Great snappy version of Over The Rainbow. What album is that from?

[@luisreyes1963]

It was a Peter Nero album from 1961 titled Piano Forte.

[@edwinsinclair9853]

Basically a VM record changer.

[@JackS425]

This couldn't have come to a better owner

[@steventrosiek2623]

The best of the best.

[@wfukfm]

i had one of these puppys got it from a thrift store the record player was DOA but i paid like $20 for it in 1987 and it did have a good sound - the FM tuner had good sensitivity and mediocre selectivity .

[@MrFre01]

Interesante, muy buena.

[@davidschmoll3681]

This guy sounds just like Ray Ramone on Everybody Loves Raymond

[@luismoreno6659]

que maravilla!!!

[@larryshaver3568]

That DOES sound VERY nice

[@edbarker8636]

One of my aunts had the same exact stereo

[@musicisitall]

mainstream audio in that time sounded much better than the garbage you can buy nowadays

[@newjerseybt]

Pretty much the way they all sounded regarding the bass. The male voice was always boomy and there was no real enclosed cabinet allowing some cancellation at the lower frequencies. The turntables were also mediocre. I did have a 1963 GE Stereo only with a Garrard and hinged speakers. I also recovered a console that had a Thorens TD-124 (1965?) turntable and arm installed using a Thorens template. I kept the mint condition Thorens. The original owner passed away and the son threw it out on the curb so I grabbed it. The son said records were obsolete which is why he tossed it.The TD-124 Thorens is a real work of art and works great and had a spare belt underneath.

[@ddorfpunk]

a sealed enclosure Has louder bass compared to an open baffle ^^

[@newjerseybt]

+ddorfpunk1 234 True, because the air in back of an open speaker is out of phase with the front and cancels out most of the bass. The 1963 G.E. with external hinged speakers had almost zero bass.

[@ddorfpunk]

+newjerseybt Yes, and also the air functions like a spring which gives the speaker cone more powet

[@ddorfpunk]

+newjerseybt oh i See i got your point wrong, i thougt you meant the voices Sound boomy because of the open baffle allowing no cancellation in the lows

[@newjerseybt]

+ddorfpunk1 234 The voices usually sounded boomy because of no speaker cabinet padding (insulation) and a crossover point that allowed too much of the male voice on the woofer. The ElectroVoice Patrician 800 that I built in the following link used a 30" woofer that crossed over at 80hz. www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?/topic/3776-my-custom-electrovoice-patrician-800/

[@sauluribe7082]

Curious but by 1965 some makers was transistorizing their stereo products but perhaps not the same as the tubes counterparts. Not at first. Tubes warmup would be worth the wait.

[@sauluribe7082]

I had just acquired that exact Zenith receiver chassis and record changer only the base is black looking more modern which I like already. Pulled out from cabinet which they wanna use for storage. I might do a bi-amp upgrade on the chassis and build a wood base for record changer.

[@alanmaier]

Marvin K, check your facts on magnetic cartridges of the era. The high-end magnetics were tracking in the 2-3 gram area, but most were much heavier - take the classic Shure M3D as example.... 3-6 grams. Most Pickerings were quite heavy as well. Ceramics were quite capable of very good fidelity, easily rivaling the main stream magnetics of the era. Magnetic cartridges mainly had some inherent advantages that proved to be a better design once the product evolved. Let's not confuse mid 1960's technology with that of a decade later.

[@alanmaier]

***** Jake, Zenith switched to BSR changers fitted with the 2 gram arm in the mid 1970's. This was a gradual change, as I've seen similar age Allegro era consoles and compact systems have BSR and VM. The VM's of that era ( middle 1970s' forward) weren't very reliable as their build quality had really slipped - they were not even close to the changer you know from the latter 1960s. At the same time, not all BSRs were cheapie junk, and those that Zenith used had large metal platters, damped cueing and of course the 2G arm. When I repair an Allegro era console with a VM, I know it will need major work and always a new idler wheel. When I service the same era with a BSR, just a little general lube and cleaning will have it working great for decades to come.

[@TwinMillMC]

Beautiful unit! What diameter are the woofers? And would that be 60 watts total - 30 watts per ch @ 8 ohms?

[@ducklandwikeno]

Central service company I bet is out of business now . I thought back in the early 1980's they were still around then .But like most good television repair men there hard to find . I have a magnavox console that needs the pods rebuild , I cant get the pods anymore Im left to taking out the chasss out only to clean them and 6 months latter the straching comes back again .I would like it repaired some day . Its siting in my kitchen not being played . It sound good .

[@ducklandwikeno]

Yes I think your right about the turntable . A man in michigan is selling part for voice of music part for there turntable s . I repaired one from vm .

[@albertpintor3522]

I hope to find one eventually as I have a 5.1 component system in my room but my parents living room has a 70" lg TV with no sound system and i want to put in one of these instead of a soundbar or component system as I have always wanted a console stereo

[@pskittle488]

I love that stereo. I would love to be able to get one of my own someday. About how much do these things run for in decent shape?

[@zaimkarii1756]

Idk,sub 300$

[@KLM817]

Back when they used "loudness" instead of "volume".

[@alanmaier]

I've come across quite a few VM sourced changers in the Allegro line, both compact and console. The BSR sourced units fitted with the microtouch arm were better all around, but they were also spec'd out a bit nicer with metal platters, cue lever (damped I believe) and of course the 2 gram cartridge vs. the base cheapie OEM BSRs. The VM's were just cheapened too much.

[@RobertDillman]

By the mid sixties, ALL cartridges had a 2-3 g tracking force. And no ceramic cartridge comes close to a magnetic.

[@luisantoniomarrega3713]

Você tem aí contigo uma radio vitrola nota 10. Rio Brasil

[@danmurphy7713]

what model Zenith had the tuner attached to the lid .

[@RogerPenrose1931]

Did you sell this or is it part of a collection. I LOVE it!