Hi-Fi nerds need not apply.

[RAZRBAKK]

Somewhere in the last few years I became obsessed with these 60s stereo consoles. Recently got a holy-grail purchase.

This is a Zenith B950.





Since the fall of last year I have looked at some nice Magnavox and Electrohome, and even some of the local Canadian ones like Baycrest, but I managed to find my #2 console. For only $25.

The owner just wanted it gone. It certainly needs some love, but a little deoxit in the faders and a new cartridge renewed all of the issues it was having when the owner demo'd it for me.

The plan is to refinish the top and obviously clean up the dust and grime from it's nearly 60 year life. I will attempt a recap as these 60s capacitors are probably not going to hold up much longer, but I haven't dug in much to test them out yet. I was blow away that the automatic turn table still functions, and even holds a solid 33.2 RPM.

I have bought a fair amount of Hi-Fi audio equipment over the years, and I gotta say, this thing sounds like nothing else. These old consoles can crank out volume and resonance like you would not believe. The entire chassis resonates and pushes the bass right through you.

Obviously a cellphone video won't do it justice, but it does demo my favourite feature:

[RPP]

I feel like I cant fully appreciate this... but it looks awesome.

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah. I love the sound of a massive cabinet speaker system. Endless confident sound projection from this kind of thing…and nearly endless music with a stacker mechanism. I’m not a fan of how much you need to reach down/in to change discs but it does hold a nice stack of records in that slot, very handy.

When I was a kid many families had these. Modern equipment and the resurrection of vinyl has a long way to go before it achieves anything like this.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

Kinda why I hate audiophiles. You can spout numbers and tech at me all day. I know what sounds better. Sweet piece man. I bet it sounds incredible!

[RAZRBAKK]

I find most musicians are not audiophiles because they realize the difference is not "clarity". It's the emotion it evokes, which is inherently subjective.

[Daltech]

My great grandmother had one of these, a grandfather clock, organ and a grand piano.

It really hurt to not have worked hard enough to have a big house to put them all in and continue the legacy.

I keep telling myself there is nothing I could have done differently.

It’s truly an amazing thing what you are doing. Thank you. It makes me feel a little bit better, to know that you know.

Bonus points for re capping!!!!! Double bonus points for Deoxing!!!

[Fossilhead]

I swear my Grandma had one of these!

[Daltech]

Ps I bet the Radio tuner sounds like warm butter.

[RAZRBAKK]

The antenna runs across the entire cabinet and it picks up more signals than any other radio I have.

[ThatBobbyjoe]

Good score, wood looks to be in good shape. If you have any wood working/ finishing questions hit me up. I do custom furniture for a living so for once there’s something here where I actually know what I’m talking about .

[RAZRBAKK]

I will absolutely take you up on that.

[uv_halo]

My grandparents had a very similar one that also included and 8-track player. It was used to play a lot of Elvis and, old school country music.

[redsquirrel]

What a score!!!

[BrickHaus]

I got this lovely Grundig console years ago. The amp doesn't work, but I always intended on retrofitting a demnon reciever I have into the base, and setting our turn table in it. Id totally upgrade the speakers too. But my wife is content just using it as record storage, and a place to set our turn table on top of. The bookshelf speakers sound surprisingly good on the phono out.

[SignOfZeta]

You guys are reminding me that I have a 60 year old theater organ in my living room that needs repairing…

[Jonnydread]

Kind of like Mr. Kitty I feel like audiophilia is sort of lost on me. I do know that my dads old 70s era tall ass speakers sounded great and I listen to music 95% of my day, but I haven't even dabbled in vinyl yet in my 39 years on this planet.

So does it sound... good? How do these old systems compare to the newer stuff?

[RAZRBAKK]

Unfortunately I don't know much about the newer stuff. My livingroom setup is an old JVC receiver and some big Sansui speakers from the 80s.

Zenith made a lot of hi-fi equipment over the years, so the components themselves are very nice.

On both sides this has a 12" woofer, a small tweeter, and a big funny square horn. It actually sounds very good. Very clear when you're facing it.

The biggest benefit is how the entire cabinet resonates. There is very little low end loss at distance. I imagine wheeling this out on the patio for backyard parties because it can throw sound very far.

I will probably do some amount of breakdown and demo once I have it fully functional again.

[BrickHaus]

Old stuff sounds " warmer" and less harsh. It honestly depends on what you want from your music.

[Calvin]

My rig is all old broadcast equipment, aside from the speaker stacks. I have always loved those old consoles. Someday I hope to find a nice one locally for the living room. Any way that keeps you listening and enjoying is a good way, even earbuds.

[Daltech]

Whoa, WTf, 😳. You and I need to be friends. Hello my name is Dalton.

[RAZRBAKK]

That's a really cool setup. What kind of turn tables are those?

[Calvin]

They are all Technics direct drives. I have tried many others, but I am partial to those. They are quiet, steady, and nearly bomb proof. The two side by side are an Sp-12 from Japan, and an SL-1100. The 1100 came to me completely destroyed, which gave me lattitude to do whatever I wanted to it. The main table is an Sp-25 ex-radio unit from a small university radio station.

[Magmoormaster]

That is incredibly cool!!

[Daltech]

RAZRBAKK hit me up when you get to replacing the caps. I’ve got a stash of components I can dig through and see if I got what you need, also, I’ve got a mom and pop electronics store from out of a Time Machine in my town.


https://electronicplus.com

[RAZRBAKK]

I will definitely reach out. I'm not quite there yet, working on buying a house, and once that's taken care of this is going to be my main project.