Zenith SF2565 1959 console
Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2024 4:46 pm
A friend upstate rescued this from an estate sale, good condition outside and super-dusty inside with frayed cord and speaker wires in disarray. These have to be the most popular style of cabinet in EA maple that Zenith used, identical to a 1960 model SFF2565 I have with the "extended stereo" feature and a 1963 MH2635 with stereo FM and reverberation.
This model uses the TOTL 7-tube stereo amplifier using push-pull 6BQ5/EL84, the 9-tube preamplifier is stereo for phono and tape inputs. It has the three tone controls including presence. There is no provision to add FM MPX decoder, being a pre-62 model. The record changer is the standard cobramatic styled VM, not the belt drive model
so I know what I have to do.
Like some consoles I see with modifications to add speakers, two wirewound potentiometers poked thru the back cover with some very sloppy external speaker wiring. The amp chassis has charred marks as if something really bad went down
and two output tubes were to air. All caps were original and several resistors were far off. One of the bias pots is cooked as well where I had to fudge cathode resistors to get exactly 135 ohms. Expecting to get the tuner/preamp done this evening so we can test.
Odd fact: The amp uses two 12AU7, not 12AX7. The tuner/preamp uses one 12AX7 as the first stage after the volume control.
This model uses the TOTL 7-tube stereo amplifier using push-pull 6BQ5/EL84, the 9-tube preamplifier is stereo for phono and tape inputs. It has the three tone controls including presence. There is no provision to add FM MPX decoder, being a pre-62 model. The record changer is the standard cobramatic styled VM, not the belt drive model
so I know what I have to do. Like some consoles I see with modifications to add speakers, two wirewound potentiometers poked thru the back cover with some very sloppy external speaker wiring. The amp chassis has charred marks as if something really bad went down
and two output tubes were to air. All caps were original and several resistors were far off. One of the bias pots is cooked as well where I had to fudge cathode resistors to get exactly 135 ohms. Expecting to get the tuner/preamp done this evening so we can test. Odd fact: The amp uses two 12AU7, not 12AX7. The tuner/preamp uses one 12AX7 as the first stage after the volume control.