Thread: Dammit!
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Old 12-02-2017, 01:02 AM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
<----Zenith C845
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Fairport Harbor, Ohio (near Lake Erie)
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This is proof that the older Zenith radios with metal chassis, socketed transistors, etc. can take a lot more abuse than later sets (e. g. the Royal 7000 series); the latter have most, if not all, of the radio on a PC board that will crack as soon as the radio hits the ground. However, the warning regarding the use of the handle on any of the solid-state T-Os (which also houses the FM/SW Waverod telescoping antenna), which has been quoted here in VK at least once, should be heeded at all times, as the latch which holds the handle in place is not the best.

I suggest holding the radio on both sides when moving it, rather than carrying it by the handle. This is one of the few (very few) shortcomings, in my experience, of the solid-state T/Os; they are otherwise very good radios, built to last. I have three solid-state T/Os that worked well when I received them (they were eBay finds), and still have them to this day, although I only use one on any kind of regular basis.

That your T/O 2000 still works and sounds great, the only damage being to the handle when it fell, speaks well for the build quality of these radios. Zenith did not cut corners when they designed and built them, which is much more than I can say for today's plastic one-chip sets that will not take any kind of abuse. There was a commercial in the '60s for Zenith's first solid-state TV (in the Royal 1200 series, IIRC), which claimed the set could be dropped from hundreds of feet off the ground and would still work. The commercial, if I remember correctly, showed one of these TVs actually being deliberately dropped from an airplane; there was no damage to the set or even, amazingly, to the CRT when the television eventually hit the ground, and the set still worked. This amazes me no end, as I would have expected the CRT to have imploded at the very moment of impact.
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Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002

Zenith. Gone, but not forgotten.
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