1942 Zenith 10S690 Radio/Phono Combo

[vortalexfan]

Hello everyone yesterday I found a Zenith 10S690 Radio/Phono Combo at a local flea market that is still in working order yet except for the tuner pointer (I believe the tuning string is broken either that or the tuning belt is broken, not sure which one of those two technologies Zenith was using by this time).

The turntable in it was tastefully and professionally retrofitted with an early 1960s Voice of Music 4 Speed record changer that was retrofitted in such a matter that it looks factory (they used a turntable that had the same type of mouting screw setup as the original 78 RPM only record changer had, and they used the original audio and power cables from the orginal record changer when wiring up the replacement record player to the radio).

The radio still has all of its factory original Zenith tubes in it, not speck of rust anywhere on the chassis, the cabinet looks gently used, all the preset buttons still work, the radio works hum free on its original power supply caps, and it appears to of been a locally owned radio that was from this area originally as it has local radio stations to this part of the country presetted into the radio's presets.

They want $65 for the radio, but said they would go down to $60.

Is this radio worth picking up and restoring at that price, or should I pass on it?

Pictures of the unit in question posted below.

[Electronic M]

If your buying it to flip and resell you probably won't profit, and may lose money post resto.

If your buying it because you want a nice Zenith console radio/phono in your home to keep and use then that is a fairly reasonable price for it...Granted if you have patience and attend enough radio swap meets you may find one as good or better for cheaper...The nicer radio only Zenith consoles I always used to see for $100 and up then I stumbled on my keeper set with perfect original finish for $20, it even worked fine after a variac power up...

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

If your buying it to flip and resell you probably won't profit, and may lose money post resto.

If your buying it because you want a nice Zenith console radio/phono in your home to keep and use then that is a fairly reasonable price for it...Granted if you have patience and attend enough radio swap meets you may find one as good or better for cheaper...The nicer radio only Zenith consoles I always used to see for $100 and up then I stumbled on my keeper set with perfect original finish for $20, it even worked fine after a variac power up...

I would be buying it to fix up and keep as I used to have an old Zenith Radio/Phono combo unit when I was a kid that my pastor gave me before he left the church I went to at the time with my parents.

Unfortunately the radio portion of that unit was no longer functioning by the time I got it, but the record player part still worked albeit with a loud 60 hz hum coming out the speaker (this was before I knew about replacing power supply filter caps on old radios) and I listened to old records on that old Zenith for about a year or so before the radio finally went up in smoke (the bad power supply caps finally shorted out the power transformer in the radio).

So then I had to get rid of it, which I then replaced it with a late 1950s Webcor (Webster-Chicago) blonde stereo record player, which worked fine for a couple of years until one day I went to turn on the record player to listen to some records and the record player just suddenly started smoking for no reason.

The weird thing is that the record player never developed a 60 hz hum to indicate bad filter caps (which at that time I still didn't know about doing my own repairs and trouble shooting of radios and record players, so that unfortunatly met the same fate as the old Zenith before it which was having the guts torn out of the cabinet and thrown in the trash and the cabinet tossed in the woods behind my parents house.

So actually it would be nice to get this old radio/phono combo for nostalgia purposes and because I've always wanted one of these old Zenith radios like these.

So does the tuning mechanism use a tuning belt or a tuning string?
How hard would it be to get the tuning knob/pointer working again, on this particular radio?

[decojoe67]

I agree with everyone. For that kind of money, if you have the space it's worth getting. As far as value and desirability, it's very low, but I personally never make that the driving force in getting a set. The phono is a later replacement, but that was typically done when 45's and LP records came out. One thing for sure, it should be a great player and fun set to use once restored. Good luck!

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by decojoe67

I agree with everyone. For that kind of money, if you have the space it's worth getting. As far as value and desirability, it's very low, but I personally never make that the driving force in getting a set. The phono is a later replacement, but that was typically done when 45's and LP records came out. One thing for sure, it should be a great player and fun set to use once restored. Good luck!

I agree, this is one of the nicest sets I've seen in a while, the chassis is completely rust free, the record player retrofit was done in a professional manner (it wasn't just slapped in there like an amateur job like I've often times seen with these old sets), and the walnut cabinet is still in good shape yet, complete with its original hardware yet.

[Electronic M]

At that time Zenith used both belt and dial strings (sometimes even in the same chassis)...
I used to have a set with the same dial (possibly the same chassis) that I sold a good 7 years ago and hardly remember anymore.

If it uses a belt you may be able to use a large O ring to replace it...I forget where I got the ones I used on the last Zenith sets I did. I haven't restored a pre-war Zenith chassis in probably over 5 years. Another possibility would be thin walked flexible tubing of the right diameter...cut a sliver off the end and you would have a belt...

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

At that time Zenith used both belt and dial strings (sometimes even in the same chassis)...
I used to have a set with the same dial (possibly the same chassis) that I sold a good 7 years ago and hardly remember anymore.

If it uses a belt you may be able to use a large O ring to replace it...I forget where I got the ones I used on the last Zenith sets I did. I haven't restored a pre-war Zenith chassis in probably over 5 years. Another possibility would be thin walked flexible tubing of the right diameter...cut a sliver off the end and you would have a belt...

OK thanks! I'll take a look into that!

[bgadow]

I bought a dial belt kit from Radio Daze some years back; just a length of rubber belt that you cut to fit, then use Krazy Glue to attach the ends. Works okay, though somehow I don't fully trust it.

Those side-by-side combos are the red-haired stepchildren of the radio world, but that doesn't mean that many of them aren't great performing radios. As a keeper you could really consider that updated record changer as a bonus.

[vortalexfan]

I just realized something, I think the reason why the V/M record changer in this radio was a drop-in fit was because this thing may have originally had a V/M Sourced 78 RPM Record Changer in it originally, and I think V/M sourced/made changers had a fairly standard mounting screw pattern on all of their record changers including their old 78 RPM changers that made their record changers interchangable if you needed to replace one down the road for whatever reason.

I'm planning on going to get this radio tomorrow hopefully as long as it hasn't sold already.

[vortalexfan]

Yep, just as I suspected, it originally had a V-M Model 200 78 RPM Record Changer in it, as can be seen in this picture I snagged off the Radio Museum Website of the 10S690, that's exactly the reason why that more modern 4 Speed V-M Record Changer was an exact drop-in fit for this radio.
As you can see from the picture I snagged from the Voice of Music Enthusiasts Website the Model 200 78 RPM Record Changer had the same exact mounting screw pattern as the replacement in the radio I'm going to be getting, which is why the more modern V-M Changer was an exact drop-in replacement, because V-M used a standard mounting screw pattern on all of their record changers they ever made for ease of replacement.

This model was apparently known as the Wilshire.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by vortalexfan

Yep, just as I suspected, it originally had a V-M Model 200 78 RPM Record Changer in it, as can be seen in this picture I snagged off the Radio Museum Website of the 10S690, that's exactly the reason why that more modern 4 Speed V-M Record Changer was an exact drop-in fit for this radio.
As you can see from the picture I snagged from the Voice of Music Enthusiasts Website the Model 200 78 RPM Record Changer had the same exact mounting screw pattern as the replacement in the radio I'm going to be getting, which is why the more modern V-M Changer was an exact drop-in replacement, because V-M used a standard mounting screw pattern on all of their record changers they ever made for ease of replacement.

This model was apparently known as the Wilshire.

IIRC, the VM record changer pictured is a post-war model. It seems to me VM wasn't in business prewar. They started sometime after WW2.
BTW, offer the seller $40.00 for the console. No one seems to want those wide radio-phono consoles. Not my idea! I have four really nice ones.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

IIRC, the VM record changer pictured is a post-war model. It seems to me VM wasn't in business prewar. They started sometime after WW2.
BTW, offer the seller $40.00 for the console. No one seems to want those wide radio-phono consoles. Not my idea! I have four really nice ones.

Well I got it for $40!

And all the tubes in it except the rectifier tube are all the original Zenith Tubes.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by vortalexfan

Well I got it for $40!

And all the tubes in it except the rectifier tube are all the original Zenith Tubes.

Now you're speaking my language!
It's either worth it or it isn't.

[DavGoodlin]

I like to see someone else rescue these post-war horizontal consoles. The mono push-pull 6V6 amps and speakers were as good as the newer phono consoles even ten years later (Magnavox and Fisher exempt)

I found a Zenith 12H090 for similar reasonable money, only missing its original RP, whatever it was in '47, SO in the phono drawer was an early '60's Ensign 4-speed changer made by Admiral. Both leads of the Sonotone 8t cart tied and run using bell-wire to a pigtail from chassis.

From the same seller included a Stromberg Carlson 1121 which is an early 1947 model with both FM bands, in the left pull-out it had a V-M 1200 series (one with levers, not knobs) sitting on a made-up plinth. I think a V-M 400 was original.

[electronjohn]

It even has shortwave! Nice!