Need advice on vintage tabletop AM/FM radio
 

I want to get a nice condition vintage tube AM/FM radio. I like a wood cabinet. But I don't even know what to look for or which brand is good. Please help.

IMHO Zenith AM-FM sets of the late 40's through the mid 60's are head and shoulders above the competition. My favorite is the Zenith 825, 835, and 845 series. These sets have large speakers, AFC, and loudness compensation and can still be bought reasonably.

RCA made some good ones too. Since they're not as popular, nor produced in mammouth numbers like the forementioned Zenith, you can find these priced reasonably at antique radio meets. I have an RCA 6RF9 I picked up at Kutztown a couple of years ago for $10 that kicks ass.

(Not mine, but here's what it looks like):
http://radioatticarchives.com/radio.php?radio=2565

I agree with Randy as to the excellent sound quality of the C845, K731 and other high-end Zenith radios of the late 1950s through the sixties. I have a C845 and an MJ1035 and am favorably impressed with the sound from the 8-inch main speaker/5-inch tweeter in these sets. When Zenith ceased production of these two radios (not to mention the rest of the 800 series), it was the end of an era we will never see the likes of again.

The MJ1035 with stereo FM by Zenith was also one of their better AM/FM radios, with a true tone control, loudness compensation, two-way speaker system, the whole ball of wax in the audio stages. (It has been stated here that the stock speakers in the MJ1035 could have been better than they are; I wonder every now and then if anyone has ever tried replacing the radio's original speakers with high-fidelity speakers.) It was introduced in 1961, the year the FCC authorized stereo multiplex FM standards in the United States, and works well (for monophonic FM) in strong to moderate signal areas. It's not so good with stereo, however, more than about 15 miles or so from the stations, but that's because the MJ1035 was one of Zenith's first attempts at stereo FM in a table radio. I think, however, that if a better antenna than the line-cord antenna were used, the reception, even in far suburban areas, would be much improved.

Don't expect much in the way of fringe-area reception from the MJ1035, however, as the RF amp in this radio is half of a 17JK8 (not a dedicated stage as is the MJ1035's AM RF amp, which is a 12BA6). Even though the MJ1035 has two IF stages on AM and FM, it cannot work miracles with very weak signals; as a matter of fact, the instruction manual for the MJ1035 states, in its short description of the vagaries of FM reception (which are also covered in a small pamphlet which was included with every new Zenith FM radio from the '50s to at least the mid-sixties) that one should not expect to hear anything other than their area's local stations, as the nature of FM radio is such that the signals travel in straight lines from the transmitting antenna and, as such, are limited to line-of-sight range ("the immediate horizon" is the term used in the manual, but the meaning is the same).

The MJ1035 shows up every now and then on eBay, but not nearly as often as the K731 or any Zenith radio in the 800 series (C835R, C845, etc.--the K731 and C845 do appear quite often; I see at least one of each on eBay almost every day). Note, however, that when the MJ1035 does appear on eBay or Craigslist, it is sometimes missing the external (left channel) speaker.

You won't be disappointed with any of the Zenith radios I mentioned here; they are all excellent radios that will run rings around any of today's cheap plastic one-chip gutless-wonders coming off the lines in Korea and elsewhere in the Orient. Where those sets fizzle out miserably (don't expect to hear much on these little things from any real distance, as the signal circuits in them are probably little better than a glorified crystal set), any of the Zeniths from the 40s through the early sixties will outperform them many times over.

Totally agree, you can't go wrong with any of these. I have a few myself and am very happy with the performance. My favorite is the 845, I have two, one for my collection in mint condition and another that I use ALOT but is also in very good condition. Both have phono input.

I used a CD player on the phono inputs on my MJ-1035 , but then I discovered that it's NON-ISOLATED from the power line. There is a 40+ year-old capacitor between me and 120VAC... and I don't feel THAT lucky...

Hi,

if your budget is not as small as the education budget for `59, a look to other countries could be a chance for you... google for Loewe Opta Tempo, Philips Philetta, Grundigs, Schaub Lorenz, Telefunken.
They made pretty, good sounding little radios.

Yours
Alex

@ Tom: Why not change it? 110 Volts spreading out of every metalic part of your radio doesn´t sound comfortable.
I saw a walkman going up in flames, linked to a ´55 console. Never did such a nonsense again.

Yours
Alex

Since I have little to no knowledge on tube radios, where can I buy good restored tube radios?

What is the difference between zenith MJ1035 & MJ1035-1?

PM sent.

I'm not sure, but I think the MJ1035-1 may have moved the phono/radio input selector to the front panel as a separate position on the bandswitch; the original MJ1035 had this selector on the back of the radio, near the phono inputs.

Ahh yes. You are correct. I've seen others with the inputs on the bottom right side of the chassis. The one I have it is in the upper left with the switch at the same spot as the inputs.

Zenith 40s-50s are fine rigs-motorola-late 40s-50s-crosly-fadda-and of course Philco-all of these can be fixed and give hours of dx ing am at night-sw listining on manny due to ww11-and modern talk radio.

I tend to favor the Zenith brand for AM/FM table radios.

I got around that problem for a few bucks spent at a job lot store. A little FM transmitter did the trick--voilà! Hillbilly Hi-Fi....

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ldmeetsnew.jpg

And that´s why it´s standing on a litter box?
Hmm. I would have done some research for location.

Yours
Alex

Now, seeing the photo my wife is asking if this is a subwoofer or a litter box....


Irony of. I would love that radio... if I only could run it with 240 v.

Yours
Alex

It was a temporary setup, and the ash barrel seemed handy. I was digging out and rebuilding a storm drain in the driveway, and wanted to hear some tunes. :D

That´s the right attitude! Don´t do nothing without the right music played by the right gear!
You are right!
But have you thought of the secret message coming with your pic?

Yours
Alex

Maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet to ponder this hidden message... But the message I see is how new and old technology can be combined to work well. And that more often than not a piece of gear as useful as it is obsolete.


I don't anticipate positioning that container the other way up under that radio any time soon. :D

Hmm.
If your zenith is the old part and that plastic-pokemon-thing (portable cd?) is the new one, I´d agree.
If the zenith is the old part and the ashbox... forget about it.

I would pay the shipping if your zenith goes down... which god may prevent.

(I remember an exploding walkman when I linked it to a `55 console... many weeks it worked, but one day... the console is still playing.)

One cannot be too careful when dealing with line equipment.

As for the Zenith going down it is funny you mention it; the output tube--35B5--just turned white and died. I know I have a replacement for it in some boxes stored in the carriage shed attic here, but a trip up there today reveals that the whole room is swarming with hornets--and me without a jet aerosol to deal with the beasties. I've gotten nailed too many times up there to attempt to ignore them. I'll fetch a new "bug-bomb" at the market tomorrow, and search for this tube. This is my bedside radio, so I need to get it working again, as it is part of my basic routine. :o

Ouch,

that really hurts. Hope I didn´t voodoo your output tube. Grin.
Here is my bedside radio, and a little tip for the opener, if he´s still there.
Hmm. Hope I managed uploading the pic (stolen from the net, cause I got no cam).

I've often wondered what could have happened if RCA, Zenith, Motorola or one of the other "Big Shots' had offered a "Premium" AM/FM/SW radio to compete w/the Grundigs, SABAs, Emuds, etc that came into this country in the Fifties & Sixties ? I mean, the K725/731 series of Zeniths that we all have 2 or 3 of anyway were nice enuff radios, but they still weren't really in the same league as most of the German offerings, which generally gave you a shortwave band or 2 & a tuning eye tube. And the Trans-Oceanic was really a different animal, too. American mfgers have always been too conservative about bringing new products to the marketplace-and, in my estimation, paid a heavy price. Take the Sony 8-301 TV- You can't tell me RCA or Zenith or Motorola didn't have the technical expertise to come up w/a transistor TV that would have blown it out of the water-or made a nice table radio that had just as many bells 'n' whistles as a German set, and was as COSMETICALLY as nice, too ? What did WE get from Zenith ? Ugly old mud-brown bakelite that broke if you looked at it the wrong way. OK, Zenith made wood-cased sets, too- but to my way of thinking, the Germans just pulled it off better than we did. It might have not made any difference in the long run, trying to go up against Japan, Inc., but we should have at least TRIED, I think.

I think that the reason our radio makers were able to compete against the magnificent German ones is that there was probably better support when something went wrong with a Zenith, RCA, Motorola, etc...than with the German ones.

As a kid back in the '60s I remember seeing Telefunkens, Grundigs, etc in the Army town of Columbus, GA. Fascinating-looking sets--and none of them worked. The owners all said they couldn't find a tech that was willing to look at it.

All well and good to have those nobby features, but not if nobody would try to fix it when it went dead.

As a technician in western MA in the early '80s I saw many of those German sets come across my bench, and all the customers bringing them in would say.."Do you have any idea how long I've been searching for a repairman willing to fix this...?"

Maybe there were facilities in higher population-density areas--such as NYC--back in the day that worked on them, but I had many customers bring them up to me from the Big Apple just the same.

I don't know what the other techs were afraid of; while there may have been a dozen brands of radio of such genre the chasses were almost identical with each other, and I never encountered anything peculiar or insurmountable in restoring one of those beauties to good working order.... :dunno:

Now there seem to be many that are willing to dive into such territory in the spirit of keeping the old stuff alive... :thmbsp:

deleted as duplicate...

Very nice set! :thmbsp: The shortwave bands are a plus. I had a radio like that at one time, but I gave it to a friend of mine a long time ago. He was in his 80s and housebound. He was legally blind, and had Parkinson's, so the big knobs, dial and controls made it an easy-to-use radio for him. And the set was powerful enough to overcome his hearing impairment as well.

My Zenith has a 3rd band besides the AM and FM-100 bands; it is an FM-45 band that is a long time obsolete. Some local police here use frequencies in that band but I haven't heard a peep out of them when scanning the dial.

Exactly ! They may have LOOKED mysterious, but looks to me like any tech worth his salt SHOULD have been able to figure one of 'em out...Our mfgers have always, w/few exceptions, catered to the "low-ball" end of the market, & by default, ceded the "high-end" to others. Again, it prolly wouldn't have mattered in the long run, but who knows ? There COULD HAVE BEEN a vibrant consumer electronic industry still yet... Sony brought out the 5-303W 5" B&W all-transistor TV in '62 ? Why didn't RCA bring out a 9" COLOR transistor set in '63...Hell, RCA INVENTED color TV for all intents & purposes...Blow Sony outta the water...But, hindsight's always 20/20, ain't it...

Whoa! Missed a lot of discussion when being away.
Hmm. Seeing the danger of hi-jacking the thread once more, I´d like to say a few words...
Interesting, Sandy, your thoughts of what-would-have been-if... I had such thoughts about german 70´s HiFi and japanese monster-recievers... And Old, I searched hours in the net to find someone fixing my Pioneer SX-D5000. So I share your observation about aliens brought to be repaired.
I must say, that I don´t know any american radio live. So I won´t give any justice about them (but I really like the style, indeed).

Just some impressions I got ruining radios in my youth and restorating other radios, when I got wise.

I don´t know how much material you got to get your impression of german radios down those years.

About the half I got to know are little, hazardous beasts, some without a galvanic seperation from the net. Better not touch any metallic part. 220 V are waiting for you. Tube heating rate is reached by connecting those things serial, leave the rest to an urdox.

A quarter of the radios I know is good middleclass. Not to much equipment, but well sounding. Their cabinet is big enough to allow some good, weak sounding speaker. But those things even had their price: a good month´s wage for a radio?

The last quarter are sophisticated, big bombers with 2 EL 84, sometimes a seperated amp for the tweeters, and fart and flintstone (vulgar german expression for: comes with everything). Examples?
6-band equalizer (grundig), automatic tuning and volume allowing cable-remote (saba), a hell lot of speakers (graetz , kuba), dynamic expanders (körting), high-end amps (Loewe: In mono push-pull, switched to stereo ultralinear a with the same output-transformers) and whatever.

These things got the same problem like a ´59 Fleetwood with 300 servos to close the roof and move the seat.

What´s the end?
The quality in germany went down in the late 50´s, the 60´s gear is very simpler, but still got a lot of mechanic inside (station preset, no modular boards). What happened? First we laughed about little japanese transistors. A few years later the little pioneer rec. (550?) was the new trend. Whats inside an sx 550? Here it was really good stereo. Philips had amps with 2x6 W those days.
An sx 990 was 1500 deutschmarks!

Hmm.
Greetings (gonna be on a short holiday)
Alex

Hi,

Some wooden table radios to look for with AM/FM. Zenith has excellent ones. I like KLH and Advent table radios, RCA had a few good ones. I like Telefunken, Grundig, Nordmende, Saba, Siemens, and Loewe sets. Tandberg and Bang & Olufsen table radios are to die for as are Radionettes.

My personal favorites are the Zeniths from the mid-'50s through the seventies, though I do have one solidly-built Zenith AM/FM set from 1980 that works very well (doesn't eat up batteries either) as I will mention. I have two of their vintage wooden AM/FM sets, the C845 and the MJ1035, as well as several of their better sets from the '50s and even a 9-transistor AM/FM portable (model R-70) from 1980, all of them working. With tuned RF amp stages on AM and FM, along with two IF stages on both bands as well, these sets (C845xx series/MJ1035, as well as probably the C835x series) can run rings around any of the small no-name plastic headphone stereos or miniature boom boxes without tape players (the things are much too small), as are found today at dirt-cheap prices at Big Lots and other discount stores. During their heyday in Chicago (1920s through the end of the sixties), when Zenith would proudly announce in their advertising "the quality goes in before the name goes on", they weren't kidding. The day Zenith was taken over by Gold Star marked the end of an era the likes of which we will never see again, unfortunately, in this day and age of outsourcing. :no:

I'm on board with the opinions offered on the Zeniths of the 50's - early 60's.
Quality constuction, materials, styling and performance nearly in a league all it's own when compared with other AM/FM radios...the RCA 6-RF-9 from 1956is very close being a fully transformered set, not AC/DC, plus it had a strong
6V6GT output tube. It also had an 8 inch speaker, but no high frequency speakers like the Zenith.

The only table set that had better sound would be the FM only KLH Model 8 with it's 3 IF stages and push-pull audio output. They're really in their own league having a seperate acoustic suspension loudspeaker - furniture grade solid walnut cabnets. Basically the first mini hifi.

KLH's syling is stark, but performance is remarkable.

I would replace that isolation capacitor ASAP, before using the phonograph inputs again. The MJ1035 was first introduced by Zenith in 1961 and remained in their product line until 1965, so depending on which model you have (MJ1035, MJ1035-1, MJ1035-W1) that capacitor is anywhere from 43 to 47 years old. I wouldn't trust it, as by now it is almost certainly defective.

What happened to your CD player when you hooked it up to your MJ1035? I would think it would work, albeit with a lot of hum, as the phono inputs may not have been isolated that well from the AC line when the radio was new (there is probably next to no isolation today if the original cap is still in the circuit). The designers of the MJ1035 probably did not even consider that 40-some years after this set was made, people might want to try to connect anything other than a phono turntable to those inputs, so the isolation capacitor was probably just enough to meet safety standards in effect at the time.