[Jeffhs]

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.