[Jeffhs]

I looked at the pic of the tube layout chart for kc8adu's Zenith C845, and noticed the chassis number, 8H20. Wasn't that the same chassis used in Zenith's radio-phono consoles of the '50s? The chassis number rang a bell in my mind because I remember seeing this chassis in at least one Zenith RP console of that vintage...or am I thinking of the 8H20Z? What was the difference, if any, between the two chassis? I did notice that the 8H20 had one more tube in it (a 6AB4) than my K-731 (and others like it) with 7K07/7M07 chassis. Was the 8H20 a high-performance chassis with an AM RF amp as well as the 19T8 FM amplifier? I notice the tube layout is otherwise identical to that of the K731 and its plastic-cabinet cousins.

Did the 8H20 chassis have a phono input as well? If this was a true hi-fi radio, and especially with two speakers, it should have; after all, many radios and television sets of mid-1950s vintage had such an input on the rear chassis apron, and a switch on the front panel to activate it. (My folks' first TV was a 1954 RCA Victor 21" console with a phono jack; they even had the matching 45-EY-3 45-rpm changer to go with it. In fact, my dad kept the changer for years after the TV went to the junkpile, although by the '70s the cartridge was missing.)

As good as the K731's audio system is, with that electrostatic tweeter, it should have been equipped with a phono input as well, but it wasn't--at least mine doesn't have such a jack, or if it does I haven't found it yet.