So I put the stereo on the variac today and it came to life... Because Zenith! Right channel is a bit weak and MPX isn't working but with all the bumble bees and ceramic body tubular papers in it I'm impressed it works this well. I posted a video of it up on Facebook.
https://m.facebook.com/groups/233107...9611167070738/
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Originally Posted by mr_rye89
That’s a pretty awesome set! Too bad about that jug/yoke but that shouldn’t be too hard to find. And with the PP stereo amp that thing could probably really rock. Is the stereo reverb option just a reverb tank like you would find in a guitar amp?
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I need to look into it. There's about 6 different Sam's for the tuner and amp and the only one I could pull without moving a TV away from my filing cabinets didn't show the reverb...Just it's socket and reverb delete jumper plug. Based on what goes to the plug there should be tubes on the reverb chassis...The delete plug connects a 20W resistor to ground to load the B+ to compensate for the reduced load with the delete. It would be cool to find and add the reverb to it... gotta find the reverb chassis number first.
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Originally Posted by John Adams
Just curious as to the EIA code on the crt label.
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If you click the pic you can zoom in and read EIA 274....RCA. Which jibes with the legend that RCA sent engineers to SC to find out how the made a better picture than RCA TVs despite using an RCA made CRT. Looking closer at the safety glass there are a couple deep 2" scratches in the center of the viewing area so I can't even save the safety glass.
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Originally Posted by DavGoodlin
Nice deal even if it needs a universally-available CRT. A 7K31 amp is truly hard to find in anything, much less a combo! I have that TOTL record changer and same tuner in a 1963 MK-2635, a very common console HiFi.
Are you sure that chassis is 25MC43? If so this is a rare bird indeed. K-models were '63s so maybe the best SS amp for '65 was no match for that 7K31.
I have a 65 Zenith 25MC36 combo with a 25ABP22 and 140 "watt" stereo receiver that is all SS. No separate amp chassis either. If that SS receiver were in your combo instead, value would be half or even less with a busted CRT - LOL
Every Zenith with that earlier (TOTL for 1963) 12- tube tuner chassis I have found was paired with 3K31 amp, like one I have and others I did not buy for that reason. All seemed to have those better speakers though.
Zenith SE6BQ5 amps are not very powerful, yet do sound very sweet when all restored especially if you replace often cracked-looking ceramic disc caps with mylar film-dips. I bet that preamp and 7K31 amp chassis would rival a similar Fisher amp.
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Yes the TV chassis has its ID sticker clearly legible.
It's facinating that they put chassis 2 model years apart into the same cabinet, but not totally shocking to me either I have a Y line rectangular console (20Ysomething) and a 20CC50 table top that both use the same face and single knob VHF/UHF tuner.
Thanks for confirming my gut feeling about that amp. I had a hunch it was rare/special but I haven't owned or opened many Zenith stereo consoles so I have a limited frame of reference.
It's already pretty darn good so I'd imagine with a full service it will be one of my best tube stereos. Once I get time to look at the TV chassis I kinda want to variac it and see if it would have worked if the CRT hadn't gotten crunched.