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Originally Posted by Nolan Woodbury
First of all, I wonder if Zenith's system of letters behind the model number depicts finish. For example, every blonde C730 I've seen is labeled an 'E'. My X334 has no letter designation, so I'm not sure if my theory is right or not.
The knobs are fastened to the shafts by a round metal clip that fits over the knob’s plastic shaft. Ideally, the knob should slide off (with some pressure) but the fact that your volume knob is missing its clip means somebody's probably had the chassis out at some point; not hard to imagine and no big deal. If you don't move the radio around much the knob should stay put, but be careful; when your Zenith is plugged in the chassis has ac current running through it, so make sure it is unplugged before you work on it.
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All four knobs on my C845 will come off their shafts quite easily. However, the knobs on my K731 will not. The latter are probably captivated to the cabinet to prevent electric shock hazard, as Chad noted. Since the '845, like the '731, is an AC/DC set with the chassis connected directly to one side of the line, however, I expected its knobs to have been captivated to the cabinet in the same manner and for the same reasons.
As to the knob with a missing clip: A paper shim between it and the volume pot shaft should keep the knob from sliding off.
I second the warning on unplugging this radio (or any other AC/DC set with a hot chassis, for that matter) before starting any repair or maintenance work on it. While a hot-chassis radio, TV or stereo unit (anything with a hot chassis) is in fact grounded through the AC line when the line plug is in the socket a certain way, there is a 50/50 chance that the plug will be inserted in such a way that the hot side of the line is connected to the chassis; in other words, there's as much of a chance of getting it wrong as getting it right, since there is no way of knowing which side of the line is connected to the set's chassis and metal parts unless you use a light-bulb test jig to determine which side of the outlet is ground before starting the job. So I'd unplug the set before working on it, as Nolan suggests. This gives you 100 percent assurance that the chassis is electrically cold and absolutely safe to work on. It is always better to be safe than sorry.