Zenith H845 selenium Rectifier replacement

[davet753]

After many hours of listening, I finally decided this evening to crack open my H845 and change the selenium rectifier.

After I grabbed a nut driver, I realized that I had never taken this particular radio apart. Once opened up, it became obvious that this radio had never been taken apart.....ever...by me or anyone else. Everything inside was exactly as it left the factory. This is one of the very few sets I own that has all it's original tubes, and even the old wax capacitors and electrolytic filters. The selenium rectifier even has the Zenith name stamped on it. Surprisingly enough, it was just a little dusty inside. I decided to do a little cleaning on it and just button it back up.

I just got to thinking, it would be a shame to go poking around and updating parts in a radio that works and performs flawlessly and is still just as it was the day it left the Zenith factory in Chicago in 1961. I know 50 year old selenium rectifiers and 50 year old capacitors have to be closing in on their useful life-span, but as good as this radio performs, I think I'll just leave well enough alone.

BTW, out of all my old FM sets, the Zenith H845 outperforms all the others in sound quality, sensitivity, and selectivity. Even my favorite FM set (a 7-tube Westinghouse table model) can't hardly pull in as many stations as the Zenith....and this with the Zenith's older discriminator detector technology vs. the Westinghouse ratio detector circuit.