I'm looking at buying a very cool and very retro Zenith record player and speaker system. I'm guessing it to be mid to late 60s to maybe early 70s. It's the kind with the cylindrical speakers with upwards facing full range drivers and the inverted hyperbolic cones above them to disperse the sound radially. It's so cool and retro looking, I really want to restore it and get it working again.
The guy selling it says the tonearm tends to auto-return all the time and doesn't stay on the record very long. What's the most likely cause(s) of that?
The thing apparently does play and makes sound but I expect to have to replace most of the caps and other components, etc. Might want to replace or re-foam the full range drivers as well. Not sure if the amplifier part is tube or solid state. I will go to look at it tonight.
The guy selling it says the tonearm tends to auto-return all the time and doesn't stay on the record very long. What's the most likely cause(s) of that?
The thing apparently does play and makes sound but I expect to have to replace most of the caps and other components, etc. Might want to replace or re-foam the full range drivers as well. Not sure if the amplifier part is tube or solid state. I will go to look at it tonight.
There are probably damaged or worn out/ jammed mechanical linkages under the turntable , may just need some tlc and adjustment via a screw that sets the lift point .
nb this is just general advice and not specific to that model but they all worked along the same lines until optical sensors came along.
nb this is just general advice and not specific to that model but they all worked along the same lines until optical sensors came along.
Most likely the trip pawl on the main gear is dirty or gummed up with old lubricant.
If it's going to need parts then Voice of Music would be a good bet:
Voice Of Music, V-M Audio Enthusiasts
Ray K
If it's going to need parts then Voice of Music would be a good bet:
Voice Of Music, V-M Audio Enthusiasts
Ray K
It's a Zenith Z565 Record Player with Circle of Sound speakers. Pictures are attached. I have some cool plans for this system which I will discuss in another thread.
I know people will say this system is not high quality and not worth doing anything with but I think it's so retro-cool that it's worth making upgrades and modifications to in order to make it as good as it can be. That may not be great from an audiophile's point of view but I'm hoping I can make it decent enough to listen to.
Stuff like this is so reminiscent of a bygone era and so undeniably retro-cool that it's worth preserving and making it useful again.
I know people will say this system is not high quality and not worth doing anything with but I think it's so retro-cool that it's worth making upgrades and modifications to in order to make it as good as it can be. That may not be great from an audiophile's point of view but I'm hoping I can make it decent enough to listen to.
Stuff like this is so reminiscent of a bygone era and so undeniably retro-cool that it's worth preserving and making it useful again.
Attachments
I have had a number of pairs of those speakers and have listened to them. Now you will find these looking the same from the outside, but i have seen them with different drivers. Th econcept is neat but even with the best drivers performance is mediocre. They are worth playing with, the turntable is, IMHO, best sent to the metal recycling. The amp is probably SS and as cheap as they could manage.
dave
dave
The turntable is a garden variety VM, with a "floating ceramic cartridge" that's supposed to track at around 2 grams. It does, but not very well. As I recall, the amplifier actually uses germanium output transistors. My college roommate had one of these, and it was pretty terrible.
It's about as good as it can be right now .... And it's cool just sitting on a shelf.
The Speakers do look cool, and the general concept of "saving" it from the scrap heap is admirable. I have many pieces that are just on shelves as nostalgia ornaments. If I saw that at Goodwill I certainly would have dropped 10 bucks for it .... But beyond that ...
With some tweaking and possibly new drivers the speakers could be listenable, if placed correctly ..... and connected to a decent amp and source.
So ....
If you want Retro Cool look .... and .... Audiophile sound, get an old dynaco or such tube amp. Or even an old Solid State receiver or integrated amp and hide it below in the cabinet
For turntables, that table will NEVER sound very good no mater how much modification is done to it. So get a Pro-Ject table and do a Plinth-Ectomy, and fit the Pro-ject into that Zenith box and use just the Zenith box and dust cover just ... as a box and a dust cover that matches the speakers.
Maybe a simple afternoon job, what size it that ? the Project is
Dimensions: 415 x 118 x 320mm (WxHxD) lid closed
https://www.needledoctor.com/Pro-Ject-Debut-Carbon-DC-Black
Or, just put in on an empty shelf in your Vinyl shelf unit like I do with the Old Reel to Reel machines and stuff that I save from thrift stores
Let's begin the restoration
Okay, let's start planning what we're going to do.
I don't think it'll cost that much to try Option 2 first and that option has the advantage of keeping all of the adjustment knobs fully functional. If the thing still sounds like crap or can't power the replacement coax drivers, I'll switch to Option 3 and re-amp.
First lets look at all the insides of the thing in a macro view:
If we look along the right side where the various tone and volume controls are. It can be seen that there's quite a lot of brown blob non-polar coupling caps there. There's also some transistors and lots of resistors. Any reason I should target the coupling caps and replace them as a matter of course or should I just leave them alone? Below is a close-up of some of the coupling caps.
What about the transistors? Below is a diagram showing what transistors are being used. I believe there are modern day replacements available for them.
Below are two views of the PSU and amplifier section in two different machines. A number of electrolytic caps can be seen there.
I've outlined the caps I'm thinking I should definitely target for replacement. Is there anything else in this section I should also target?
The fuse is blown on the unit I have so rather than replace it with one of those soldered in glass fuses that are a hassle to change out, I'm wiring in an inline glass fuse holder. I can tape the spare fuses inside the chassis so they're immediately handy if the fuse ever gets blown again. The PO blew the fuse when he was tinkering. Hopefully, the fuse did its job and nothing was damaged.
Okay, let's start planning what we're going to do.
I don't think it'll cost that much to try Option 2 first and that option has the advantage of keeping all of the adjustment knobs fully functional. If the thing still sounds like crap or can't power the replacement coax drivers, I'll switch to Option 3 and re-amp.
First lets look at all the insides of the thing in a macro view:
If we look along the right side where the various tone and volume controls are. It can be seen that there's quite a lot of brown blob non-polar coupling caps there. There's also some transistors and lots of resistors. Any reason I should target the coupling caps and replace them as a matter of course or should I just leave them alone? Below is a close-up of some of the coupling caps.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
What about the transistors? Below is a diagram showing what transistors are being used. I believe there are modern day replacements available for them.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Below are two views of the PSU and amplifier section in two different machines. A number of electrolytic caps can be seen there.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I've outlined the caps I'm thinking I should definitely target for replacement. Is there anything else in this section I should also target?
The fuse is blown on the unit I have so rather than replace it with one of those soldered in glass fuses that are a hassle to change out, I'm wiring in an inline glass fuse holder. I can tape the spare fuses inside the chassis so they're immediately handy if the fuse ever gets blown again. The PO blew the fuse when he was tinkering. Hopefully, the fuse did its job and nothing was damaged.
I thought that's what those things wrapped in tape or paper inside the metal housings in the upper and lower right hand corners of the amp/PSU section were. Is that not what they are?
Looks like the Power Transformer is on the "top" of the chassis. Isn't that it the the bottom left corner of the photo? You can see the laminated plates and the 4 x fasteners securing it to the chassis
Power transformer is visible in the left bottom corner trough the square window. Some types germanium transistors tend to pass away with years, get noisy or stop working at all, real pain in the *** as there are no direct silicium equivalents, you have to rebias circuit. Good luck 
nice project.
nice project.- Status
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