[Jeffhs]

Nolan, I didn't realize that the MJ1035 used the same speakers as the C/H845 series. Thanks much for posting the pictures of those (and the chassis), as I've never seen the inside of an MJ1035 before now and have had the back off my C845 only once since I've had it. Come to think of it, I never saw or owned a table radio with a speaker or cabinet as big as the C845 either, until now. The radio sounds excellent; it is an example of Zenith quality we will never see again. I am especially impressed by the deep bass the 845's 8-inch speaker provides. The tone control in the 845 series is also a true tone control, not the cheaper circuit found in other sets that simply cuts down the highs. I never saw that in a table radio till now, either; but then again, as I said, until I got the C845, I never owned a radio of this caliber. It now has a place of honor on my dresser in my bedroom, and you can be sure I won't part with it.

I was not aware until I read your latest post that the Zenith Y928W console from 1968 sounds as good as many tube-powered audio systems. I read a post of yours to another forum about this console, and know now why you like it so well. I remember seeing a Magnavox radio/phono console (tube powered, no TV) years ago that also had the treble horns, so Zenith didn't have a corner on that design.

Your console must be huge, but that's another reason it sounds as good as you say it does. Then again, the original Zenith Radio Corporation was not a company which was in the habit of cutting corners. The fact that your console still works, and well, after 38 years is living proof of that; even more so if your set has its original record changer, and still more so if the original changer has the original stylus, but that all depends on how much you and/or your family listen to records these days. My best guess is that your console's changer has likely gone through several styli and perhaps has had a new idler wheel installed at one point in the last 38 years, or, perhaps it's had a complete new changer installed. However, given the quality of Zenith's record changers in most of its consoles, it wouldn't surprise me if your set still has the original four-speed changer.

I owned a Zenith "Circle of Sound" AM/FM clock radio (model F472W) some 20-25 years ago. The flip-type digital clock had quit when I got it, so I removed it and wired in a standard push-button switch. This was the model with Target Tuning, which was a small LED mounted in the tuning pointer. The LED showed when the radio was tuned exactly on a station; a small PC board mounted above the main board contained the circuitry which operated this unique tuning-indicator system. Unfortunately, this radio got lost when I moved seven years ago and is probably (almost certainly) long gone by now. I wish I would have kept it, as it was a unique design I haven't seen in any radio (except one, as I will explain) before or since. I do have a Sony transistor portable with a tuning indicator mounted in the upper left corner of the slide-rule tuning scale, but it probably uses a small "grain of wheat" bulb as the tuning indicator, mounted behind a small horizontal red lens (I'd be surprised as all get-out if it used an LED in this position, given the fact that the radio was made in 1973). Oh well. Perhaps I'll find another set like the Zenith F472W on ebay one of these days. I liked the sound mine had, but it had one flaw that always puzzled me, until now. I used to like to listen to an FM station at 97.1 years ago (late '70s-'80s), but on my Zenith Circle of Sound radio, that station would be cut out by, of all things, aircraft radio interference whenever a plane flew over the house. I didn't get this interference on a Zenith stereo I had at the time, nor on any other FM radio I owned.

I just now did some figuring and found out, I think anyway, why my Zenith COS was picking up that aircraft radio interference. The FM station I was listening to was about 50 miles away and operated on 97.1 MHz; the FM IF frequency is 10.7 MHz. Do the math (97.1+10.7x2) and we now have 118.5 MHz, which is right smack in the middle of the aircraft band; the reception of the aircraft signal on the FM broadcast band is due to an IF image. I do not get interference of this kind where I live now, as I am some distance from any major airport; I live almost 50 miles from the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, so I don't expect to be getting interference from its aircraft radio systems. There are a couple of smaller (carrier, non-commercial) airports within 15 miles of my small town, but I haven't been hearing their radio systems on my stereo (Aiwa bookshelf system with digital AM/FM tuner), or any other FM radio I presently own, since I've been here--knock on wood.