Classic Hifi Care

This is your chance to be the first one to post about your Zenith instrument. Don't be bashful.

Here is a 1965 Zenith MT-1971 I would like to share a story about. I sold this one in January along with a 64 RCA 4VF349 and a Motorola SK107 console just a bit older.

I found this at a Habitat ReStore 5 years ago, where it had a $50 tag on it. It was brought home where a basement flood nearly swallowed up the legs. While it was still otherwise in fine shape, the record player was not original Zenith-branded/Voice of Music-built "2g" changer but a later generic V-M 1200 series. I had a newer-style 1968 2g changer that I restored for it, looked even better than the more plain original. This alone was lots of work at the end but ultimately sold the console for me.

It was complete and had its original Zenith "Hi Fidelity" gold-covered operating instruction book. After I restored the mid-price-level single-ended 6BQ5 amplifier (chassis 4L21) and modified the speaker enclosures, I tackled the AM-FM stereo tuner (MLT-15) which was the optional drop-in tuner. Models with only the amp and record changer were ST-1971 IIRC.

After this model, I was not able to find any more Zenith all-tube models . I enjoyed the fine AM and FM reception in the shop for several years before even restoring the changer. After that, I sold it to a nice college professor from Florida who saw my FB ad when visiting her parents 1 hour west of here. Playing a Fleetwood Mac LP convinced her to buy it, much as I demonstrated how awesome the tuner was. Later 1965 and 1966 MM and MN prefixes were solid state consoles as far as my Sams Photofacts tell me.

I wasn't aware that Zenith made all-tube consoles as late as 1965. I knew they used hybrids, tube tuners and solid state amps. So, did Zenith produce all-tube, hybrid, and solid state consoles in 1965?