Zenith blonde wood console

[Firedome]

Well at some point I'll be getting an approx '56 or '57 Zenith mono blonde wood console from my good friend MotorolaMinion in PA. It was one of the top models for the year, has 12" speaker( I think?) and horn tweeter, VOM TT with metal base, and a 6V6GT PP amp/receiver. More info and pics when I get home from VT, also when it arrives. It'll be a great match for my soon-to-be-coming 1961 RCA CT-11 blonde wood "The Wakely" color TV!

[electra225]

I hope you know how to post pictures!

[William]

Looking forward to seeing and hearing about your new Zenith when it arrives.

Bill

[Firedome]

I do but they are all on my desktop at home, I'll be back from our VT Lake place on Friday and will have some pics to post.

[Firedome]

In the meantime I did find out it's called the Zenith "Rhapsody". It's featured in some Zenith magazine ads from that year (1957?) featuring band leaders like Les Brown and Stan Kenton. It was evidently one of their better units.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/320951910947158080/

I'd forgotten it has twin 12" woofers and 2 electrostatic tweeters, with, evidently, a Cobra-Matic record player. This oughta be a pretty nice sounding mono unit, and it's in my favorite light blonde wood with modern styling too. The matching 1961 RCA CTC-11 blonde wood color TV will look awesome
with it! Both destined for our VT summer place. Guess I'll have to find that record to play on it!

[Firedome]

The classic Percy Faith version from the 1959 film with Sandra Dee and Troy Donohue... those were the days... music as it should be.
Can't wait to play it on the Zenith while looking at the sun setting over the Adirondacks, Lake Champlain in the foreground...our little piece of heaven!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wd3dlEvodk

Nowadays we have shite like Cardi's "WAP"... where's my time machine?

[William]

Ok Roger, now I'm jealous! I think I want a summer place like you have.

Bill

[Firedome]

Thanks Bill, it's actually a very modest 24 x 32 building I mostly built myself on a small lot 2 streets away from the water, in a lake cabin community my family has been at since 1926. One of the "campers'"had neglected his camp (New England speak for "cottage") for over 15 years, and a roof leak and rot dictated a teardown. So I got it cheap in 2005, spent the first summer tearing it down, and the next starting building. Now after 16 years it's about 90% done (are they ever done?), but I'm slowing down and been contracting out more of the final finish work. I have 2 aunt's/uncles and many cousins here was well so it's truly home, as I've been coming here all my life. The fishing and scenery are hard to beat. Champlain is 110 mi long, so provides a lifetime of boating exploration, and with mountains on both sides (Adirondacks and Green Mountains) there scenery leaves nothing to be desired. We feel lucky to be here. I'' post some pics when I get home.

[Firedome]

The ad copy for the '57 Rhapsody says built-in strobe for speed accuracy, speeds 10 to 85?? Never heard of any speeds other than 16,33,45,78.
And electrostatic tweeters seem somewhat unusual in a console as well.

[Firedome]

The ad copy for the '57 Rhapsody says built-in strobe for speed accuracy, speeds 10 to 85?? Never heard of any speeds other than 16,33,45,78.
And electrostatic tweeters seem somewhat unusual in a console as well.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/320951910947158080/

[William]

Maybe they are referring to the fact that you can vary the speed from say 16 down to 10? Or, 78 up to 85? Or, anything in between what one of the familiar speeds are selected?

Bill

[TC Chris]

Not all records are recorded at the right speed. In the "78 era," that speed was not standardized right away and some ran at 80 rpm, etc. Later there were other errors. One of the famous jazz albums, perhaps "Kind of Blue," was recorded off-speed because of a tape machine error. Lenco made variable speed turntables. The later ones are sought-after. I have a '50s version.

Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

Ok - dumb newbie quality question coming: ... how do I post a pic off my desktop, not via a link to a url using the icons in the row above?

[Firedome]

As promised - blonde Zenith rhapsody:

Z-HF5.jpg (20.43 KiB) Viewed 2588 times

[Firedome]

shoot - all my other pics are too big too...I've had trouble re-sizing before, a real PITA process. That 1 pic happened to be a very small size from another source, not my camera... I'm not real keen on having to resize every time to post a pic!

[William]

Thanks Roger!

Bill

[Firedome]

So this Rhapsody will be coming my way when gone thru properly by our very own Motorola Minion! He's super thorough and may post some pics of the process! Am excited to be steward of this very unique last-gasp TOL mono console in my favorite finish. With an electrostat tweeter, 2 big woofers, and a Cobramatic it's sweet! A couple of pretty well-known guys had one:

[hermitcrab]

2 12" woofers? it outta shake the house down...Chris is correct the speed standard was up in the air at that time , and they even had records that played at 80 rpms and all over the spectrum ... if you search youtube you can find videos of these being played .. blonde cabinets were the fashion of the day... I like it.
Elton

[Hi-Fi-Mogul]

The compact modern styling is very cool.
And "Blondes have more Fun !"

That mono unit will have Stan and Les' bands
set up right in front sounding great.

I have 5-6 of Stan's mono albums, even a 10 inch
disc. That period of work in the late 40's to 50's
really allows me to feel that environment.

Watch out that the Cobra doesn't bite !

[Firedome]

Yes I'm a big Stan Kenton fan as well, I mainly knew Les Brown's Band of Renown thru Bob Hope's shows then, my recollection is that they were hot too.

I've never had a Cobramatic but assume the built-in stroboscope was for fine-tuning speeds as mentioned by Chris, Bill and Hermit above. I think it has the selector for different frequency-emphasis curves typical of the time as well.
Control

20210403_125630.jpg (1.34 MiB) Viewed 2579 times

20210403_125630.jpg (1.34 MiB) Viewed 2579 times

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