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Going to see a man about a Zenith

Montycat

Montycat

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Or maybe more than one Zenith.

He sounds retired but apparently the guy used to service the brand, and he has an MC 7050 receiver up for sale for $25 and a "Zenith by Hitachi" TT and some speakers as well. Who knows what else I might find when I head over in the morning.
 
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It's a good receiver with a good reputation. 40 Watts per channel RMS. My dad had one while I was growing up. Now there's also a MC-7051, but I'm thinking that it is basically the same. I now have an MC-7051 that I bought more recently, but I think that my dad's was actually the MC-7050.

They also made a cassette deck(MC-9070) that matched this line of receivers.
 
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I brought home the MC 7050, the Zenith turntable (not by Hitachi, it's by Garrard, forget the model at the moment), and the biggest speakers I've ever had, Allegro 4000's

Picked it all up today from the ex Zenith repair guy for $75. I think he would have tossed in a matching tape deck if I had been interested.

So here is what my car looks like with the new system. I kind of like it, do you think I should leave it there?
 

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Gotta get em out so you can tell us how they sound.:D Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. This equipment is somewhat rare as you don't see these items come up for sale too often.

I took a pic of the cassette deck that I was talking about. When my father bought his system new in 1979, he got the MC-7050 receiver, the MC-9070 cassette deck, record changer(Garrard), and Allegro 3000 speakers(10" Woofers). I still have the cassette deck and turntable from his original system. Kinda wished that I'd have kept the speakers, but already had more than I need. Think they went to the Goodwill.:twak:

I remember seeing a brochure once. The Allegro 4000 speakers were the top models. They also made some lower end receivers, but the MC-7050 was the top model also at the time.

Posted a photo, so you could see what the cassette deck looks like. Also of the turntable.

Enjoy your new equipment.:music:
 

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I brought the speakers up and they are hooked up and sound pretty decent. I had to disconnect my subwoofer to make room, but with the 12" drivers in these I somehow doubt I'll need the subwoofer even for movies.

The TT is pretty nice looking especially for a changer...it does not even look like one. It will need some work as the lube has dryed up to the point it barely turns.

The receiver will need some cleaning but all of it looks in pretty decent shape. The speakers are very good, with just a bit of lint and some sun fading on the top of one. All the drivers look perfect.

I'll take better photos later but I'll attach the TT one from the guys original CL post.
 

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Listening to the MC 7050 and the turntable now, Zenith Model MC 9040, also labelled Garrard GT-25c. I see this model is somewhat maligned, and I realize it's nothing fantastic but it is not that bad. It cleaned up nicely with a Magic Eraser and bit of lube.

It's possibly running a bit slow, so maybe a new belt is in order if I don't decide to flip it. It was a bit weird to put a record on a changer and watch it drop, possibly for the first time in maybe 30 years!

The receiver cleaned up very well, and I might go inside to spray the controls, but so far it has had nary a crackle. So far I've just used it with my AKG K260's though.

The speakers look great and sound surprisingly understated. They are bloody huge compared to what I'm used to though. I moved the Rega 2's into the bedroom for now so I could have space for them. They dwarf the Castle Clydes as you can see. Actually they dwarf the Regas as well!
 

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Nice system and nice car. I was thinking with everything belted to the passenger seat and the speakers in the back, you should have bought a power inverter and left the system in the car. Kidding of course.

That turntable looks pretty nice and seems to be inspired at least aesthetically by the Philips GA series of the mid to late 70's. I've mentioned this before, but as good of reputation Zenith had for fantastic televisions (pre-1980) and monaural radios (some of their tube table top units were fantastic, especially the ones with the big round dial with the speaker behind it) it's really too bad that they could not keep up in the HiFi market. I guess not manufacturing their own equipment might have hurt them a bit. I tend to think they did not market it particularly well. Bad marketing will hurt a product line faster than bad quality.
 
Well, 15 years later and those Zenith items are long gone. However...

I'm going to see a guy tomorrow to pickup the same speakers and receiver! For the same price as last time. No turntable though but it was no big deal. It turns out these were owned by a Zenith salesman. I wonder if he knew the Zenith repair guy who had the other system?
 
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AAA3330 said:
It's a good receiver with a good reputation. 40 Watts per channel RMS. My dad had one while I was growing up. Now there's also a MC-7051, but I'm thinking that it is basically the same. I now have an MC-7051 that I bought more recently, but I think that my dad's was actually the MC-7050.

They also made a cassette deck(MC-9070) that matched this line of receivers.
Click to expand...
It's technically a Lucky Goldstar receiver. (decent model). Korean made. Zenith discontinued USA manufacture of audio equipment at the end of 1979. You now know them as LG.
 
KentTeffeteller said:
It's technically a Lucky Goldstar receiver. (decent model). Korean made. Zenith discontinued USA manufacture of audio equipment at the end of 1979. You now know them as LG.
Click to expand...
I wasn't aware of the origin of LG, good to know! I always considered it a relatively new player.
 
You saw what these speakers looked like in a VW bug. Well, here's what they look like in a Honda Fit. :)

Much easier insertion with 4 doors than 2!

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I have been playing with the receiver and it's mostly good. There were a few bulbs out, one literally. But I happened to have a couple of the correct wedge types so that's all good.

Unfortunately one side of the FM doesn't put out sound. AM does and the other sources seem ok though one of the two phono inputs is a bit nousy. Maybe a bad connection on the solder pads or a wire wrap pin from the tuber? Nothing is immediately apparent.

And there was this rattling around inside...about 10 inches of solder and the missing bulb (which turned out to be still good). :dunno:


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Montycat said:
I have been playing with the receiver and it's mostly good. There were a few bulbs out, one literally. But I happened to have a couple of the correct wedge types so that's all good.

Unfortunately one side of the FM doesn't put out sound AM does and the other sources seem ok. Maybe a bad connection on the solder pads or a wire wrap pin? Nothing is immediately apparent.

And there was this rattling around inside...about 10 inches of solder and the missing bulb (which turned out to be still good). :dunno:


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That appears to have a nice tuner front end.
 
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