1950s Portable Stereo Record Player

[HobieMarty]

Inspired by the 45 rpm record turntable insert thread.
This is my Mom's portable stereo record player from the late 50s. It is a Zenith with the Cobra-Matic turntable. I have it and the stand for it, it works but I want to clean it up better and restore it a bit. The record was mine and my Sister's and has been on the turntable since the early 70s. Lol.
Anyone ever seen one of these?

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[pwd72s]

Cool...

[stevej37]

That is in very nice shape! I don't remember ever seeing one with pull-out speakers like that.
I also notice that it will play 16 rpm records along with 33 45 and 78. I wonder if the 33 speed was for a record smaller than todays 33....it doesn't look like todays would fit on the platter?

[oldE]

Mine was a Zenith as well, but it was upright and the turntable flipped down to play. The speakers hung on the ends and were removable. IIRC the controls were sliders. We lost it in the fire in 77.

Best
Les

[asphaltgambler]

That is cool, as above - I've never seen the flip out speakers. That must've been a few dollars back in the day.

[GH85Carrera]

There were not many stereo records back in 1950s. Stereo did not really catch on much until the early to mid 1960s. I had a slightly more modern version of that I got in 1967. Mine was a Realistic brand (Radio Shack) and the speakers would detach. It was battery powered or could be plugged into the wall. I can remember listening to the Beatles and some of their early stereo records. I clearly remember putting a speaker on each side of my head, close to my ears and listening to In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida in 1969. The stereo effect was really cool in the day of mostly AM radio in mono.

Yours is a really cool antique.

[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by stevej37

That is in very nice shape! I don't remember ever seeing one with pull-out speakers like that.

I also notice that it will play 16 rpm records along with 33 45 and 78. I wonder if the 33 speed was for a record smaller than todays 33....it doesn't look like todays would fit on the platter?

Yes, today's 33rpm records will fit.
I have never seen a 16rpm record, but we did have some 78rpm ones at one time. I have a bunch of 45s and of course 33 LPs.

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[stevej37]

^^^
I found this about the 16's....

https://jake0147.tripod.com/id4.html

[masraum]

Originally Posted by HobieMarty

Yes, today's 33rpm records will fit.
I have never seen a 16rpm record, but we did have some 78rpm ones at one time. I have a bunch of 45s and of course 33 LPs.

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I'd never heard of 16. I've had 33 and 45. I've heard of 78, but never seen one.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by masraum

I'd never heard of 16. I've had 33 and 45. I've heard of 78, but never seen one.

My parents had a cabinet size record player that was for 78s. It had belonged to my mom's great aunt. They had a stack of old 1920s and 30s music on 78s. It worked, but it was something no one really wanted. It think it was a radio as well, I really don't remember.
We sold it at the estate auction for something like 40 bucks. Like model Ts, all the people that remember driving them and riding in them had died off. The demand and price is low now.

[stevej37]

My father had prob 100 or more 78 rpm records.
Mostly Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole stuff.

Our player had the same speeds, but it was part of a wood console. One half had the player..the other half was a tube radio that pulled in am and shortwave. (fm wasn't available yet)
The bottom half of the console contained one big speaker in one side and record storage on the other.

It looked a lot like this one...

[KFC911]

Shouldn't this be in the audiophiles thread?

I still have all of my old 45s too .... Zero. 8-tracks were my zen.

Yummy, yummy, yummy, I have love in my tummy....

Very cool !

[stevej37]

^^^ 45's didn't need no match books like 8-tracks did.

[Baz]

That's very cool, Marty!

I have 4 Magnavox consoles like the one shown below - three are solid state and one is tube. They all work! The sound they produce is amazing! Good luck with the restoration on your Mom's Zenith!

[KFC911]

I remember the jukeboxes full of 45s back in the 60s.... too stingy to ever feed a nickle into one tho' .

In '76 I had a Pioneeer 8-track Supertuner and Jensen Triaxials buried in the trunk. Gave the tapes to my older sis during college.... My 3-ish niece got great joy out of pulling the tapes out of most in one sitting. Even a #2 pencil couldn't fix the carnage .... by then cassettes ruled!

Sorry for the hijack.....

Yummy, yummy, yummy....

[stevej37]

[Baz]

Couple 3 weeks ago I met a guy who lives here and sells vinyl music - mostly 45's and mostly on eBay.

Some of them fetch over $4K!

Most are do-wop and I suspect go into jukeboxes at homes of the well-to-do.

he has a climate controlled storage unit with shelves and shelves and shelves of them - no kidding. Showed me some pics of it on his phone as well as some of his more profitable listings.

[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by KC911

Shouldn't this be in the audiophiles thread?



I still have all of my old 45s too .... Zero. 8-tracks were my zen.



Yummy, yummy, yummy, I have love in my tummy....



Very cool !

This is a Panasonic 8-track tape player that I got for Christmas when I was a kid. We called it a "dynamite" tape deck. It still works!!!

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[HobieMarty]

Originally Posted by Baz

That's very cool, Marty!



I have 4 Magnavox consoles like the one shown below - three are solid state and one is tube. They all work! The sound they produce is amazing! Good luck with the restoration on your Mom's Zenith!

Here is a Zenith stereo that was purchased to replace the one that started this thread. I believe it is from the 60s. It also still works and sounds really good. Check out the 45 that I played the day I took these pictures!!!

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[HobieMarty]

^^^ I forgot, here is the operating guide for the console stereo above.

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