Zenith Got it Wrong - Part Deux

For internet searchers:

What the hell is wrong with my -
5-S-119
5-S-126
5-S-127
5-S-151
OR any early 5516 chassis.

​Use this post and the Part 1 below to correct later 5516 chassis parts discrepancy.

Zenith 5-S-151

It seems that Zenith never posted a corrected schematic or parts list. All of these issues come from the early use of a 2125 ohm field coil speaker. Most of these chassis came with a 1000 ohm speaker.

Zenith 5-S-119

Zenith 5-S-126

IMPORTANT NOTE: When servicing one of these chassis it is not mix and match. If your speaker has a 2125 ohm FC use the original schematic . If your chassis has a 1000 ohm speaker use the corrected schematic and parts list.

In all honesty, the original configuration does not work as well as the latter. I suspect that the speaker spec was an error and , rather than eating the cost the wrong part, Zenith used them anyway. From what I have seen radios having the early speaker (2125 ohm) are far less common. I have observed both the 6.5" and the 10" speakers with 2125 ohm FC, but I have not seen an 8" ((49-152) speaker with the 2125 ohm FC.

Original graphics courtesy Nostalgia Air/Ryders

And Now for Something Completely Different

I have been studying these radios for a while along with their battery powered brethren. So I ended up with quite a few "extra" parts. 

I have (had) a 5648 chassis out of a 6-S-330 complete with speaker, all restored. I didn't have a cabinet and never really liked the photo finish offered on the 1938 model. So I put the slightly better 6 toob chassis in a 5-S-127 cabinet and the result is 6-SX-127, the radio they never built but should have.

The cabinet for this one came from PayBay. There is a seller offering a lot of parted-out cabinets and chassis parts. This one looked ok from the sale pictures, but when it got here, well, it was a mess. It had been refinished poorly and sanded hard and dropped at least once. So I decided to reveneer the top and front with book-matched walnut burl, which is a lot more figured than the Zenith stock veneers.

Fuzzy, the ATV riding shop-cat and friend for almost 20 years had just passed so I had no inspiration to move on. The cabinet just kept getting smoother and shinier until it was hard to photograph, especially outside like I normally do.

I miss that old cat.

​Russ