Howdy...another Noob here...

Hello to all. Seems I've been bitten by the "Yet Another Obsession" bug: Zenith tube radios. I've been a tube enthusiast/listener pretty much all my life, and until now had confined my "collecting" to Dynaco equipment from the 60s-70s...love those old tube amps, preamps, tuners and those killer Danish speakers. By chance, I saw the radio I grew up listening to on TV a coupla months ago while watching (of all things) "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure." Yep, we had a 1939 Zenith 8-S-463 with that big, beautiful green eye...I listened to that jewel every day...even hooked a turntable up to it to play records on it. Tragically, it was trashed by my dad about 30 years ago after I went off to college. Hadn't thought of that radio in years until I saw it in that silly movie...totally jolted my consciousness back to my early memories of listening to that big honkin' old Zenith in the early 60s and beyond...that radio was what I first heard The Beatles and Motown on! This led to a furious flurry of Google and eBay searches, the result of which appears to be the acquisition of a small but growing stable of bakelite Zeniths from the 1950s.

So far, I've gotten a very nice H723, a pair of T825's, and one Y825, all in various states of "being." The 825's and the other models of that form factor, with that big brass dial that screams "50s car" seem to be the ones that catch my attention the most, so far. Love the fact that they have the phono/aux input and switch on the back...one of my "goals" with this is to have a pair of them in close-enough cosmetic/electronic shape to use as separate left and right "tube amps" for my Mac's audio output. And the fact that they came in various colors doesn't help me control my "collector's urge" at all.

Of course, I still hope someday to get a decent 8-S-463 so I can really re-experience that "big" Zenith sound. But for now, these bakelite babies seem to be doin' the trick. I'll be bugging the collective consciousness for info and advice, to be sure. So "howdy" from the latest Noob.

beebs welcome to the forum.

Lee

Good to have you.

Gene

Glad to have you aboard, Beebs. The 8S463 was a very popular set in its day, and you should have no trouble finding one.

Tim KA3JRT

Welcome beebs! I also like Zenith's but try to cut them off at 1938 (my favorite Zenith year). Ironically I think I have a 8S463. Several years ago a co-worker in another state gave it to me to repair. I didn't really want to mess with it and hoped my, "it might be years before I get around to it" would discourage him,..... but it didn't. I didn't take the cabinet to save space on the way home.

Anyway, I fairly quickly found it had a bad power transformer so that chassis went on the shelf until I became motivated enough to repair it. About a year or two later Jim is transferring to a new company in Atlanta and tells me to keep the radio and he'll leave the cabinet with another co-worker for me to pick up. Well, I'm not to thrilled about having another console to tote around, but figure since it's a Zenith I should be able to drag it to a swap meet and dump it on another collector. I must have been in a big hurry when I first took the chassis out because this cabinet is in beautiful condition, absolutely gorgeous. Well, I still haven't gotten around to that chassis yet, but even with that set falling out of my 1938 cut-off it's become a keeper.

Like Tim said, those sets aren't too hard to find so you should be able to locate one if you keep your eyes open. Hopefully you can find one locally at a fair price instead of paying through the nose for an eBay listing.

John

Welcome.

The 8S463 is ubiquitous yet very attractive. It has a faux veneer finish on the front that is often accidently stripped away during a refinish job. Watch for this when you come across the radio of your youth and develop GottaHaveItItus.

Welcome, Beebs
Hope you find a good 8-S-463. That is one great looking huge wood radio just begging to be on display in your house.

The best place to find consoles is at an antique radio club auction; at the last one that I attended, I could have bought a van full for less than $50. Too bad that I'm about out of room for them!

Join an antique radio club in your area, you'll be glad that you did.

Tim KA3JRT

Thanks to all for the welcome!

Tim: I just found a link to an antique radio club that is supposed to cover the Austin/SanAntonio area, so I'll probably give them a shout soon. I hope there will be a decent 8-S-463 within striking distance of Austin. In one week, not long ago, there were no less than FIVE of them up on eBay at the same time. All of them halfway across the country, with shipping out of the question of course, and all of them waaaaaaay too preciously priced.

John: yes, it's a gorgeous design, even if it's after '38! There are several of the bigger Zenith consoles that I'd love to have, but the 8-S-463 is "the one" if I'm gonna get one...at least, the *first* one...;-)

MinnesotaHam: I found out about that "faux finish" biz back when I was a teenager (a big oops when I decided I'd try to "sand out" an imperfection) and was reminded of it when I contacted a fellow who has a great site that I got to via google that gave me positive ID on the model number. Has anyone figured out how to repair that stuff if it's been ruined? I hope I can find one in decent enough shape that I won't have to worry about it.

bill57: I remember it being HUGE to me as a kid...it was much bigger than ME when I first started playing with that tuning knob and bandswitch lever!

And yep, the eBay thing and a bad case of GottaHaveItItus is hazardous to the ol' bank account. There are three sweet little 50s babies I'm eyeballin' right now. One more Y825 with nearly perfect dial, a K725 (825 look-alike) in TURQUOISE that is callin' to me, and one of the holy-grail 50s tabletops in a wood case that's supposed to have an 8" woofer and a pair of electrostat tweets in it, a Y832.

Must...not...bid.....must.....not...

A big, hearty welcome, beebs.
Bill Cahill

Welcome beeps!!


8-S-463 is from 1940. Here's mine although not original finish. But I like it!!

Thanks, Bill...like your sig lines ;-)

And Gary, that's a nice-lookin' 8-S-463, even if it isn't original. I like the grille-slat pieces being different shades, that's a nice departure from the "faux finish" stuff that was on there originally. And I'd read on one site that they began production on them in the fall of 1939, so I figured they were from that year. Guess the official "release" of the model year was '40.

There's one up on "da Bay" right now, looks like it would clean up nice, but as usual, it's halfway across the country. I know I'll find one when it's the right time.

Yeah, I never liked that photo faux finish. It never really compliments real finished wood. Whoever redid this one made it look like it should have been done originally, IMHO. It was expensive to ship here from Chicago area but it was pro-packed and strapped to a pallet. Arrived w/o any damage.