I decided

not to build any more time machines. Instead I decided to try my hand at a project involving electronics mixed with furniture. I found an old tube stereo housed in a big console on Craigslist for $25. There isn't even a modern equivalent to these. I guess it's kind of an early entertainment center. It's a Zenith from the 60's.

I've had this idea for a while but couldn't find the right piece. My idea is to gut the inside and replace the old tuner, amplifier, and turntable with a modern tuner/preamp/amp, CD player, and turntable. So the exterior is all 60's cool, but the interior is all mod cons. And the sound should be a whole hell of a lot better. Tube stereos can sound good but this one wasn't particularly high end.

So that's one half of the project. The other half is to take the newly removed power amp and turn it into a guitar amp. I attempted this once before using a Magnavox power amp that a friend gave me. The problem was, I wasn't there when he removed it from the console and so when I got it it had a bunch of unlabeled wires hanging off of it. I didn't know what they were for and with no schematic I finally gave up on getting it to work. This time it should be a snap. Plus I know a little bit more about tube technology than I did then.

So here's a pic of the console:

And here's a pic with the lid up, showing the original stereo:

With the stereo components removed:

And here's a pic of the speaker array (rear cover removed):



Some of the basic stuff I plan on doing:

1) Remove the latticework speaker grilles for a bit cleaner look. (When I took the pics I had already removed one.)

2) Replace the black speaker grill cloth. The original stuff is faded and shows where the lattice was. I also would prefer brown.

3) Remove the section of the upper deck where the original stereo was. I'll be stacking my component stereo inside on the "floor" of the console with my turntable on top of the other components.

4) Remove the original speakers. I'm really, really hoping I can pull the speaker drivers from my Technics speakers and put them where the original speakers were. The original speakers have absolutely puny magnets and no umph. Plus the entire setup was open-backed. With any luck I can just screw the Technics speaker frames right where the old ones were, then add a rear sealed baffle giving it the same cubic footage as the Technics boxes. It's a big if, but if it works it'll be really cool. I love my Technics speakers and if they don't fit, I'll keep them as they are and just have them outside the console.

5) Currently, the console only opens on top. That gave access to all the original vertically-mounted components. I need access through the front too so I can get to my tuner and CD changer . The front doors you see in the pics are false doors. With some careful planning and cutting, I'm hoping to make them into real doors. Hopefully not impossible.

6) Refinishing. This is something I have no experience with. The exterior has some nicks and stuff that I could probably just touch up with a furniture pen. But because of the major modifications (lots of cutting) I'm doing to the interior, I'll need to finish/refinish it when I'm done.

7) Fix one of the legs. The legs are just screwed into the bottom piece of plywood. The wood is pretty dry and the screws on one of the legs have stripped the wood. I need to come up with a way to strengthen all four legs so it can tolerate being moved. I need to be able to slide it out to get to the back occasionally.

That's it for now. I think I'll figure out more things that need to be done as I move along.