Vintage Zenith 49CZ852 12” Alnico Speakers & MORE, Console Pull Sound Great!

Description

Vintage Zenith 49CZ852 12” Alnico Speakers Console Pull Sound Great!. Condition is "Used".
Great pair of zenith 49cz852 speakers. Tweeters also included. In addition a vintage Zenith 49cz853 with tweeter. Resistance and sound tested. These speakers played with no issues. Cosmetically they are in very good condition!
These are guaranteed to arrive in the described and photographed condition.No other warranty or guarantee is offered or implied.
I am selling these nice vintage late 50’s Zenith speakers.
I pulled these from an old working Zenith console about 20 years ago and had them sitting in a box on a shelf in my smoke free home since then.
Just before listing these, I powered up the original Zenith amplifiers (through a variac) connected them to the original speakers (this listing) and everything worked flawlessly.
They sounded great !
Here is what I know…...
The console consisted of 2separate floor model units.
One containing the amplifier with 5 knobs , two 12 inch speakers, two tweeters and the turntable.
The other unit contained the amplifier with 3 knobs , one 12 in speaker and one tweeter.
There is a cable for power and signal that connects the 2 units together to make a stereo system.
Found this on the web:
Thesevintage Zenith 49CZ852 12” full-range speakers need no introduction. Madefamous over at
Glow in the Dark Audio
, these are one of the bestsounding
widebanders available for use on an open baffle. Period. Directly from the Glow InThe Dark Audio 49CZ852 webpage:
"The Zenith 49CZ852full range speakers are without doubt the highest performing speaker per dollarvalue of anything I have had in my room. I was recently turned on to these big12-inch woofers by an email acquaintance. According to this source, the trumpetshaped ribbed cones of these 1950’s Zenith drivers were the inspiration for thefamous and now coveted Diatone P610. So of course I had to find and try a pairas soon as possible!
These lovely old alnicodrivers were originally installed in some of Zenith’s high end console stereosin the late 1950’s. A natural for open baffle, these speakers sound amazinglygood! The sound is big, wide and quite revealing without any hint of shout.Placement of performers and instruments in the soundstage of a good recordingis some of the best I’ve ever heard, and they convey a sense of
ease
that is in some ways similar to the Rullit field coils. They make great bigbass in OB panels, even when mounted fairlyhigh as seen below. I’ve paired them with an inexpensive paper cone tweeter byGoldwood, and it seems to be a great matchup. To top it off, these beautifulold drivers are quite efficient as well, I’d estimate 95 or 96 db/wm, so theymate well with my 45 and 46 amps, and are really no problem for the .75 wattDarling amp to push either. But, perhaps not surprisingly, 12 or so watts fromthe 6V6 console amplifier seems to be a really perfect match with bigger imagesand a really wonderful sense of space. All in all, these are easily some of thebest sounding drivers I’ve heard. I like them so much that I bought an extrapair to store in the garage in case the first pair is ever damaged. I’llprobably get a third pair just to have a spare set to lend out to friends.
The 1950’s Zenith 49CZ852gets my highest recommendation. It's the very definition of a budget setup, butthere is nothing even remotely budget about the sound. Find a pair and buythem!
Update: After 18 months ofthis antique Zenith driver dominating my speaker world on open baffles, I'vesold off the Rullit field coils and the Supravox (but not the Coral HoleyBaskets!). I have to say that this is the best sounding driver I've owned sofar, regardless of price. A number of readers of this site have bought theZeniths and have reported back with great reviews, thank you! Although the49CZ852 are getting harder to find, it seems there are a number of very similardrivers from the same era of Zenith, all having the 49CZ code but with differentending numbers. They look very close and its possible that the 49CZ903, etc arealso superb drivers. At any rate, this one just goes to prove that they knewwhat they were doing back in the "Golden" era of hifi.
Further update 1/2018: Inthe past few months I've stopped using a tweeter with this driver and feel thathas actually been an improvement. Our ears are pretty damn sensitive tospatial cues, and as soon as the tweeter is added its complication. Theseold things might not make it to 20khz but I cant hear that anyway. FM radio iscut off at 15khz and no one seems to mind. At any rate, these Zeniths are veryspecial drivers with a quality of sound that I've certainly foundaddictive."
Since I have seen just a pair of
49CZ852’s go for 0.00
I am asking 0.00 for all 5 speakers. These will be properly packaged for shipping.
Asking 0.00 + .00 shipping in the continental U.S. (may be more for PO Box.
I am also selling the associated amplifiers on a separate listing.
If you would be interested in the amplifiers as well to keep the system together, feel free to email me an offer for everything.
Feel free to email me with any questions or offers
And take a look at the other items I am selling due to my moving
Thanks for looking