10-04-2018, 05:39 PM
I'll post it in the 'phinds' thread later, but today I scored a beautiful, already restored EMUD table radio from my buddy up in Canton. He had it redone, but failed to sell it at his shop over this past year, in spite of the price probably being less than what it is worth! 
Anyways, I caved and brought it home, then figured it would be fun to do a little side-by-side comparison of it compared to my still unrestored, but working, Zenith C845Y.
The stats:
EMUD is restored, larger than the Zenith, has three speakers, 7 tubes (if I counted right), has a transformer, includes shortwave, and uses a 6BQ5 as an output.
Zenith is not restored (I only cleaned it up and replaced the two FM tubes), has two speakers (though one is a whopper for a table radio!), its about three quarters the size of the German radio, no shortwave, eight tubes, and uses a 35C5 as an output. Oh, it DOES have AFC for the FM, which the EMUD lacks.
Ok, after playing both radios separately and comparing their performance, I am really surprised how much the Zenith holds its own against what would seem to be a superior German counterpart. The EMUD is more forgiving about the modern FM bass frequency response than the Zenith is, but you can get more bass out of the Zenith at the lower volumes. The Emud can get a good bit louder than the Zenith without distortion on FM, but the Zenith can get close by simply turning the tone control completely over to treble. At normal, daily listening levels, it's almost a wash and I kind of give the Zenith a tiny bit of an edge there. Also, being there is no transformer to overheat, the Zenith is the type of radio you can turn on and practically leave on all day. Don't get me wrong, I love the German radio as well, but once again, the plain, boxy Zenith proves that we shouldn't judge all radios by their covers.
Hope you all like my little comparison I did for fun.
Anyways, I caved and brought it home, then figured it would be fun to do a little side-by-side comparison of it compared to my still unrestored, but working, Zenith C845Y.The stats:
EMUD is restored, larger than the Zenith, has three speakers, 7 tubes (if I counted right), has a transformer, includes shortwave, and uses a 6BQ5 as an output.
Zenith is not restored (I only cleaned it up and replaced the two FM tubes), has two speakers (though one is a whopper for a table radio!), its about three quarters the size of the German radio, no shortwave, eight tubes, and uses a 35C5 as an output. Oh, it DOES have AFC for the FM, which the EMUD lacks.
Ok, after playing both radios separately and comparing their performance, I am really surprised how much the Zenith holds its own against what would seem to be a superior German counterpart. The EMUD is more forgiving about the modern FM bass frequency response than the Zenith is, but you can get more bass out of the Zenith at the lower volumes. The Emud can get a good bit louder than the Zenith without distortion on FM, but the Zenith can get close by simply turning the tone control completely over to treble. At normal, daily listening levels, it's almost a wash and I kind of give the Zenith a tiny bit of an edge there. Also, being there is no transformer to overheat, the Zenith is the type of radio you can turn on and practically leave on all day. Don't get me wrong, I love the German radio as well, but once again, the plain, boxy Zenith proves that we shouldn't judge all radios by their covers.
Hope you all like my little comparison I did for fun.
No matter where you go, there you are.
