Console: Zenith Allegro Allemande Model F946AE quad Console

[Q8]

I may have once told my story of how I once had a chance to buy one of these quad consoles at a church sale for mere peanuts. I had no space for it and no one willing to store it for me. It was in beautiful and working condition with rear speakers. I hate to think what happened to it cause no one bought it. Well since then I've vowed to get one. I finally got part of it. I found the rear speakers and spent more than I would have spent on the whole package and needs a little cosmetic work. They are in nice working condition and I imagine it is harder to find these than the consoles which will probably have parted from them. Now to find the Console.













My sad old phone pics of the one that got away.

















Completely worthlessly blurry ones.

 

[The Bushmaster]

In those days they were made and look to be furnature. Not always the best systems in them, but beautiful craftmanship...Good luck.

 

[GOS]

My parents had a Zenith console system - unfortunately...it was not Quad. But yeah, very cool looking old system. You should have bought the one from church sale.....

 

[Clint Eastwood]

That's a real flashback...having those "combo" pieces of furniture...turntable...tuner...tape player...all underneath the "hood"....some had a place to hold albums...and of course the signature grill...

 

[GOS]

That's a real flashback...having those "combo" pieces of furniture...turntable...tuner...tape player...all underneath the "hood"....some had a place to hold albums...and of course the signature grill...

Ours had the space for LP's. I loved that thing....Once my parents decided to get rid of it.....the 2 big drivers in the main cabinet managed to make it into my dad's truck, behind the seat...LOL! Hey, when you're young and have no money...you do what you gotta do.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Not a quad system...but still brings back some memories

[video=youtube;YyOriaonp6k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyOriaonp6k[/video]

 

[JanBakker]

Not a quad system...but still brings back some memories

[video=youtube;YyOriaonp6k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyOriaonp6k[/video]

And another thumbshot for Snood .

 

[atrocity]

In those days they were made and look to be furnature. Not always the best systems in them, but beautiful craftmanship...Good luck.

Trivia: Everyone put their own brand on those consoles, but the record players were almost always Voice of Music.

 

[GOS]

Trivia: Everyone put their own brand on those consoles, but the record players were almost always Voice of Music.

wow, really? I mean, I'm not surprised about the badging thing....happens all the time. Guess I never thought about it.

 

[atrocity]

wow, really? I mean, I'm not surprised about the badging thing....happens all the time. Guess I never thought about it.

I got turned on to records by my mother's standalone Voice of Music mono record player, probably a model 560. Very distinctive look with lots of gold and red. Some time around 1970 my dad bought an old Packard Bell console. The FM radio wasn't even stereo, but the record player was. I never questioned it at the time, but the record player was barely any different from my mom's. Tone arm was less bulky and the LP/78 flipper for the cartridge was on the side rather than the front, but in hindsight I can't believe I didn't immediately know it had come from the same manufacturer. It's kind of fascinating that Packard Bell didn't ask for some kind of design changes to make it less obvious.

Here's a surprisingly big list of brands that really used V-M players.

 

[Q8]

Yep I should have bought it. I know. I literally had no where to stash it in time. Sad. But now it will be an oddysey to find another. I have the rear speakers. Thats probably the hardest part. Probably most of the rear speakers got thrown away, parted out, sold seperately, etc. I think I may have even seen one on craigslist without the rear speakers after the original I missed. They wanted too much if I remember and I was not going to pay that much not knowing if I could ever find the rear speakers. But I'll find one, even if it's not as soon as I would like.

 

[Quad Linda]

My Mom's parents had a stereo version of the unit at the bottom of the ad. When we met, my ex had the same equipment depicted above in a crumb pack (compact.)

We had a Grundig console from '62. When I was in high school, I took the cabinet apart and kept its' receiver.

Perhaps my most memorable console story was when I began in the hi-fi business. We carried Marantz, Pioneer, JVC, Sony, Teac, Altec Lansing and lots of other 2 ch and Quad gear. Our management got a special deal on some no-name consoles. I never sold one. I was Assistant Manager under an older Italian guy named Carmie. There was an older black woman who bought one from Carmie. He told her that we'd deliver it to her house, something that we usually didn't do. So, it was shipped from our warehouse in the same truck that had our stock delivery. When the truck got to our store, it broke down. Carmie said, "you run the store, and I'll worry about getting the truck fixed." Now, it's 5 PM on a Saturday and the poor woman calls wondering where her console is. So, Carmie gets on the phone and tells her in his inimitable way, "I'm dealing with fixing a broken down truck and you want to know where your damn box (stereo) is." Perhaps you think he was prejudiced, but he wasn't. He talked to everyone that way. Even though he was often gruff, he was the sweetest man you'd ever know. People let him say the most amazing things without ever getting offended.

We had a guy who was third in charge named Roger. He looked like Dan Ackroyd and was a full-time cop besides. For some reason when Roger closed the store, he liked to stash the bank deposit in a file drawer instead of making a night deposit at the bank. We repeatedly told him not to do that. One day, Roger closed the night before and opened the next day. I got in a few minutes before Carmie. He asked me, "where's the deposit slip?" "I don't know, I think Roger stashed the deposit in the file cabinet again," I replied. So, after Roger finishes with his customer, Carmie asks him "alright Rogers (sic), where the f%&k did you put it this time? Is it under C for cash, M for money or L for loot?" Perhaps Carmie was my most memorable character in all my years selling hi-fi.

 

[Banjo800]

Dang,
I found the console but no rear speakers. Is it really worth getting? I have a great stereo console now and would have to get rid of it in order to have room for ths one.......been wanting one of these for a while now though........I hate dilemmas!

 

[Banjo800]

Quick question......does the base unit contain all four speakers? Or just the fronts?

 

[Q8]

Quick question......does the base unit contain all four speakers? Or just the fronts?

That one should just have the fronts, zenith did, for whatever ungodly reason make one that hadd the fronts and rears as sides in the same unit. Yours looks different styling to the one I've seen and the one in the ad though. Are you sure its a quad one? More pics please. The grills and the grill fabric looks the same, the size and shape are the same, but the design is def different. Where abouts are you located?

 

[Banjo800]

Yep, it's a quad. Here's a couple more pics, what can u tell me about the matrix decoders. Any good?
It's in Woodstock Ga



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Q8]

Yep, it's a quad. Here's a couple more pics, what can u tell me about the matrix decoders. Any good?
It's in Woodstock Ga
<img src="https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=19386"/><img src="https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=19387"/>

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, those are definately the quad guts like the one I saw and have rear speakers for. Good to know that there is another model I may be able to find. Yours is called the Torrebalnca according to the internet.

 

[Q8]

Also I would imagine that in a Zenith console, the decoders wouldnt be anything to write home about

 

[leevitalone1]

Ceramic phono carts, and most likely just avg. tape payers, but they had big woofers, and some decent crossover set ups. Those days, it was hard to get a fairly decent set up (consumer use-like avg. store bought) but the consoles had that.
Radio-tape-phono-tv in a nice furniture cabinet.

 

[Banjo800]

Yeah, those are definately the quad guts like the one I saw and have rear speakers for. Good to know that there is another model I may be able to find. Yours is called the Torrebalnca according to the internet.

It's not mine yet......Since it didn't have the rear speakers with it I didn't get it. If it's still there Saturday, I may get it. I really wanted the whole set. I already have a nice Zenith Stereo console. I love the sound of it. That's part of the reason I didn't go ahead and jump on this one....no room for it!