Zenith-Philco changers
Zenith and Philco tone arms sometimes look the same, but this is purely by accident.
While VM was making changers mechs for both, Zenith and Philco had their own engineering teams trying to make super-performance tone arms (to be added to the VM base mechanism).
Eventually both Zenith and Philco came to market with their respective tone-arms to the disappointment that their competitor did the same thing!
This is because VM (a company with an extremely high business ethic), never would divulge what one company was doing to any other company.
I got this info from "the top". You'll find older Zenith changers were made by at least Zenith, VM and Maestro. Zenith did make changers in Chicago long ago. I know at least the 1960 console with flip-up 45 adaptor was a Maestro changer. Maestro was a company developed by a VM defector who thought he could make a cheaper, better changer. I think Maestro died in the early 1970s.
Zenith and Philco tone arms sometimes look the same, but this is purely by accident.
While VM was making changers mechs for both, Zenith and Philco had their own engineering teams trying to make super-performance tone arms (to be added to the VM base mechanism).
Eventually both Zenith and Philco came to market with their respective tone-arms to the disappointment that their competitor did the same thing!
This is because VM (a company with an extremely high business ethic), never would divulge what one company was doing to any other company.
I got this info from "the top". You'll find older Zenith changers were made by at least Zenith, VM and Maestro. Zenith did make changers in Chicago long ago. I know at least the 1960 console with flip-up 45 adaptor was a Maestro changer. Maestro was a company developed by a VM defector who thought he could make a cheaper, better changer. I think Maestro died in the early 1970s.
