Zenith

Zenith Origins

The Zenith audio company, known for manufacturing Cobra-Matic turntables, has its origins rooted in the early 20th century. Zenith Electronics Corporation was founded in 1923 by Eugene F. McDonald Jr. Initially, the company focused on manufacturing radio receivers and later expanded into television sets and other electronic devices. The Cobra-Matic turntables were produced during the era when

Zenith was a prominent manufacturer of audio equipment, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s.

Zenith licensed the use of the Cobra brand for some of its products, but it’s important to note that the Cobra-Matic turntables were not exclusively made by Zenith. They were manufactured by Webster-Chicago Corporation, which was a licensee of Zenith for these models. Webster-Chicago produced the Cobra-Matic turntables under the Zenith brand name, which explains why some sources might refer to Zenith as the manufacturer while others mention Webster-Chicago.

The Cobra-Matic turntables were designed to play a variety of record types, including 78 RPM, 45 RPM, and 33⅓ RPM records. However, they were not designed to play stereo records effectively due to their specific oscillator circuit and tracking forces, which were optimized for mono records. This limitation was a common issue with many turntables of that era as the transition to stereo records occurred later.