I was thinking about all these sets we are saving the other day and thought of a good question. It may have been brought up before but here goes... Collectively speaking, how many sets have we saved altogether? They are getting harder and harder to come by and I've noticed there are more tv collectors than I ever thought. That in it's self is a very good thing and makes me happy!:D We {time permitting} should count all of our sets and then add 'em up and see how many! I also wonder who's gonna get the last one from out "in the wild". :scratch2:

Let's see...quick count in the TV room was 75...I can think of at least 14 in the attic...maybe another 14 in the shed, and 1 at work, so 104? Some of those (perhaps many of those) don't fit into some folks descriptions of "collectable" but they are not in a dumpster so they at least count as saved.

while my 2 are not 'collectable' they are both over 30 years old ('78 solid state sylvania and '75 hybrid zenith) and will be with me for a long while ...granted the sylvania is a bit under the weather right now she will be back in action soon, meanwhile the zenith is filling in.

I have between 20 and 25. The uncertain number is because there's a few in there for which I'm not sure if I'm going to use them for parts or restore them.

Somewhere around 8 sets for me. I'm a late bloomer.

David

I have limited space, so my collection is only 7 sets made from 1975 to 1989, but i am looking for at least one roundie. Logan

49 for me.

I am sure I have over 100

MY latest and OLDEST find is a GE 801 set. I got it on Ebay a few weeks ago, and picked it up Monday in lexington. Cabinet is not too bad other than the top, all knobs there and even the back price--$49.95 plus about 40 to go get it. That's ok--I have LONG wanted a GE 801. it will NOT ever be for sale.

A couple of weeks ago II picked up an RCA CTC-133 while "Shopping". Not an antique, BUT somewhat rare--it was their first "flat tube square" set.

About a month ago, I got another GE 810, I now have 2 of them.

I counted up 31. Here is the breakdown:
3 from the 40's RCA, DuMont, Motorola
5 from the 50's RCA, Philco, Capehart, AMC
4 from the 60's Zenith
5 from the 70's Zenith, RCA, Sony
14 from the 80 to 87 Sylvania, Magnavox, Hitachi, Toshiba, NEC, Sony, Zenith, NAD, Sharp, Quasar
My definition of collectible is probably a bit wider than most, basically before On Screen Menus.

I'm down to 8 sets. There'll be more though... I can assure you guys of that!

At least 38. Don't count the ones I've got stashed here & there. Quite a few of mine are the "Teeny-Tiny" 1.5-5" guys. They're cute & don't take up too much room.

Counting two new acquisitions from the ETF last weekend, 18 or 20. Two sets I have are rough to the point they may be parts only (the Fada that UPS demolished, and a 7JP4 Admiral woodie that didn't quite live up to its eBay-ad billing). So 18 for sure, 2 maybe. Two are post-1960, the rest are pre-1954. Strewn all about the house.

The count is now 50. I scored a nice RCA Victor floor model at the ETF convention.

It took me awhile, {procrastinator} to count them but I have about 58 sets, some may still be buried somewhere.

Since I posted, I brought my count up to 14 lol.

I have 17 TVs at the moment. One of them doesn´t work. Two of them are B&W.
When it comes to VCRs, i have 15; three Betamax (two working), two Video2000 (one working), three Philips VCR (one working, one partially working), the rest of them is VHS. On top of that, i have three DVD players.

in my home i have 9 sets.the garage has 21 and the shop has 19 that belong to us.we also have 22 that are customer sets.i will own half of those when they won t pick-up. nothing too rare.1 zenith roundie remote, a ctc 9,ctc15,2 hybrid zeniths and an admiral tube set. the 9 isnt as nice as marks(zenithfan).being recapped as we speak and much veneer work to be done.the zenith roundie is a prize.belongs to a prominate attorney here in columbus.picture beats all.trying to negotiate a sale, i want to own it!

Let's see, here's just what I can recall off the top of my head...
In the house-
RCA CTC-86 console
mid-80's Emerson 10" color set
'98 Philips-Magnavox 20"
In the building in back-
'54 RCA 21" B/W set (KCS-88 I think)
2 '61 RCA KCS-132 consoles
1 Zenith CC2 console
2 19" CC2's
'57 Zenith 21" Space Command
21" Olympic B/W console
Philco briefcase 19" portable
Sears hybrid chassis 12" B/W portable
Zenith 19" B/W portable
RCA CTC-53
early 80's 19" Panasonic
late 80's RCA XL-100 19"
late 80's G.E. 19"
Zenith color roundie
'50 Philco combo
13" RCA color portable
Rutherford (Curtis Mathes) console
late 70's Sears 25" console
That brings the count of sets at home to 22, but I have quite a few sets ( at least 100) still waiting to be brought home.

Bumping this thread to see where it goes.

From 14 sets I have over 20 now. Scored a few 80s sets here and there, a crappy old Goldstar from the 70s, and a small late 60s Sony B&W portable.

So, collectively speaking, I think its safe to estimate that all the TV collectors at Audiokarma have saved well over a thousand or more TV's from the dump. Anyone care to improve on my rough estimate?

Well, you can add six to the list of "saved" television sets. Just this year alone we've acquired, from various thrift stores, four Sony Trinitrons from 1985-1998, a mid-80s Hitachi, and my 1984 Zenith. I already had several TV sets, but nothing really older than the late 90s, except a 1979 black and white 5-inch Toshiba that we've had for as long as I can remember. There's other electronic equipment that we've gotten in 2008, lots of good finds, and the amazing thing is that I didn't start looking for electronics in thrift stores until this year.

20 here

About 20 in the display room, 10 in the basement and about 18 out in the garage that need a new home. I'd say at least 48 altogether because I know there are some I am forgetting. I have gotten rid of about 18 sets that are not to my interest or all that collectible. I always try to find them a good home though, I never toss them out. Sometimes you have to be picky about what takes up your space or you'll end up in the situation I was in most of the summer, tvs piled in the kitchen, hallway, living room, bedroom ect. Needless to say, the little woman was pissed. Now, the keepers are all in the tv room, not exploding all over the house. It looked like rabbits were multiplying in there, every day another set would just "appear" it was getting to the point I was sneaking them in. LOL In the spring, I will be getting out my carpentry skills again as I am going to convert my garage into a climate controlled work space and display room. The garage is filled with crap now that has to go, I've been lugging it around since the late 90s and have not used most of it in years. This stuff used to be in a storage locker that I no longer have. The garage is almost new so minimal work has to be done to the structure. I will just add some more outlets and lighting before the insulation and drywall. Then to run a gas line from the house and put in the furnace. I am also putting in an air conditioner in the back wall. This will have to wait till spring, during the winter I plan to get rid of most of the crap so I can start the minute it warms up. My girlfriend will be happy that the extra bedroom can then be given to our daughter, our son can stay where he is for a while longer. when he gets bigger, it will be time for a bigger house as I am then out of options. I am not getting rid of the tvs.

Cool. Keep the TVs, you have some great ones! And they're only gonna get more collectible as the years pass. I, too have been seen sneaking TV's and also speakers into my basement and garage. The guy next door always laughs when he sees me back my car into the garage area and spend 10 or 15 minutes just emptying stuff out of it. He says one day the garage'll need another level to keep up! lol.

I only have 4 worh bragging about, but there huge...

64 Airline (magnavox) color roundie combo
65 RCA CTC17 color combo
66 Magnavox color combo U919 chassis (recapped and daily watcher at work)
67 Zenith color set 23" (recapped and daily watcher at home)

All work as of now and have good to excellent pictures..
My 5th one is a Sony KV36xbr450 (bedroom set)

That's neat having a 64, 65, 66, 67 in succession, I really like the Airline you have, I remember when you found it at that old lady's place {she already tested it which didn't make you happy}. Shawn, where do you work where you can have a combo set?? I want to work in a place like that!!

2 for me.

I got a westinghouse B&W set.

and a 36 inch Hitachi. It's newer 95 or something. But it's pretty rockin

I probably have about 300 TV's in all, sometime I should actually count them up. Every year that goes by I have found fewer and fewer tube type sets though (which in a way can be a good thing for me!)

Oh yeah Chad, blow us all away why don't ya! Man that's a lot of tvs. Good work!!! Keep it up!!

About 20 in the display room, 10 in the basement and about 18 out in the garage that need a new home. I'd say at least 48 altogether because I know there are some I am forgetting. I have gotten rid of about 18 sets that are not to my interest or all that collectible. I always try to find them a good home though, I never toss them out. Sometimes you have to be picky about what takes up your space or you'll end up in the situation I was in most of the summer, tvs piled in the kitchen, hallway, living room, bedroom ect. Needless to say, the little woman was pissed. Now, the keepers are all in the tv room, not exploding all over the house. It looked like rabbits were multiplying in there, every day another set would just "appear" it was getting to the point I was sneaking them in. LOL In the spring, I will be getting out my carpentry skills again as I am going to convert my garage into a climate controlled work space and display room. The garage is filled with crap now that has to go, I've been lugging it around since the late 90s and have not used most of it in years. This stuff used to be in a storage locker that I no longer have. The garage is almost new so minimal work has to be done to the structure. I will just add some more outlets and lighting before the insulation and drywall. Then to run a gas line from the house and put in the furnace. I am also putting in an air conditioner in the back wall. This will have to wait till spring, during the winter I plan to get rid of most of the crap so I can start the minute it warms up. My girlfriend will be happy that the extra bedroom can then be given to our daughter, our son can stay where he is for a while longer. when he gets bigger, it will be time for a bigger house as I am then out of options. I am not getting rid of the tvs.

When i first seen the Ebay name superblonde454 i was thinking she must have lots of TV sets!

Good lord thats awesome!!!! I'd love to have more sets, but out here, it's all black boxes...
Yeeah that Airline set turned out to be a pretty decent set! That resides at my work too in my office..

I own a machine shop. We do work for rocket and defense and boeing commercial. It's fun but I gotta have my own stuff there to make it even better, lol. It's a family ran business. At least my sets are in the back room where I get to keep them safe and always hooked to Dish network...

About 20 in the display room, 10 in the basement and about 18 out in the garage that need a new home. I'd say at least 48 altogether because I know there are some I am forgetting. I have gotten rid of about 18 sets that are not to my interest or all that collectible. I always try to find them a good home though, I never toss them out. Sometimes you have to be picky about what takes up your space or you'll end up in the situation I was in most of the summer, tvs piled in the kitchen, hallway, living room, bedroom ect. Needless to say, the little woman was pissed. Now, the keepers are all in the tv room, not exploding all over the house. It looked like rabbits were multiplying in there, every day another set would just "appear" it was getting to the point I was sneaking them in. LOL In the spring, I will be getting out my carpentry skills again as I am going to convert my garage into a climate controlled work space and display room. The garage is filled with crap now that has to go, I've been lugging it around since the late 90s and have not used most of it in years. This stuff used to be in a storage locker that I no longer have. The garage is almost new so minimal work has to be done to the structure. I will just add some more outlets and lighting before the insulation and drywall. Then to run a gas line from the house and put in the furnace. I am also putting in an air conditioner in the back wall. This will have to wait till spring, during the winter I plan to get rid of most of the crap so I can start the minute it warms up. My girlfriend will be happy that the extra bedroom can then be given to our daughter, our son can stay where he is for a while longer. when he gets bigger, it will be time for a bigger house as I am then out of options. I am not getting rid of the tvs.

I'm officially out of room. There are two in this bunch I got new, one I got NOS, and others I picked up from various places:

RCA 38" HDTV with built-in DirecTV
ProScan 27" from 1995 (that even after I sold I couldn't get rid of!)
1983 Zenith 19" System 3 with Space Phone (the NOS one)
1992 RCA 20" ColorTrak with FM radio (tested in the 1/92 issue of Video Review)
1964 Zenith 17" BW Space Command 300
25" Chromacolor II console, ca. 1978
19" Sharp with built-in Nintendo (found the same day I got the Chromacolor!)
5" GE color Spacemaker from 1988
1975 Sony KV-9200

I shouldn't need any more sets for a good long while.

There's a guy by me that I know who has over 200 sets, jam packed throughout the house. Hes not a member of the forum. No, its not me! I actually have 95 sets right now. My most desireable sets are Zenith table models from the late 60's-early 70s. Of my 95 sets, Id say about 30 of them are consoles.

I have been in the process of getting rid of my less desireable sets. I have a smaller house, so most are in the basement, which at least has a vent I keep open year round for climate control.
Upstairs I rotate out 2 sets as daily watchers, and my current ones are a
25" System 3 Space phone console and a 19" Space Phone set.

In the basement are:
1965 Zenith Roundie
1965 Sylvania Roundie
1964 RCA CTC-16
1975 23" Chromacolor 2
1697 Magnavox console
1966 21" Admiral mini console
1984 19" Sony Trinitron
1971 19" Zenith 4 tube hybrid
1970's 13" Toshiba (the one that is on a swivel base)
1977 13" Coronado (rebadged Toshiba)
1972 13" Hitachi
1970's RCA 13" CTC-53
GE Portacolor (not sure of the year)

B&W Sets are:
1949 Motorola
1949 Delco
1951 Westinghouse
1967 9" RCA Solid State
1977 Zenith 9"
1970's K-Mart 13"

3 Sets I've adopted out are:
1979 25" Magnavox console
1975 17" Sony
1979 Zenith System 3 Space Command with Zoom
1980 Zenith 25" Space Command table-top set with the factory cart

I'm sure there are a few others I've missed, but that's most of it. I rarely see any tube stuff at estate sales anymore.
The only 2 sets I regret getting rid of are my RCA CTC-31 remote table-top set (but it went to a fellow AK'er) and a RCA CTC-16 with a black Matrix 21FJ in it.

b/w and working:
1947 RCA 721ts
1948 Pacific/Mercury 12"
1949 Hoffman 10"
1954 Westinghouse 21" console
1956 RCA 8"
1959 Magnavox 24" combo
1960 Zenith 17" space command
1961 Zenith 19"
1961 Zenith 23" console
1970 Zenith 23"

b/w and not working:
1946 RCA 630ts
1948 GE 10"
1948 Motorola 7" x3
1949 Motorola 8"
1950 RCA 16" console
1950 DuMont 19" console
1951 Motorola 17"
1958 Sylvania 17"
1958 Philco Predicta

color and working:
1960 RCA CTC-10 remote console
1963 Philco combo
1968 Zenith

24 sets, but I parted out a lot of sets this year, so my closet's full of parts chassis.

I had up to 300 sets at one time, which filled our house plus numerous rented garages, etc. However, it became quantity over quality, and I realized that I couldn't ever live long enough to play with all those toys, and I'd go broke paying to keep them. So over a period of about 10 years, I thinned out, finding "new good homes" for most of them. I now have about 8 collectible sets, plus my collection of small-screen (8" & under) Sony Trinitrons. No rental space, YIPPEE!!!!! Now I have room for 10 or 12 more enormous, 1000-lb Cold War era air raid sirens to add to my air raid siren collection :)

I can't say the same for another local collector here in LA... He now has at least 350 sets, mostly consoles and late 40s table models. Many huge Magnavox stereo-phono-color TV combos too. His house is about 4000 sq ft, and you better not have over a 32" waist, or you won't get in the house. Last night, he called me on an emergency basis because he bought ANOTHER huge Magnavox 27" B&W stereo-phono-TV combo, and it was in his van, preventing him from going on a road trip. NO room to squeeze it into his house last night without a team of engineers and a couple of football players to carry it overhead, so he followed me to a vacant house in Chatsworth that we're getting ready to rent out, where I said I'd leave it for a few weeks for him.

Charles

Hey Charles, pardon the temp thread hijack but It just dawned on me. Aren't glass crt's and 120db sirens kinda exclusive of each other? Have you had any thing glass shatter, while testing you air raid horns? It might make a interesting youtube video of putting a late 90's zenith tube in front of the siren and letting it rip. Logan

I would love to see some pictures of those 1000 pound sirens.

Since my last post in this thread I've added a few sets to my collection.

RCA CTC-87 13" portable
'74 Philco-Ford Philcomatic III combo
RCA CTC-30
2 Zenith CC2 consoles
late 70's Admiral color console
Motorola color combo
Motorola Quasar works in a drawer set
Truetone 19" color portable
2 more early 60's RCA 23" B/W consoles
mid-70's Wards 25" set
2 RCA XL-100 consoles (haven't looked for model #s yet)

I probably have about 300 TV's in all, sometime I should actually count them up. Every year that goes by I have found fewer and fewer tube type sets though (which in a way can be a good thing for me!)


Damm , 300 tvs , wow , that sounds like my friend Vaughn in NY

lUCKY FOR ME I HAD A 24X24 STORAGE BUILDING BUILT IN THE YARD , SO I STILL HAVE PLENTY OF ROOM , HOWEVER I ONLY KEEP COLLECTABLE TVS OR SOMETHING THAT I TRULY LIKE .

Damm , 300 tvs , wow , that sounds like my friend Vaughn in NY

Do we all know Vaughn or what?????:D You would never think so the way he's stuck back in the boonies like he is. IIRC, his driveway was off of a parking lot not a street. If you didn't know he was there you would never find his place.

Never heard of this Vaughn. Some should try to get him to join AK so we can trade stories and TVs. I've only met one other tv collector in NY since getting into the hobby about 5 years ago.

Do we all know Vaughn or what?????:D You would never think so the way he's stuck back in the boonies like he is. IIRC, his driveway was off of a parking lot not a street. If you didn't know he was there you would never find his place.

he is a excellent repairman and owned a shop for a long time . Very knowledgable . I know him for at least 10 years . He repaired a few sets for me years ago and is always there when i have a technical question or get stumped on a repair .

i have at least 75 sets, most are in the barn and in the actic, and most of them are Philips sets from the 80s or earlier.

My latest additions are a 1979 Philips K11 and a 1968 West tube B/W

I have way too many sets and a serious case of clutter in the barn... but no one wants them, and whenever i find another vintage set, i just have to save it from the landfill!

99% of the sets i'm finding lately are 90s BPC or monitor-style Sony Trinitrons, that's good as i'm not interested in saving them!

This thread has prompted me to do a head count of my TV's and I was quite shocked when I got to 102! I really need to rationalize my collection soon. At least half of the sets are 14 inch all smaller so storage of them is not quite so difficult.

The sets range from 1958 to approx 1985 with Philips or Philips based sets being the most common. I am concentrating on Black and White and early Australian production color sets. However I have some early color (for us thats 1975 to 1980) Japanese sets as they formed such a large part of our market.

I guess I'm a lightweight - Two Color Sets and Two Black and White Sets:

CTC-16 Roundie - gotta get my focus coil in, otherwise A-OK
GE Portacolor - trash-picked, worked without a problem!

Setchell-Carlson 19" Console BW - has AGC/Sync issue, tuner needs cleaning.
Emerson 19" Luggable - Weak sync, needs a recap.

I actually am at an equillibrium - Parts and sets take up 100% of my available space, and I can't get anymore sets without giving up some parts. Neither will likely happen for some time, or at least until my kids get out of the house in a few years.

Cheers,

Flyweight here! I have eight televisions, if you include the only-13-years-old B&O that is my "daily watcher". Three of them are Phillips Discoverers, and three others are small (14" or below) models. None of the really nice big ones like the DuMonts or Predictas, etc... not because I don't want them, but because (1) they are very hard to find here, even in the wholesale places (all long gone?), and (2) I just don't have the space for them. I live in a modest downtown Hong Kong apartment, so amassing dozens of televisions is pretty much out of the question, let alone 100+ ...but I have managed to amass over 100 pieces of audio components (receivers, amps), since they are smaller and stack up much better! :D Even that number I'm gradually decreasing, though; space is just too big an issue to collect many of anything here.

I still like to read this forum, though, and if I ever move to a more suitable location for it, I'll definitely be on the hunt for a few nice vintage televisions! I'm collecting them in spirit, you might say, even if not in fact. :yes:

Sets keep following me home....
Since my last post I've got the following
early 70's 14" Zenith B/W solid state
Admiral Era II 25" console
another 50's RCA B/W tabletop set
Silvertone 23" tube color console
2 Zenith CC2 consoles
late 60's 19" B/W tube Zenith

That brings the count at home to 40 sets, with still many more waiting to be brought home. I'm glad I've got a lot of room!

OK here goes:

1964 Sony VT-110 9/10 inch B&W portable TV/VTR monitor - computer room TV with a Zenith DTT-900 ATSC tuner
1970 Zenith Chromacolor 23 inch, Boyden model, needs fixed
1975 RCA B&W 12 inch portable
1979/80 RCA XL100 19 inch - needs fixed
1982 Zenith System III, 25 inch, daily watcher since February of 1983, has a Zenith DTT-901 tuner.
1984 Commodore 13 inch monitor, not a TV but pressed into service as one with a DTT-900 ASTC tuner. I only get ATSC TV on that one. My room TV.
1998 Zenith BPC 19 inch, backup TV.

truetone, I was wondering if anyone would ever find an 'Era II'. Up in the attic I have a chassis out of one, found at a defunct Admiral dealer. Never seen one up and running.

Hello
Currently have 15 sets that I can think of off the top of my head. 10 of the sets are "saved" sets.
~ 1958 Silvertone Suburbanite b/w console needs a good cleaning
1963 Zenith b/w console - thanks Doug from Batavia
1967 Zenith color console -
1982 RCA XL100 console - gorgeous cabinet but alas the CRT is getting weak
1984 RCA XL100 console - still with original remote, perfect cabinet
1994 RCA ColorTrak - CTC 177 - yes the tuner has been resoldered and needs resoldering again
~1986 Curtis Mathes console (really an NEC tv in a CM cabinet) replaced flyback - works perfect - original remote - picked up at an estate sale for 10$ - the plastic wood grain console is so damned ugly it makes it beautiful -
an old Zenith suitcase portable, turquoise and cream I believe, but the CRT is open to air
80's vintage Emerson 13" color set - needs work
1969-1970ish Heathkit 19" table top solid state - unbelievably heavy set
1991 Panasonic 19" table top - lots of hours and still a great picture - needs battery replaced - clock no longer keeps time - purchased new by me in 91
Fisher 20" table top probably early 90's set - amazing color!! - like and old Zenith
1970 Zenith b/w 11" portable, filthy dirty but worls great
88 Zenith System 3 20" table top - a great find at an estate sale for 25$ - looks and plays as new -