Hello all, brand new to the form.

I have kind of recently decided that I would really like to get a old console type color TV as I have a really good spot for it in my house for one and think it would be really cool (I like anything old and pretty much am capable of and have the tools to fix just about anything)

Having said that though I don’t know much about old TV’s so forgive me if I don’t use all the correct words for this but…

What I’m looking for is something along the line of the old wood console TV’s that are typically longer then they are tall and have a solid base and not one with legs. I guess this might typically make it a stereo model but I’m thinking that isn’t a rule

It would be really really great if it was a TV/HiFi combo but if it’s just a stereo TV or at least looks like that type that’s fine. Basically I'm looking at it as much as a piece of furniture and conversation piece then an actually TV that I would expect to be used for its viewing quality. Although I intend to get it working as best as I can, (I'm not gonna make a fish bowl out of it)

I have looked on E-bay and the for sale page on this site but there is nothing there that really seems to be what I’m talking about at the moment.

What I was wondering is if someone could give me some other leads as to where I might find what I’m looking for.

I know about Craig’s list but unless I missed something I don’t see how I can search it much.

Anyway if someone could post some links for me to other places or give me some other ideas besides the obvious ones like my local paper, that would be great.

Also I was wondering if someone could educate me a bit on the term roundie?

What I meant is yeah I gather that this means is round but I see that often use to describe consoles like the one I’m talking about too so what can that mean in relation to that, in relation to helping search?

Did most larger consoles start out as roundies and at a point change to something else?

Are roundies in a large console typically of poorer performance

Kinda more stuff like that.

Also one other thing is if someone could recommend maybe what might be the best brand to look for, from what I’ve read on this board so far it seems like Zenith is a really big name and I’m sure there are a lot of other good ones too but are there any that I should defiantly stay away from, maybe for reasons like it just impossible to get parts for it or it was just absolute junk even when it was new?

Anyway thanks for any help.

Welcome to the forum. If you could fill out your profile with your location, or let us know what part of the world you live in, we might be able to help you more.

Craigslist is VERY searchable. you just have to be creative at times of what you are searching for..

Welcome to the forum. If you could fill out your profile with your location, or let us know what part of the world you live in, we might be able to help you more.

Craigslist is VERY searchable. you just have to be creative at times of what you are searching for..Opps sorry bout that, I have added my location to my profile.

Yeah I'll admit I didn't really spend a great deal of time checking out Craigs, I think you have to join it to get more out of it?

Anyway I will look at it a bit closer when I get a chance.

Thanks

No, you don't have to join CL to use it. You can post ads without joining either.

Just select the area you want to search, then use the search function. Just type in TV or Television. I'm sure you will see that in your area, you will have more than you need.. Console might get you there, but then that will probably list a lot of cars too..

You can also un include things to by using something like "tv console -ford -sony" (remove the quotes) Be creative...

Show us some pictures of your ideal set from what you can find online to give us a better idea of what you are looking for.

Would you prefer to work on a tube-based set or solid state? Typically, solid state sets are better performers as they are not nearly as fussy as tubes are. The flip side of that is that tube tvs are much more friendly to service (if you don't mind the lethal voltage thing). If you were looking for a roundie, that is basically a color tv with a perfectly round picture tube. Hence, the face of the tv from the cabinet is rounded. This was the standard color tv from 1955-65. After that, tubes became squarer and squarer. Most collectors tend to value roundies made by Zenith as they are among the most reliable of their breed.

I have had very poor luck with finding old color tvs on Craigslist. I'm afraid these just get junked as they have little nostalgia factor to anyone. B&W sets come up much more frequently as the average joe can claim that as an 'old tv'. It seems most people here on AK find their sets at estate sales. Almost every house sale I go to has an old floor model tv somewhere in the house. This includes roundies. One auctioneer put it best when he told me that he could fill a dumpster with all the color consoles he sees every month. He went on to curse sofa beds in the same breath (I do agree with him on that one). I use auctionzip.com to find upcoming estate sales in my area. Tvs are almost never mentioned. I can usually tell by the age of the rest of the stuff that it was the home of an older person who hadn't bought anything new in thirty years. That's been my system and it has worked well.

Hope this gets you started, and best of luck to you.

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Around here, I see a lot of consoles at the salvation army. Unfortunately, most are from the '80's and '90's. I have gotten lucky and found a couple of older models there. The only bad thing about thrift stores is that the older and/or non-working sets get trashed before they make it to the sales floor. It might do you good to talk to someone in charge and then stay on top of them so they won't think you're just another person full of hot air that doesn't follow through. At my SA, working consoles are priced in the $20-$30 range and the broken ones are $5-$10. Like has been mentioned, estate sales are another good option as long as you stay in the older neighborhoods. Garage sales are often a joke since many of these are run by younger people and their idea of an old TV is a black box Orion from 1997.

I think any tube type color console is worth buying if the price is right, as these are drying up fast. From the tube era, Zenith and RCA were the best performers. Zenith's were really the most reliable because their cahssis were "hand crafted" and not built on printed circuit boards. The RCA's and most other brands were built on a PC board chassis and these older boards can suffer serious damage from heat from the tubes and other components.

As far as solid state; Zenith, RCA, and Sylvania are the ones to look for as far as performance and reliability. Of course, if you find an early Motorola "Quasar" works-in-a-drawer set from the late '60's, grab it. IIRC, that was the first all solid state American color TV. The solid state Zenith Chromacolor's and Chromacolor II's are certainly worth snatching up. They were the most reliable and had a nice picture when working properly. You'll also stand a better chance at having a good picture tube if you go with a Zenith. The early Zenith solid state color sets used a horizontal steel chassis like what would be in a tube set, only it was solid state. These were the best TV's that Zenith made and many are still going 35 years later without a problem.

I'm not going to tell you what to go with if you decide to go with a recent console. I'll just tell you NOT to go with a Zenith! By the '90's, Zenith was the exact opposite in terms of quality that they were in the '60's and '70's. Almost all the '90's Zenith's will have a weak or shorted CRT. In fact, Zenith started sliding downhill when they discontinued the chromacolor II chassis in favor of the system 3 chassis. The early system 3's did make a good picture; but, they had problems with the power supply and horizontal circuits as well as the in-line gun CRT's going weak in a short period of time.

Keep up a regular ebay watch, as they do turn up, but you might have to travel quite a ways to get it. Most of the time if something good turns up on there somebody will post a link to the tv forums here.

Your description best fits combos from the late 60s or early 70s. Try to be patient, as they do turn up. Since they are so big and heavy the original owner really had to be determined if they were going to toss it out! Many are still sitting unused in living rooms, covered in faded photographs of children taken back in '71.

It never hurts to ask around at the older tv repair shops in your neighborhood. As with the above advice on estate sales, find the places that have been in the same location since at least the 60s. No telling what they might have stashed away.

You are in what seems to be an ideal location for tv collecting, and there don't seem to be many active collectors from New England.

I would also suggest dropping a line to Harry Poster; he buys/sells vintage sets and is located in NJ. He is a member on here.

magnavox made nice color combos , look for one of them. They are usual on craigslist and relatilvly cheap becuase of their size

Actually, I've found craigslist to be my best source of sets, in the past 5 years or so I've picked up the following sets off of CL: 1947 RCA 721ts, 1948 Motorola TS4J x2, 1949 Hoffman 610, 1950 DuMont RA112, 1950 RCA 6T65, 1956 Zenith 21" b/w, 1958 Philco Predicta, 1960 RCA CTC-10 remote control, 1964 Zenith 25MC33 SC400 chinese cabinet, 1965 RCA CTC-15 combo, 1975 Zenith 19" CCII SC600.

The key to using CL is trying to get the most out of your searches. I first go to the "collectables" section and search for "tv" then search for "television", then for "radio." Those searches will pull up 80-90% of the interesting sets on there. Then go to "electronics" search first for "antique", then for "vintage". Don't bother searching for "tv" in "electronics", you'll just get a bunch of junky late model stuff that takes a long time to look through, if it's an older set they'll use one of those words. Sometimes I just search "antique" and don't even bother with searching "vintage" in "electronics", you'll usually just pull up a bunch of '70s and 80's stuff that way. In CL tv/radio ad speak: vintage = 80s-60s, antique = 60s-20s. Then go to "furniture" and search for brand names, "Zenith", "RCA", "Philco", etc... If you search for just "tv" in "furniture" you'll get a bunch of cabinets for holding TVs instead. It's not that common to find sets in "furniture", so you can skip this one, but I have found a few sets hiding in there in the past. I used to spend an hour or so searching craigslist, with this method it only takes 5 min or so, and it will pull up 99% of what's out there.

There are plenty of sets on ebay, but to me it's just so much more effort to deal with ebay than it is to use craigslist, so I don't bother with it much.

I don't even bother with garage sales anymore (only 2 sets in 9 years - and both were early 80s color), and estate sales are not that great in this area (although from what I read on here they are in others) in the past 9 years I've only picked up 4 sets at estate sales.

Thrift stores can be good if they're the smaller independent stores and look on the junky side, I've found 21 sets this way in the past 9 years. (That looks like a lot but they were mostly 12" b/w sets)

In my experience many tv repair shops will happily give you all the broken 80's and newer sets you want, but if they have any older stuff it's usually way way way overpriced. I actually met one guy who wanted 2k for a 1960 Magnavox b/w combo. Although I did pick up 3 sets from the attic of place that sold electronic parts a few years ago.

And then there's side-of-the-road finds, they're not plentiful, but they're still out there: in the past 9 years I've had 6 good side of the road finds, and well over 20 if you count the less good stuff.