View Full Version : Zenith Chromacolor 2 on eBay


jstout66
06-06-2004, 11:21 AM
Just passing this info along. This would make a nice set for anyone in the Texas area. "Plain Jane" cabinet and would make a great daily watcher if repaired. Says no picture, but these were pretty easy to repair. If memory serves, if the vertical module goes out you could lose picture, or could need a tripler/ cap change. One of the last great Zenith's and great picture when working! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3638&item=6101460236&rd=1

Chad Hauris
06-07-2004, 06:15 AM
Zenith seems to be the only manufacturer that used the 23" CRT past the time the tube-type sets were discontinued...I have one that is a system 3 chassis from about 1979 with a small-neck inline 23" tube.

jstout66
06-07-2004, 02:02 PM
you're right Chad. I had a bad experiance with one of those 23" System 3 tubes. Someone gave me a Zenith Console with a bad picture. The set wasn't very old at the time and I didn't see how it could be the picture tube. Anyway... it was. The damn tube wouldn't take a charge, and I took it in to have it replaced. And my was that 23" tube expensive!!! I remember the tv repair place had a tough time even getting that tube. And this was before the days of the evil Zenith/GoldStar picture tube problems. I've seen a few of the 23" consoles with the in-line tube in thrift stores and they ALL seem to have a lousy picture. Zenith must have had some problems with that tube. However those delta tubes just keep going and going.....

Whirled One
06-07-2004, 07:21 PM
Originally posted by Chad Hauris
Zenith seems to be the only manufacturer that used the 23" CRT past the time the tube-type sets were discontinued...

I think you're right that most of those last-gasp 23" sets were Zeniths, but Zenith wasn't quite alone in continuing to use those old "curved-rectangle"-shape CRTs. I've got a 1977/78 Admiral TV dealer info binder, and it describes three 23" models-- one is a console in their lower-end "Solarcolor" line, but the other two are in the more expensive "Super-Solarcolor - Era II" lineup. I'm not sure, but I somewhat suspect that the Solarcolor was a true 1978 model, while the other two were actually from the 1977 model year, but were still in the binder.

From the literature, the 23" Admirals had regular delta-style picture tubes ("Admiral Super-Brite Delta Picture Tube").

By the way, this same dealer book also (as noted/illustrated on my Portacolor web site, BTW) shows two 22" B&W consoles for the 1978 model year, which puts Admiral in the "race" with Zenith to be the last to offer that particular type of TV as well.
I still don't have an answer for the implied question of why anyone would buy a new black-and-white console in 1978... Why spend ~ $300 (list) for a B&W console-- nearly twice as much as a 19" portable B&W set-- when a low-end 19" color TV could be had for not too much more (~ $400 list, and the dealer might be more likely to offer a better discount), or even a used color TV, if price was a major factor..? Did color TVs still have a reputation for poor reliability and/or expensive upkeep in those days..? Were there throngs of senior citizens who continued to insist on buying B&W console TV sets because that's the type of TV they were accustomed to having in the living room..? Or what..? :dunno:

captainmoody
06-07-2004, 08:20 PM
I worked for a Zenith dealer/servicecenter in the late 70's and early 80's and we sold new b/w sets to the senior citizens in the high rise 1 mile from the shop, Also sold them to a couple of nursing homes in the area!
My boss kept getting those stupid things until 82 I think, He must have been buying new old stock from the big Zenith parts dealer in town then turning a profit on the nursing homes...
He was a jerk most of the time, When I asked why b/w? He would reply WTF, Most of them can't see and the other half are too crazy to know the difference!
From this "gem" of a guy I learned what not to do when I opened my own shop a couple years later.

bgadow
06-07-2004, 10:20 PM
About 83/84 or so, I guess, I was a snotty nosed pre-teen with a hand-me-down late 60s GE color set, a real dog. I liked to DX and the UHF tuner was shot on that lump; also had cataracts, typical poor picture. Anyway, I rode my bicycle into town & looked around the GE/Zenith dealer's showroom. The set that caught my eye was a 19" bw Zenith table model. I think what I liked about it was the "old fashioned" style, that same sort of design that was widely used on many Zenith TV's back to the 60s. I guess I must have seen one of the old ones and it stuck in my mind. I even remember a recurring dream where I went in my parent's room and they had a color Zenith from the late 60s in there. (the dream was pure fiction) That bw set was something like $179 but the owner told me he'd let me have if for something like $129. I begged my mother to buy it for me, and even told her about the dream. Later I realized that those sets were made in Taiwan and were not anything real special. Anyway, Mom & Dad got tired of hearing me whine. They saw a tv in a sales flier so one day Dad & I set out with my life's savings (about $70) to get a new tv. Turned out to be one of those cheap 12" sets, this one was supposed to be a Magnavox but the fellow at the store (Western Auto, believe it or not) said they were actually Midland. As it turned out the set was a good performer and I kept it for several years until I came across a used Portacolor at a good price.

While I'm rambling on...my grandfather, who could have bought a truckload of color consoles, had a bw GE table model up into the 80s. (I think he finally bought a color set about 82) Many of the sets I have came from an estate, a tv repairman who died in his 90s. They tell me that he never had a color set in his house. (the estate did include a few in need of repair)

I used to have an Admiral bw console, tube type, that worked fine. Looked like it might have been early 70s. Dropped it on my toe once & lost the nail. Finally gave that tv to an elderly lady who was tickled to have it-about 6 years ago now.

Lastly, I recall seeing, back a few years, a couple Zenith color consoles with unusually rounded screens. These looked to be late 70s, with the varactor tuner, but something about that screen just looked out of place.

jasonlava
06-08-2004, 08:02 AM
Originally posted by Whirled One
I think you're right that most of those last-gasp 23" sets were Zeniths, but Zenith wasn't quite alone in continuing to use those old "curved-rectangle"-shape CRTs. I've got a 1977/78 Admiral TV dealer info binder, and it describes three 23" models-- one is a console in their lower-end "Solarcolor" line, but the other two are in the more expensive "Super-Solarcolor - Era II" lineup. I'm not sure, but I somewhat suspect that the Solarcolor was a true 1978 model, while the other two were actually from the 1977 model year, but were still in the binder.


And you know, I never did like those "round-cornered" late 70s TV sets. They just looked "funky" to me for some reason. In the 60s, they would've fit right in but for some reason those late 70s 23" Zeniths just looked :puke: . OTOH, a middle or TOL 24" Chromocolor is one of the nicer sets out there.

In electronics class, I struggled as a newbie for hours trying to get one of those to look right. I did the WHOLE setup... Purity, convergence, vert/horiz size, all that straight out the zenith book. But when I flipped the switch and tuned in the channel. Everything was purple :uzi: . I finally said, "This is one ugly a$$ TV. Someone else fix this thing.:mad: "

So I helped a 19" portable RCA come back to life. One Vertical output transistor and it had a beautiful picture.:D