Saw this listed. Don't think it's worth the price asked in unrestored condition.http://boston.craigslist.org/nos/atq/1287626206.html

The turntable (tt) (recorder player) haves an really intresting design :smoke:

Circa 1963 - think the seller has pie-in-the-sky ideas about what he'll get for it.

Pretty good "Cadillac"...Pretty pricey for a console that is in unknown condition, especially w/the cataract..

The turntable (tt) (recorder player) haves an really intresting design :smoke:

I think most RCA consoles in that era had the elliptical changer arm.

The TV looks like it might be independent of the stereo as far as controls go. It looks like the same control panel layout as the set would have if it were not a combo. Were any made this way where the TV and stereo simply share a cabinet or does the TV use the stereo chassis for audio? At the very least there should be some kind of selector to prevent having the TV and radio on at the same time.

Gee, if it's a 12, it is EXACTLY what I desire, but right now I am poor. At least I have a schematic to drool over LOL!
Kevin

I have that exact unit except its not a roundie and someone removed the legs. The tv power switch turns the power off to the tuner and amp and switches the speakers form the amp to the tv. Mine also has a solid state amp. Its a good quality unit, someone should make him an offer and give it a good home.

that is a ctc 15 or 16.i have the same model different cabinet.the stereo plugs into the tv chassis or you can plug in the stereo independently.tv uses a separate speaker.i like that cabinet but that price is way out there.would be quite a nice project though!

The TV looks like it might be independent of the stereo as far as controls go. It looks like the same control panel layout as the set would have if it were not a combo. Were any made this way where the TV and stereo simply share a cabinet or does the TV use the stereo chassis for audio? At the very least there should be some kind of selector to prevent having the TV and radio on at the same time.
It looks very much like my CTC16 combo. As sampson159 said, the amplifier is solid state, and the sound system is independent from the TV's audio section. The selector does not allow the TV to be on at the same time as the stereo system. If I had owned my unit in the early days of music videos (1982-85), I would have modified it to allow simultaneous use. The NBC network had a TV show called Friday Night Videos, with stereo sound on a local FM radio station. These combos would have been great for videos with nice stereo audio, all in one "box".

Nice, but agreeing with others, the price is in orbit. Those are usually nearly free, even today, due to the size.

Charles

I wonder if the value of these whales will ever go up after enough of them go to the dumpster. There are still old hams out there who complain bitterly because they have to pay hundred$$ for an R390A boatanchor, rather than pennies as they used to. I'm not in the market for this one, anyhow.

Phil Nelson

Nice, but agreeing with others, the price is in orbit. Those are usually nearly free, even today, due to the size.

Charles

I think the only way these huge combos would be practical to own is to have it as one's main entertainment unit in the livingroom. Practically all the large sets we collect today were intended as solo pieces of furniture in a room. Most of us collect TVs and radios the way others collect coins or stamps thus making larger peices less desireable because of the sheer sqare footage needed to store, display and use them. I would love to restore and use a Zenith roundie combo or a Manavox Astrosonic but I would have to throw out our entertainment cabinet and solid state SPC TV and the wife would never go for that.

While I wouldn't pay that price, I could see some folks doing it. Might be highly negotiable?

The only roundie combo I ever drug home was either a -12 or early -15 (didn't have UHF) and the control panel for the TV was under the top lid. It was somewhat small for a combo. I should have saved it but at the time I didn't think it was that special, and didn't know the cataracts could be fixed.

...the sound system is independent from the TV's audio section. The selector does not allow the TV to be on at the same time as the stereo system. If I had owned my unit in the early days of music videos (1982-85), I would have modified it to allow simultaneous use. The NBC network had a TV show called Friday Night Videos, with stereo sound on a local FM radio station.

I remember Friday Night Videos on NBC, but never knew until now that the audio was also simulcast over local FM radio. I don't remember seeing anything in the local newspaper, TV listings, etc. at the time as to which of the 20 or so Cleveland FM stations was carrying the show's sound track. Was this done nationally, or only in cities with NBC owned and operated TV stations? If the latter, I am surprised that nothing was ever said about FNV's stereo FM simulcast (that I was ever aware of, anyway) in the Cleveland area, as the NBC-TV affiliate there (WKYC-TV channel 3) was owned and operated by NBC at the time.

Seeing the picture of the RCA TV/stereo combo being discussed here brought back memories for me, as one of my great-uncles had a console exactly like the one shown on CL. The television chassis developed serious problems, however, some years later (I don't know exactly when), so he just took out the old chassis and installed a new (at that time) Emerson 19" table model in its place. Another of my great-uncles had an RCA console with the same chassis; when its TV died, he just took it out of the cabinet and installed a new (at that time) Zenith color table model in place of it. In both cases the jobs had been done so well, IMHO, that anyone would have been hard-pressed to tell these were custom installations.

I think the only way these huge combos would be practical to own is to have it as one's main entertainment unit in the livingroom. Practically all the large sets we collect today were intended as solo pieces of furniture in a room. Most of us collect TVs and radios the way others collect coins or stamps thus making larger peices less desireable because of the sheer sqare footage needed to store, display and use them. I would love to restore and use a Zenith roundie combo or a Manavox Astrosonic but I would have to throw out our entertainment cabinet and solid state SPC TV and the wife would never go for that.

A good friend of mine has an entertainment center with his stereo system, TV, VCR, etc. and I swear, the entertainment center must be seven feet tall. My friend lives in a large house with an equally large living room; the ceilings are perhaps eight feet high or more. His entertainment center goes from the floor to close to the ceiling. It's a good thing his house is as big as it is (he lives in a rural area east of Cleveland); if he were still living in the city (he and I grew up together in a Cleveland suburb), he would never have had the room for anything as large as the entertainment unit I just described.

Is your living room really that small that a roundie TV or combo unit wouldn't fit? I could understand your situation if you lived in an apartment (I live in a very small one-bedroom unit and certainly have no room for consoles here, as I had when I lived in a three-bedroom house with a basement in the suburbs; my TV and related equipment sit on and in an oak utility cart, and my stereo is on a stand next to my computer), but I can't imagine your living room being that short on space.

...

I think the only way these huge combos would be practical to own is to have it as one's main entertainment unit in the livingroom. I would love to restore and use a Zenith roundie combo or a Manavox Astrosonic but I would have to throw out our entertainment cabinet and solid state SPC TV and the wife would never go for that.

I have one of each of those, the Maggie is rectangular though. I too wanted one in the living room but like you said, the woman will never go for it.:thumbsdn:

I remember Friday Night Videos on NBC, but never knew until now that the audio was also simulcast over local FM radio. I don't remember seeing anything in the local newspaper, TV listings, etc. at the time as to which of the 20 or so Cleveland FM stations was carrying the show's sound track. Was this done nationally, or only in cities with NBC owned and operated TV stations? If the latter, I am surprised that nothing was ever said about FNV's stereo FM simulcast (that I was ever aware of, anyway) in the Cleveland area, as the NBC-TV affiliate there (WKYC-TV channel 3) was owned and operated by NBC at the time.


It was probably available around the country, but I don't remember how it was publicized at the time. I do know that the FM station in Chicago that had the Friday Night Videos stereo audio was the NBC-owned rock station there, so maybe having the radio station owned by NBC was the key to simulcast availability.

One interesting side note about the simulcasts is that a rival FM rock station in Chicago bought commercials on the NBC TV station during the show, so their commercial's audio was played on the competing station. Soon after, the station with the simulcast was ready for this, and when the commercial came on, they dubbed in their own parody audio for the commercial, with things like a toilet flushing when the competitor's logo came on screen.

I still have several Beta Hi-Fi tapes of those music videos, including a couple of complete Friday Night Videos shows. They would be fun to pull out and play if I get a Beta VCR hooked up again.

I was in college in Providence, RI during 1983-4 school year and remember watching Friday Night Videos on my 12" Sharp B&W and listening to it in Stereo on WBRU which was Brown University's Station if I'm not mistaken. Had the sound coming out of my Sanyo ghetto blaster usually with a cassette tape loaded and waiting on pause for a good song to record. Yes if you wanted songs for free back in the day you had to record them off the radio since there wasn't any internet yet. Actually I know that I still have that tape around somewhere.