View Full Version : Nice 70's zenith console....


mrflex65
03-05-2012, 09:50 AM
Thought somebody might be interested in it here....:scratch2:
not affiliated in any way. http://raleigh.craigslist.org/ele/2859267339.html

bgadow
03-05-2012, 10:04 PM
System III? There is a cheaper one (single-knob varactor tuning) that just got put out on a porch at the end of my street. No room to give it a home here, though.

jstout66
03-07-2012, 04:25 PM
It's kind of hard to tell... would know if I saw the back of the TV.
If they DID buy it in the 70's it would be a Chromacolor 2, but with the control panel/remote set up, it's Gotta be a System 3 which would put it after 1980.
Heres a pix from the ad.

Jeffhs
03-07-2012, 09:08 PM
The seller mentions that the remote "doesn't work now." I'm wondering if he/she is just saying that because the batteries are dead, and the person didn't think to try it with new batteries before listing it. :scratch2: Many non-technical people think anything that uses batteries is broken when it stops working, when all that's actually wrong is the cells are weak or dead. This is one reason Zenith stayed with the mechanical ultrasonic Space Command remote control system for its TVs as long as they did -- they didn't want people thinking the TV was broken because the remote's batteries were dead. Kids, especially, would put up a fuss when the remote failed for any reason. "What?! Do you mean I gotta get up to change the channel?!" With today's flat-screen sets, these kids would be out of luck in case their parents locked the TV's manual controls with a password (as can be done, I imagine, with most FPs). In a case like this, however, it's probably just as well since some kids watch far too much television (when they should be outside in the summer or reading) in today's 500-channel universe anyway.

radiotvnut
03-07-2012, 10:18 PM
I'm sure that's a System 3 set; but, they made look-alike models with some models having the System 3 chassis and some having the CCII chassis. The first System 3's came out in '78 (I have one) and the last CCII chassis was used in a few 23" delta gun sets from the 1980 model year ("L" line). The first system 3 sets actually used a power transformer. The second generation models did away with the power transformerand replaced it with the ever popular 9-160 module. I have an idea that the set pictured uses the 9-160 module.

dieseljeep
03-08-2012, 09:28 AM
I think Zenith used the mechanical ultra sonic control, because they held the patents on it. I'm sure someone else held the patents on the I/R remotes.

jstout66
03-08-2012, 05:05 PM
Here's a Zenith available in my area. It's in the free section of Craigslist.
They don't say if it works, and the pix are kind of lousy, but I wonder if it's a horizontal chassis set?

jstout66
03-08-2012, 05:15 PM
Radiotvnut, I didn't realize Zenith came out with System 3 in 1978. I'm getting old!
I worked in my Uncle's Zenith shop as a kid, and remember going with him to the Zenith distributor here in Omaha, for a demonstration and preview of that line. I think it was in February 1979, so I guess you're right. Since I worked in the shop in that era, I remember we DID have Chromacolor 2's and System 3's side by side for about a year, and Zenith, I remember had a 19" set, that was a Chromacolor 2 chassis, but used the new System 3 "tri-focus" tube. I have a 19" System 3 dated 1979 that is heavier than hell. It has a power transformer, ultrasonic remote, and still had the "Zoom" feature.

radiotvnut
03-08-2012, 10:10 PM
I have a '79 19" CCII motel set that has the inline CRT. My '78 System 3 is a 19" with an electronic varactor tuner, ultra-sonic remote, and Zoom. Mine has a tuner control problem and won't tune the VHF-LO band. I subbed the tuner/IF module and that wasn't the problem; so, there must be a problem with the front panel tuner control assembly.

I think the second console pictured is an early upright chassis CCII set.

mrflex65
03-09-2012, 08:30 AM
I would have taken the set myself but unfortunately i live in a apartment and don't have the room for it.:tears:It's been years since i stuck my hands in the back end of a t.v.!Now i have that sudden urge to get zapped again....:yes::D