Looks like I'm picking up a freebie on CL on Sunday, the one on the bottom. Anyone recognize it?

1970s Zenith, maybe?

Most likely a Zenith. Not sure of year but probably before 1980.

For some reason I'm starting to really dig the ugly '70s Mediterranean looking sets :)

Get the rca that's a great set.

Wow, the 70s styles were gross!! The furniture style was very dark and overly ornate.

Top set RCA
Bottom set cant quite tell Maybe a Maggy. Need to
see knobs........... Worth looking into, may be a rarity.

RCA may be a CTC169 they had a killer pix but a little
hard to work on. I loved them as they always came out great,
never seen a soft jug in one.

73 Zeno:smoke:

Wow, the 70s styles were gross!! The furniture style was very dark and overly ornate.
That cabinet seems to be a little more ornate than normal, to the extent of being hideous. :thumbsdn:

Bottom one looks like a Sears or maybe Curtis Mathes set to me.

I'm just gonna get the bottom one. Because, y'know, I have to limit myself....unless one of you wants it and wants to take possession at ETF....

That cabinet seems to be a little more ornate than normal, to the extent of being hideous. :thumbsdn:

It IS ugly, ain't it? And it will be mine....allllllll mine :D

Man, ugly is the IN thing these days. :thmbsp:

I had two Sears-branded RCAs like the one on top, both CTC157. The cabinets are mostly Masonite and are quite sturdy. The only particle board is just above the swivel base.

Well, the mystery is over. Zenith CCII.

The thing was heavily water damaged on the bottom (to the point where the bottom board in the back looked like it came off a shipwreck), the top was heavily scratched/damaged, the front control door missing, and the channel indicator windows were half gone.

It was a pushbutton tuner, that thing on the front that looked like a channel knob, was a sticker. Looked like someone let a preschooler have his/her way all over the front of it, possibly jabbing things at the control panel.

Wasn't worth carrying out of the basement (to me). I left it there. Yeah, might have been decent parts in there, but that was a battle I chose to retreat from.

Well, the mystery is over. Zenith CCII.

The thing was heavily water damaged on the bottom (to the point where the bottom board in the back looked like it came off a shipwreck), the top was heavily scratched/damaged, the front control door missing, and the channel indicator windows were half gone.

It was a pushbutton tuner, that thing on the front that looked like a channel knob, was a sticker. Looked like someone let a preschooler have his/her way all over the front of it, possibly jabbing things at the control panel.

Wasn't worth carrying out of the basement (to me). I left it there. Yeah, might have been decent parts in there, but that was a battle I chose to retreat from.

If it had a delta-gun Zenith Chromacolor Black matrix CRT in it then that alone is a huge loss....They were perhaps the best CRTs ever made.

If that was the case I'd have taken it, saved the CRT chassis and tuner (given away/sold any of that I did not think I'd use, to anyone that might use it), and thrown out the cabinet.

There is only a finite number of parts and parts sets out there....We should save whatever we can.

Wasn't worth carrying out of the basement (to me). I left it there. Yeah, might have been decent parts in there, but that was a battle I chose to retreat from.

"You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them"...
I would not have bothered either... you can't save them all!

jr

If it had a delta-gun Zenith Chromacolor Black matrix CRT in it then that alone is a huge loss....They were perhaps the best CRTs ever made.

If that was the case I'd have taken it, saved the CRT chassis and tuner (given away/sold any of that I did not think I'd use, to anyone that might use it), and thrown out the cabinet.

There is only a finite number of parts and parts sets out there....We should save whatever we can.
Agreed, I would have parted it out. It may have meant a good spare CRT for your RCA console in which the CRT needed a zap.

If it had a delta-gun Zenith Chromacolor Black matrix CRT in it then that alone is a huge loss....They were perhaps the best CRTs ever made.

If that was the case I'd have taken it, saved the CRT chassis and tuner (given away/sold any of that I did not think I'd use, to anyone that might use it), and thrown out the cabinet.

There is only a finite number of parts and parts sets out there....We should save whatever we can.

AGREED. Had I drove anywhere to pick up something, I wouldn't leave empty handed. Not like you can pick up these tubes at any store. Their gone. Crt is a dead issue now and without us, what kind of future does it have. I knew it was a Zenith.

I spent a lot of time in front of a Zenith just like that as a kid. It was my uncles who bought it new when he was fresh out of collage and kept until the screen turned bright yellow a few years ago, then he upgraded to HD.

I spent a lot of time in front of a Zenith just like that as a kid. It was my uncles who bought it new when he was fresh out of collage and kept until the screen turned bright yellow a few years ago, then he upgraded to HD.

Whew! That's a word that scares me. "Upgrade". For some, I'm sure an HD set is an upgrade. But I've found over the years that newer does not mean better. I have a 65" 4k ultra HD set but I won't part with my crt collection. That plus the reliability of these new sets are nowhere near what crt sets were.

I spent a lot of time in front of a Zenith just like that as a kid. It was my uncles who bought it new when he was fresh out of collage and kept until the screen turned bright yellow a few years ago, then he upgraded to HD.
If that was rapid rather than gradual all that was likely wrong was a blown chroma video output transistor...Likely the blue output.

I'm sure he felt it served him well. A lot better then my 56" 1080p DLP. I gave the order to scrap it a couple weeks ago after deciding it was not worth it to replace the DLP chip for the second time! I got 8 years out of a TV that cost nearly $3000. If you see another thread I am in, there is a picture of the CRT I bought when I was 15, nearly 15 years ago for about $300, still running strong!

Maybe that GE will be a good start to making sure that TV doesn't die until the CRT is gone, and maybe by then someone may be rebuilding them.

Agreed, I would have parted it out. It may have meant a good spare CRT for your RCA console in which the CRT needed a zap.

Got a NIB 25V sitting in my garage :)

Got a NIB 25V sitting in my garage :)
Good enough. :thmbsp: Ideally I would put a NOS CRT in my Electrohome console as it's nearly flawless otherwise. Darn Instavu switch.