I'm floored. I have been collecting TVs since the mid 70s, and I have had two Royal Sovereigns.... and I NEVER HAD A CLUE that Crosley had a version of it! I guess I'm not too surprised that they did, because there were plenty of Crosleys with the DuMont Chatham chassis.

But why have I never seen the Crosley 30"???????????

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-giant-Crosley-30-tv_W0QQitemZ6252874211QQcategoryZ3638QQrdZ1QQcmdZV iewItem

Speechless, Charles

damn! 30 inch tube. Biggest B&W I've seen. If the tube face is truely cracked and not teh safty glass, that's gota be a bitch to find a replacement for.

...

I emailed the seller and the CRT is cracked. It is not the safety glass but the CRT itself. DAMN! A 30BP4 would be hard to find.


polaraman

Here is a photo of my Crosley E30 TV. It is a crosley design, not just a DuMont in a different cabinet. Alas, my CRT is gassy. Anyone know where I can get a replacement? (Don't I wish!).

There was another 30" Crosley? on eBay a while back.
I would think this tube is harder to find than a 15GP22!

Eric,

The Crosley on Ebay followed me home. And I suspect your are right, there are more 15GP22s than 30BP4s!

Here's the thread:

http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4270

John

That's one heck of a set - shame about the CRT. A friend of mine told me stories he'd heard about the 30" sets - said how they had problems with tube implosions, since it was so hard to make those 30" tubes perfectly round and sealed, and that he'd heard of a tube just imploding while in use. <BOOM!> Now, this was all heard second/third hand - may not be true, but it certainally makes a lot of sense. But tubes going gassy to me seems more likely. Anyone seen one of these operational?

-Ian

Dr. Dan has one that I have repaired, and it's working great with strong tube! It's the 1951 version with the single chassis and click-detent tuner, whereas the early one has the 2-piece chassis and Mallory Inputuner. I originally found that one in Simi Valley, CA... Was in the paper "Big B&W TV, works, Great for kids, $25". The ad was so classic that I saved it. The ad didn't even say DuMont! That was in the mid 80s. The other Royal Sovereign I had (now also Dan's), is the early two-chassis set. CRT OK, but not working. That one also came from a newspaper ad, and it has an interesting history: actress Jeanette McDonald was the original owner, and had given it to a friend. The friend stuck it in the garage where it sat for all those years. At least that ad said "enormous".

And John, I stand corrected! The Crosley in your photo is indeed different from the DuMont 2-piece chassis.


Charles

I had the pleasure of seeing the DuMont at the ETF Museum in operation & for me it was one of the most impressive things there, just overwhelming. That is "brute force" television!

Here's a photo of the Jeanette McDonald set after I got it home... Circa 1996. I just called it "twin chassis" in the previous post, but my photo reminds me it's actualy THREE!

Charles

The Hello-Fuzzy !! A feller could about take up residence in that bad boy...-Sandy G.

Charles,

While I love my DuMont RA119B1, I have to admit the RA119A is much more interesting from a technical point of view. Sounds like the one your worked on for Dr. Dan was the same set I have. Hmmm Dr. Dan.... Is that the mysterious Iacobi? Would love to see his collection!

...

Okay, that is one bigass set!

veg

Charles,

While I love my DuMont RA119B1, I have to admit the RA119A is much more interesting from a technical point of view. Sounds like the one your worked on for Dr. Dan was the same set I have. Hmmm Dr. Dan.... Is that the mysterious Iacobi? Would love to see his collection!

YES! PM or eMail me and I will see if I can put something together... You and I have dealt many times on eBay (my eBay name kx250rider).

Charles
motocrossKXrider@yahoo.com

Somebody asked about seeing one of these in operation. Here's my (blurry) snapshot of the DuMont at the early television museum in Ohio.

http://antiqueradio.org/art/temp/DuMontRoyalSovereign.jpg

And their house photo of the same set.

http://www.earlytelevision.org/dumont_ra118.html

It was playing the Wizard of Oz continuously during last year's convention.

A truly amazing set, and it's hard to grasp how mammoth it is unless somebody's standing right next to it.

Here are a couple of shots from the ETF convention. The size reference is Mr. Peter Fasciano.

I was kinda tickled that Mark Schubin started using this picture (http://www.njarc.org/images/DuMont_Schubin.jpg) for his column in Television Broadcast magazine right after last year's Early Television Convention.
(With apologies to Mark for swiping his picture!)
__________________

I saw the crosley set on ebay and I was floored. I never realized crosley made such sets. I'd love to own one but I have no room. Beautiful set. Very impressive to say the least.