Risks in purchasing a "working" RCA
 

I stumbled across this listing on eBay, and it almost seems to good to be true for me:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1940...g/311967834272

It was soft-started, and the CRT comes in strong, and it seems all is well. But there's no indication given as to previous care. Restoration is recommended from the seller. I'm guessing that it's current state was just luck, and I'd end up with something going amiss sooner rather than later.

While I'm not thinking I'm going to lose the CRT, what would I risk in purchasing this?

TL;DR: Interested in a working Victor 8-T-241. No history of restoration or care. CRT seems strong. What are my risks?

I would think this set has had some maintenence thru the years. The original capacitors were prone to failure. While fun to watch, the original RCA sets are more complicated than others like Motorola and Admiral. Depending on his reserve, it looks good to me.

It is better than a unrestored non-working set where the CRT/rest of the unobtainium are unknown. You may need to change the caps, but that is standard fare unless what you really want is an already restored set.

You guys are practically neighbors, only one hour drive away from each other. Why not go over and see the set in person, and talk with Noel about it?

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That's one with the unfixable horizontal linearity problem. Been there, done that. Several posters on here had the same experience with that series chassis. You can even see the problem in the screen shot.

While it's working, it already has some issues with the width, if it's running on original parts you can expect it to need repairs sooner rather than later, if it's been restored you can still expect it to need repairs from time to time, that's the nature of old TV's, now and when they were new.

The good thing is it's working, so all the major parts are in good shape but if you are expecting a plug and play set you can watch for hours at a time it's unlikely an unrestored set will provide that.

Good that it's working, but be forewarned about the H linearity problem which appears to just be the 'nature of the beast'.

I gave a 9T246 with the supposed identical chassis. It has no horizontal problem. It did, and very bad, when I got it. That was caused by having the wrong type horizontal output tube. Putting in an exact correct tube fixed it.

If you have it shipped the CRT has to be either sent separate (also risky) or secured in the set, they are not secure at all the way they are mounted and will shift and break in transit.

I was told by someone who would know that you can remove the face of the set and cram some bubble wrap between the face of the tube and the front of the set, so it's pressed snugly into the yoke bracket and it will usually survive this way, but the way they are handled by Ground shipping nothing is a sure bet.

lol

That's a very nice example of that set. Years ago anything later than the classic 8TS30 was totally ignored by collectors, but at this point in time these later, rather simple boxy models, have gained slightly more interest. I heard when these are properly restored they're great performers. As said before, knowing this one has a good CRT is a big plus. I agree that the set probably had service over the years to be able to be showing that decent of a picture. If you like that model I would give you the thumbs up to go for it, although shipping that heavy set would make me lose sleep! Be sure the seller knows what he's doing.

You purchase a set like this with the understanding that the chassis needs a complete going thru. Running it as-is is risky.

Looks like its power transformer, flyback, CRT, yoke, vertical osc and output transformers are all good. Parts that are hard to find replacements for. I'd still recap it.

Thanks for your input, everyone!

Time got away from me (Proposed to my now fiancé over the weekend!), and I did not get the chance to pick this up. It ended up re-listed and sold for about $200. Probably should've jumped on it when it was just sitting there, but oh well.

With the amount of time I tend to have, I'm more interested in a pre-restored set with little maintenance required as a starter set (Obviously at a cost). Something to teach me the basics while I still get to enjoy the hobby. Perhaps going back to the 40s isn't the best option?

Linearity problem? I have fixed a number of these series chassis over the last 50 years and can say the linearity is better than many other sets.