Crosley 307TA Score!
 

A package arrived at my door 2 days ago, weighing 97 pounds I knew exactly what it was. It was the Crosley 307TA 630TS clone I had shipped down here from Virginia. A relative who lives in Richmond spotted this one while searching craigslist and he asked if I was interested. For only $100 I immediately called up the seller and asked if it could be shipped down here. Apparently he had shipped other small sets before so he packed it up and it was on its way down here to Orlando. It arrived completely undamaged. After unwrapping the inch of bubble wrap surrounding the set and some cardboard planks a beautiful 307 emerged. The cabinet will probably need a refinishing job especially on the top. The serial number on this set is only 124 so it seems like one of the first. I brought it up on the variac and at about 70 volts one of the filter caps started to get warm so i shut it down. Ill have to do a recap before i really power it up fully. It is missing its back so I am looking for one of those now. I tested the CRT and it tested pretty much like new. I think the tube may be a rebuild since i see a sticker on the neck advertising some company that looks like a rebuilder. I estimate this set to be a low hour set due to most of the tubes being original RCA tubes dated 1947. I have attached some pictures. Im not really sure when I will get to this set, I still have the CTC4 in front of it and Ive got tube testers in for repair. All of these photos were taken with my phone so I apologize about the poor quality. Ill take some pictures with the Nikon later.

More pictures

I never paid attention to the power draw on those sets. 325 watts! A CTC-5 takes only 25 more.

Amptech Systems makes nice repros of 630TS back screens. :smoke:

Nice set! I like finding low serial numbers.
It's possible they started at 100 which would make it #24, which would probably be the first day of production. Either way it's low.

Hopefully some could shed some more light on what number the production started. I may have a day one set! I need to pull the chassis and compare it to the sams and see if there any circuit mods for the later production runs.

Nice find! You have to love the primitive look of the 630's and all the clone models. They're great players too. Enjoy!