Sears TV

[Eric H]

I'm still puzzled about a Sears Color set I had briefly in the 70's

I could swear it was a round tube but not a 21"
It was a tabletop model, it seemed rather primitive even then, 1950's? Maybe early 60's.

Anyone know where someone could research old Sears catalogs short of buying them off eBay?

Eric

[Steve D.]

Eric,
The only model that comes to mind was a rectangular tube Sears set. It was a Japanese built (Toshiba?) table model. It was not a Silvertone but said "Sears Color" on the front. I had two of these beasts. I think it was a 15" or 17" set and rather heavy and bulky looking. I believe it also came in a funny looking consolette floor model. It might have been a mid-late 60's set and I recall it seemed somewhat obsolete in style and design when it was new. I think there was a thread on it a while back.

[bgadow]

I used to have a Sears-branded (not Silvertone, I guess they reserved that for the "good stuff") bw tv, about 9 or 10", from very early in the 60s. It was built by Toshiba, if I recall. I read somewhere years ago that Sears was the first American firm to sell an imported set & I believe that might have been the model. Like the color set that was described, it was "old fashioned" looking, even for the early 60s, with a screen that was much more rounded than any domestic sets from that time.

[veg-o-matic]

Eric:
Is this the TV you're looking for? Got this pic from a Sears Christmas catalog '66-'68 somewhere (it's at home and I'm at work.) I've been looking for one of these for a while now.
Bob

[Steve D.]

Bob,
I'm not sure if that's the set Eric had in mind. but it is sure the one I was referring to. As I said I also remember an eariler version that was a console with the speaker on the bottom. It looke pretty silly next to all those huge 21" Silvertone roundies.
Thanks,
Steve

[Eric H]

This was not an import.
I had one of those mid 60's japanese sets a while back but threw it out. It was plain and boring and the CRT was bad. I have a picture somewhere I will post later.

I seem to remember this set had a safety glass over the screen and a "Color" logo on the front. I think the convergence coils were in red/green/blue plastic holders.

It was deeper than it was wide, seem to recall a large neck tube but I can't be sure. Seems like it would have been a 14"-17" screen.

[Steve D.]

Eric,
I'm pretty sure Sears did not sell a round tube color set other then the original 15" in 1954 and their various 21" roundies. A
lot of those 21" color table model sets were deeper then wide. Or you maybe recalling a 14"-17" rectangular tubed set from the late 60's. They sold so many different models it might be tough to locate yours
Steve

[Eric H]

Here's a picture of the one I had a couple years ago. I got tired of stubbing my toes on it and tossed it out.

The set I am asking about looked much older than this, like a 50's set as I recall.

What if I had an early 19" model? that's too hard to think about without making myself sick

[Steve D.]

Eric,
The two Sears Color sets I had looked similar to your picture. Mine were a dark wood cabinet without the handle. Like the one pictured in Bob's Sears ad in the above reply. If you had a 19" Sears it would have been a rectangular set. Sears never sold a 19" round tube color tv. Hope that makes you feel better about tossing it.
Steve

[Jeffhs]

Eric,

I had a Sears Silvertone 21" color roundie (RCA CTC12 chassis, I think) in the early '70s. Metal cabinet, weighed a ton. Had to get rid of it in '73 when the video output tube socket broke out of the signal circuit board; tried to replace the tube (6AW8) one day and pushed just a bit too hard on the socket. Was rewarded with a sickening crunch as the socket (with the tube in it, if memory serves) fell to the bottom of the cabinet.

Never did get it working exactly right while it was operational, though; the convergence was always way off, and I was trying to adjust it by eye, without a generator, but I was just starting out in color TV at the time and didn't know that much about what equipment was needed to reset convergence, etc. Believe me, when I bought my first new color set (Zenith) in 1979, and every TV I've had since then (including my 1995 Zenith 19" in my bedroom, and my 1999 RCA XL-100 19" in the living room of my apartment), I kept my hands out of the insides of them!

[Eric H]

One thought I just had.
I could be wrong about the brand!
I only had it for a week or two, it never worked, and I don't recall what happened to it except it probably went back to the scrap yard it came from.

[Chad Hauris]

I have had sockets disintegrate on the circuit board because of heat, holes in the pc board too...just solder bare copper wire to a new socket and run the wires down each of the original PC traces to the next connection point. Have done it with great success.