Vintage Conrac Color Broadcast Monitor and Tuner

[dtuomi]

The station I work for still uses 3/4" to originate the night time informercials. Don't let anyone tell you no one uses 3/4 anymore.

The studio where I work actually still has some Conrac B&W studio monitors. They're later solid state versions, but not much different from their earlier tube gear. Ours are from the 70's, and continued to be used long after the RCA TK630 had been replaced by Sony M7 (currently we use Sony 3000 which are about 17 years old now!).

David

[3Guncolor]

We still use 3/4 where I work too. There are at least 50 7020's still running and some recorders. We have a few 870's that are operational for sports slomo a lot less weight to lug then the BVH2000. We still don't have any betacam with DT. We have a lot of stuff over 20 years old in service.

Steve

It's really bad when you have gear that is older than many of the producers. :-)

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by dtuomi

Conrac B&W studio monitors. They're later solid state versions, but not much different from their earlier tube gear.

David

Back around 1979 I worked for some small rat hole of a company that made "cameras" that took video input and made hard copy film images on Xray film. "Matrix Instruments". The image on the CRT would pass thru an optical lens to get projected onto the Xray film. Was an accessary for hospital CAT scanners. Anyway, we used Conrac "QQA" multisync monitors with a different CRT (a 5 inch flat face one) inside these "cameras". Normal mode was 525i, and there was also 525p.

When I was browsing around the net looking for information about this Conrac model, I came across a webpage that listed superfund cleanup sites. Guess what company was listed in Olinda CA? Their monitors were considered the best professional equipment on the market so they must have sold a large number of them.

[Chad Hauris]

I have some of the b/w 17" Conrac tube type monitors which should end up being good performers...they have a 17" crt which seems to be flat screen or cylindrical and even feature regulated HV with a 6BK4 and a regulated power supply with a 6080. They are full of those awful black beauty caps so they don't work well at all and will need a recap.

Does the Conrac color monitor you have have front panel convergence adjustments? I have an Ikegami delta gun color monitor which has all the convergence adjustments on the front panel plus the static convergence magnets are electromagnets to allow front panel electric control of static convergence.

Chad, Yes it does. It can make coffee too. Seriously, both upper and lower panels are lockable and it was taken very seriously that no one mess with those controls. I have been trying to remember whether is has a bar generator or not. It has a "set up" switch that may do this. It's been a long time since I set it up.

We had dozens and dozens of the b/w monitors with the light blue cases on shelves that we used as the source monitors, but not 17". We also had a balky ac unit so sometimes sub would get way too hot in the summer. My job was to shut down 20-25 monitors and just keep the essential ones on so we could cool the room down. They did work fine except when one would start smokin'. Stinky.