Dos ANYONE here feel that our old "goodies" were REALLY meant to last 40-80 years??

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by Adam

As far as build quality, I think anybody ever topped what you see in the old Tektronix 500 series o-scopes.

That and the Bell Telephone System central office equipment.

[Sandy G]

I guess I became an "Equipment Snot" from an early age. My dad drove Mercedes-This was LONG before they became the rather overpriced status symbols they are today. They REALLY WERE made better than almost anything els on the road. Also, the printing plant my family owned used a good deal of German & Swiss equipment. The Swiss stuff was maybe even better than the German stuff, which was pretty much TOTL. Where we fell down was not maintaining it to Swiss/German standards- Their factories apparently REALLY DO look like you could eat off the floor. Or at least they did back in the Sixties.

[Telecolor 3007]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

I guess I became an "Equipment Snot" from an early age. My dad drove Mercedes-This was LONG before they became the rather overpriced status symbols they are today. They REALLY WERE made better than almost anything els on the road. Also, the printing plant my family owned used a good deal of German & Swiss equipment. The Swiss stuff was maybe even better than the German stuff, which was pretty much TOTL. Where we fell down was not maintaining it to Swiss/German standards- Their factories apparently REALLY DO look like you could eat off the floor. Or at least they did back in the Sixties.

Well, I never had any experience with Swiss Made electronics, but in Romania we imported second-hand Swiss Made trams (streetcars), trolleybuses and buses (both urban and coach). Never ride a Swiss bus (except of the ones that where converted in Bucharest into trolleybuses and I ride them only as trolleybuses), but I ryde streetcars and trolleybuses. Man, they where jewels. In city of Sibiu (Hermannstadt) until last year they used some 1951-1952 Swiss Made streetcars bought in 1995. I ride one in 1997. Awsome machines. No they aren't in service any more - except for some touristic porpouses; some people with automobiles are making inleagal competion to the streetcar - they are taking people for money from Sibiu to Răşinari (Răshinari) village and they aren't paying any tax for the services they provide (they have no autorization to do so). The Sibiu - Răşinari line is the only streetcar line remained in Sibiu. Streetcars like that are used in Iaşi (Jassy), but they are newer and are slight different from the ones from Sibiu (the ones from Sibiu where bought from Geneve, the one from Iaşi are from Bern).
In a city not very big (county administrative center b.t.w.), but with more civilized people then in other places they bought in 1990 3 Swiss buses manufactured in 1965; after riding in Switzerland for 25 years (they where give proper care there) they ride in Romania for 19 more years! Unfourtenley, I never ride one of those buses.
B.t.w., in the '50's the Swiss body manufacturers arleady used aluminium!

I don't know if the old tv sets where made to last 40 yrs, but they where made to last unleass 20 yrs. Back then the cosnumerism mania wasn't so the big. They say that you need consumerism to get the industry to work. In the past people used they stuff for a longer period of time (maybe except for the cars) and the society wasn't banckrupt. And they say that some newer products are consuming less energy. But what about the energy conusmed to manufactured them. What about the enormus cantity of waste, that isn't always recycled as the say?
But I think the radios where made to last. I have an 1972-1975 "Sony" ICF 111 radio that I don't think that it was ever repayred. Except for the F.M. - M.W. - L.W. comuter, that sometimes dosen't work fine is very good. I replaced the capacitors to my 1966 East-German radio (I use it only as an amplifier) and it's working fine. Even some old Made in Romania radios (whic wheren't soo god) are still working.
That's why I don't like new products. Except for I.T. stuff and maybe digital camera I don't need to replace my apparats every few years. I use 2 mobile (cellular) phones manufactured some 5-6 yrs ago.

[Sandy G]

Yeah, I had one of them Jap AA5s-Or was it an AA4. Don't remember. I do remember it was lemon yellow & creme-colored plastic, the chassis was that weird "multicolored" anodized finish, & it only picked up the little local daytimer. Don't remember the brand, I think they used a BUNCH of different names, but were prolly all made in the same place. Wish I had it back.

[radiotvnut]

I've got 3 of those Japanese AA5 tube radios from the early-to-mid '60's. One is white, the other is Grey and both have the "Tempest" badge. The third one is Pink and has the "Juliette" badge. Over the years, I've ran across them under many other brands and many colors. The insides are basically the same from one model to the next. Mine work and will pull in the local stations; but, they don't sound that great.

I once knew an older man who had a radio/TV shop up until the early '70's. He told me that in the late '60's, one of the local discount stores had a truckload of these radios that they wanted to unload because the new solid state sets had taken over and they wanted these old cheapie tube radios gone. My friend bought them for around $2/each and he never plugged the first one in. Instead, he pulled the tubes (usual AA5 miniature tube line-up) and tossed the rest of the radio. The whole purpose for him buying those radios was to get the tubes because he could get the tubes cheaper than he could if he bought them from the parts house.

[AUdubon5425]

To this day I use a 40+ year-old Lloyd's AM clock radio - no service needed yet. Solid state set from around 1970, Telechron clock and radio chassis that belongs in a pocket set. Probably $20 new if that much.

On the other hand, I have a cheapo Chinese AM/FM digital clock radio I bought for $10-15 in 2006. Started having trouble with the time set buttons last month. The radio is total crap and it's just a backup alarm in case the Lloyd's decided to retire.

[zenithfan1]

I was completely amazed last night by an RCA CTC-4 "The Director 21". I've had this set for a while now and have powered it up once, I was greeted with a nice bright full raster. I tried it again last night even though I know I shouldn't trust those old caps, and after a slow start it came up with no popping smoking or arcing....yay! I hooked up my NTSC generator and was greeted with well........a white screen. After another close look, an I.F tube was a little out of the socket and was not lit, pushed it in and BAM! I had color bars on the screen, acceptable convergence, purity, sound, brightness, tint range ect!!!!! This set is UN-restored and looks to have been never serviced. It was built in late 1955 and still works today on all of it's original parts. Now THAT is quality!!!! It proves that if stored properly for a sets entire life, as this one never left the spot in which it was installed new until I bought it, they can almost last forever! I went through and touched up everything and the picture looks really nice now, I watched it for about 6 hours. Anime looks great on this thing, I'll have to post some screen shots from Sekirei and Girls Bravo!

[Chad Hauris]

I don't want to sound like I'm beating a dead horse but I would still be careful with anything with old electrolytics. In the past I have had several pieces of equipment from the 60's (Harman-Kardon A300 amp and RCA CTC-16) which worked fine with all of their old caps when first tested but after anywhere from several days to several years worth of use, the old electrolytics shorted out. This can be disastrous if there is no fuse in the power line.
The A-300 got all new caps and diodes and has worked with no trouble at all now. The CTC-16 still needs to get its replaced (haven't used it since the problem occured.)

[JCFitz]

Originally Posted by Chad Hauris

I don't want to sound like I'm beating a dead horse but I would still be careful with anything with old electrolytics. In the past I have had several pieces of equipment from the 60's (Harman-Kardon A300 amp and RCA CTC-16) which worked fine with all of their old caps when first tested but after anywhere from several days to several years worth of use, the old electrolytics shorted out. This can be disastrous if there is no fuse in the power line.
The A-300 got all new caps and diodes and has worked with no trouble at all now. The CTC-16 still needs to get its replaced (haven't used it since the problem occured.)

Definitely! My 1951 RCA got away with 2 turn ons with old caps. 1 by the previous owner and 1 by me at his house. The 3rd turn on at my house when I was attempting to run a signal through it one of the main filters made a pop and sizzled and the raster disappeared. Have not attempted anything since and I'm hoping nothing except the filter fried when the raster disappeared. Also sprayed some nasty electrolyte on the chassis which I cleaned up immediately. That filter was red hot after I unplugged the set.

[Sandy G]

Excellent advice, Chad. Makes me kinda wince when I read stories like that, just as it does when I read of some guy who's running the OEM tires on his 1950 Ford...Its not a question of "If" the old caps are gonna check out, its a question of "When"...

[DaveWM]

always a good idea to fuse the B+, even if there is a circuit breaker. I like to install a inline fuse holder, then just meter the current with a analog meter. Monitor the current on start up and select a fuse that is maybe 50% over the max current, or closer if you are the worry type (like me). I would rather lose a fuse now and then than risk a power transformer. I do this regardless of new or old filter caps, frankly I dont really trust new ones much more than old ones. and while on the subject of old equipment a bucking transformer seems like good insurance on really hard to replace stuff. That is something I have been meaning to look into.

[Chad Hauris]

I used a voltage-bucking transformer on my Harman-Kardon A300 with great success. This amp runs the tubes pretty close to the max voltages and I was also having a problem with output tubes arcing due to high line voltage (and therefore high B+ voltage). I used an old power transformer from an XL-100 color TV and was able to find a winding that would buck the AC line about 6 volts down.

I have seen some really bad damage done by the lack of fuses in some equipment, particularly Hammond organs. Yes, even new capacitors or tubes could short out although a lot less likely than old electrolytics, so I always put fuses in when I repair something. I have seen burned up wiring and power transformers and 5U4 tubes where the glass melted due to a short. The 15-20 amps available from an AC wall outlet can do a lot of damage when a component inside an un-fused unit shorts and the house circuit breaker will not blow.

[zenithfan1]

I know all that stuff I put a fuse in line with the B+ and in the line cord, as I was using a cheater. I don't plan on using it regularly either I plan to recap it ASAP now that I know it works so well!! I just wanted to share that it works after 55+years.

[DaveWM]

That is amazing, I know I leave filter caps alone on 60's era (if they test well). It would be interesting to see how those filter test for leakage and power factor with an old school cap tester.

[stromberg6]

Just sent my daughter a re-tube kit and some contact cleaner for her HH Scott Type 130 pre-amp, which was built in 1958. I asked her when she was much younger if she wanted a brand new stereo, and she said "no dad, I want a tube system like yours", so I whipped up a Stereo 70, the Scott, and a pair of Bose bookshelf speakers. The tuner, cassette deck, and CD player are "modern". The thing sounds great no matter what is played through it, and that's the goal, after all...
Kevin