List of 1951 TV Brands and Models

[egrand]

Here's some more pages from the September 1950 Radio & Television Retailing magazine. This time it's a large list of TV set brands and the models they had to offer for 1951. This is not a complete list as store brands such as Silvertone and Airline aren't listed. These were apparently the brands available to independent dealers.

Maybe some of this info will be useful in reference to rare models. It only gives the list price for the sets, which was the suggested price to consumers. It would have been interesting to see what the wholesale price was to know what kind of markup each brand had. Also, 1951 was a down year for the industry, so later on dealers were probably selling them for much less than list.

[vts1134]

Does any one else have any more info on the Admiral models from this year? I'm trying to track down info on the 27K27B. I thought it was a 1951 model, but it isn't in this list. The 27K27B uses the chassis 21F1 and a 17" tube, neither of which are on the list. The 17K12 is also supposed to be a 1951 model and uses the same CRT and chassis, it is also missing from the list.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by vts1134

Does any one else have any more info on the Admiral models from this year? I'm trying to track down info on the 27K27B. I thought it was a 1951 model, but it isn't in this list. The 27K27B uses the chassis 21F1 and a 17" tube, neither of which are on the list. The 17K12 is also supposed to be a 1951 model and uses the same CRT and chassis, it is also missing from the list.

The list is rather dated. It probably shows only the early 1951 models.
By mid to later 1951, Admiral discontinued the round tube sets and the 12" and 14" models.
The set you have, replaced many of the models shown.

[bandersen]

Thanks for posting. I like how they list the number of rectifiers and IF frequency. Was that for the benefit of service techs or used as a selling point ?

Did they have 17" CRTs in 1951 ? I thought they came on the scene in '52 or '53.

[Kevin Kuehn]

They got the CRT types all wrong on the Setchell Carlson sets. Says they all used 12LP4A's. I've yet to see a schematic for a SC TV made before 1950. The 150 chassis definitely came with a 17BP4.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Bob, Doesn't the RA-113 set you're working on have a 17" CRT?

[vts1134]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

The list is rather dated. It probably shows only the early 1951 models.
By mid to later 1951, Admiral discontinued the round tube sets and the 12" and 14" models.
The set you have, replaced many of the models shown.

Unfortunately I don't have the set. I am looking for information on the set, and I am also looking for the set itself. I've only ever seen pictures in one persons collection, and he's not selling.

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by Kevin Kuehn

Bob, Doesn't the RA-113 set you're working on have a 17" CRT?

Yes, I see now on the list there are some 17AP4 and 17BP4 sets.
I guess some companies were able to use cutting edge CRTs while others had to use whatever they could get. I have some sets from 52/53 that still had the clunky 16" rectangular CRTs.

[IsthmusTV]

Interesting, that it also incorrectly lists the DuMont RA-113 as receiving "SW" in addition to FM. Now that would be a fun InpuTuner/InducTuner to see

-Clark

[Kevin Kuehn]

Yeah, there are many mistakes in there. Gotta give them credit though, would be kinda tough compiling all that info from the various manufactures.

[egrand]

Keep in mind this was the September 1950 issue, which probably came out sometime in August, and the info was probably compiled in July. They likely surveyed each of the manufacturers to get their planned production models and specs. I'm sure there's outright mistakes, but some of it could be that a maker planned to use certain parts and had to change things by the time production actually started. We'll probably never know for sure.

[DavGoodlin]

The audio output averaging 3 watts shows how good sound was pretty standard among the early 50s TVs. Magnavox made some sets with wicked sound!
Funny they did not list tuner or IF stage quantity info, that affects how well you picked up in a deep fringe area.
Admiral sets had a reputation for better tuners according to some old timers upstate.

I like how many of the survivors like Philco, RCA, Magnavox, Zenith offered a record changer, while the many others had few, if any. Lots of manufacturers in Chicago.

You could assume most of those sets had power transformers since a "portable" was a future concept.
It seemed like the late 50s there was big competition to see who could make the slimmest sets and ultimately, worst heat management and picture tubes.