Mystery Cabinet - what was inside? - Videokarma.org TV - Video

Vintv49 · #1 03-09-2015, 07:44 PM

I found this beautiful cabinet at a thrift shop. I believe it was a cabinet for a TV, but not sure if it was a color or black and white. At first, I thought it might be a radio cabinet, but it looks proportioned for a tv, with the speaker area below.

Since I haven't been able to find anything of identifying help on the cabinet, I thought maybe someone has seen this cabinet before or maybe can guess its make and the equipment that was sadly torn out of it. There is a metal screen still located on the right underside, looking into the cabinet. I did not remove anything from this cabinet - what you see is what I got when I bought it. Maybe there was a good reason, but I see too many cabinets on CL gutted and the contents either sold or discarded.
Thanks for looking.

Phil R.

Steve D. · #2 03-09-2015, 08:04 PM

Looks to small to have held a color tv from that era. Could be any of a dozen tv manufacturer's sets. No tube chart still attached inside? Nice clean cabinet.

-Steve D.

Vintv49 · #3 03-09-2015, 08:13 PM

Hi Steve D. - No, I was actually expecting some clues. The cabinet dimensions are 32" high inside dimensional height by 17 3/4" deep (front to back edge) and 271/2" wide …all inside cabinet dimensions. Right - the cabinet could have been made for any brand. Oh well. There it is, thanks for looking and giving some feedback.

earlyfilm · #4 03-10-2015, 05:38 AM

Hummmmmm...... strange.

The cabinet interior is finished.

No mounting holes for the chassis are seen.

No provision for mounting the speaker panel is seen.

Seems to have been built from solid wood rather than veneered as would have been the usual for furniture.

I would guess that this cabinet was custom built, or repurposed by a craftsman with a wood working shop, to hold either a flood-damaged TV or newly-built Kit TV.

On some of their earlier kits, Heath charged almost as much for their cabinets as they charged for the electronics.

James

Electronic M · #5 03-10-2015, 11:58 AM

It looks like it was an early 50's RCA monochrome set.

miniman82 · #6 03-10-2015, 07:24 PM

TC-166? I have the same cabinet, bought it to house the prototype set.

Vintv49 · #7 03-10-2015, 11:23 PM

EarlyFilm - this is all wood, indeed, and looks professionally done by Drexel, Baker, or other high end type cabinet maker. There are some attachment screws in the front horizontal board and two holes in the back left horizontal support board that would have provided support for the main tv. I'll detail with photos later, as it's late for me to be up right now. Thank you, I think it's RCA possibly as I found a very similar cabinet in pine on CL today, nearly identical, but with minor design differences.

Electronic M -this is where I was heading...RCA. There's some writing, that I think is the final inspector(s) marks - will take photos of that, too.

mininman82 - what is TC-166? Chassis? I apologize, I'm going to fall on my face with alphanumerics. Do you have a photo of this cabinet? If it's identical, then you can explain what TC-166 refers to (RCA chassis?). Thank you for the input and all others, I'm really pleased with the cabinet, but ...wouldn't it be nice to have the original tv in there?

miniman82 · #8 03-11-2015, 04:27 AM

Sorry, I have a TC-168 which was a B&W set.

Electronic M · #9 03-11-2015, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vintv49

EarlyFilm - this is all wood, indeed, and looks professionally done by Drexel, Baker, or other high end type cabinet maker. There are some attachment screws in the front horizontal board and two holes in the back left horizontal support board that would have provided support for the main tv. I'll detail with photos later, as it's late for me to be up right now. Thank you, I think it's RCA possibly as I found a very similar cabinet in pine on CL today, nearly identical, but with minor design differences.

Electronic M -this is where I was heading...RCA. There's some writing, that I think is the final inspector(s) marks - will take photos of that, too.

mininman82 - what is TC-166? Chassis? I apologize, I'm going to fall on my face with alphanumerics. Do you have a photo of this cabinet? If it's identical, then you can explain what TC-166 refers to (RCA chassis?). Thank you for the input and all others, I'm really pleased with the cabinet, but ...wouldn't it be nice to have the original tv in there?

In case you did not know (you seem to be new here) the chassis is the metal box inside the cabinet of a complete set that the tubes plug into. Chassis are given two numbers the Chassis number (circuit design identifier), and serial number (a set's fingerprint/production quantity tracker). Since a particular chassis was usually offered in several styles of cabinet each cabinet style was given a model #. Some sets with one or few cabinet options are easy to find service info for by searching the model number, but in most cases the chassis number is the best identifier of 'what is under the hood' so to speak.

Steve D. · #10 03-11-2015, 10:38 AM

Nick, Phil's cabinet is not the same style as yours. Although it could have contained the same chassis. Early RCA consoles have the small pilot light on the bottom, as your cabinet does. Phil's does not show where that pilot light would have been. Perhaps RCA used the same door pulls on both styles. Could you post a 2nd photo of your set w/the doors closed for comparison? This is not a given. But would be interesting to see. And finally, RCA tried to use matching wood on both doors on their full door consoles. Phil's cabinet doors don't come close to matching.

-Steve D.

Vintv49 · #11 03-11-2015, 03:12 PM

Miniman 82 - beautiful tv and cabinet, which is different.

Electronic M- thank you. I do own a few TV's and vintage stereo consoles and have noted their model numbers and amp id's (circuit design identifiers as you explained). So, I'm not unfamiliar at all with that, but I haven't been involved in TV's before, till just a couple years ago when I picked up a couple portables - RCA and Zenith. I didn't recognize the nomenclature/id'ing as the TC-XXX represents. So thanks for the orientation, and there's plenty I don't know, though I have been messing around with electronics in some degree since age 13. I'm here for what I can do, not what I can't do , and to cheer others hobby interests, enjoy the preservations and hopefully learn what I can - who knows I might even fix something. :-)

SteveD - right, I have no pilot light on my cabinet, though my RCA SCH-2 does have one in a winged emblem. Good point. I know this is tough to guess, but I put more photos up on Flickr here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/413857...7651305773325/

I don't think it'll help, but there's a cabinet maker stamp. Oh well, thank you all for giving it a shot, guessing. Maybe someone will come along and say, "HEY!" and shed light on the mystery, by having a photo of the cabinet with the actual tv (or radio?) in it.

miniman82 · #12 03-11-2015, 03:16 PM

I can't find the thread with more pictures, but I remember it was similar looking from the outside- that's why it tripped my memory.