I'm getting a Zenith 25CC50!

[TUD1]

I saw this on Atlanta Craigslist last night - a 1972 Zenith Chromacolor 25CC50 just like Doug found last year. My friend in Atlanta will be picking it up most likely on Thursday. Finally getting a Zenith "tin can" set!

[Electronic M]

That looks real nice!

Those were hybrid sets, right? Weren't those the last or almost the last with the 60's style metal back?

[TUD1]

Yes. 1973 was the last year for the metal back cover. My set is a 1972, and as such it is Zenith's last (or next to last) hybrid set. After this came the 25DC56 all solid state chassis, which I have in my Zenith console. Before the 25CC50, there was the 20BC50, which I also have in another console.

[Jon A.]

It's a hybrid all right, and a sweet one at that.

I re-watched a video earlier in which Doug fixes a 25DC56 with a shorted safety cap, one of the dreaded white ones. In that video he said 1973 was the last year for the metal back.

Edit: Whoops, replied too slowly.

[TUD1]

I'm celebrating getting a new Chromacolor by watching my 25DC56.

[Jon A.]

Right on, I'm watching mine right now. It's used daily. Darn thing's been starting up with no HV lately though. A few light kicks eventually brings it back.

[TUD1]

If your set is a tube Chromacolor, try using some Deoxit on the tube pins. That and cleaning the tuner and the controls are the first things I do to a set. I firmly believe that just cleaning can make a world of difference on a set's performance. In the meantime, here is a close up of the control panel on my TV. I just love the looks of this set.

[Jon A.]

No tubes, it's a 25DC56. It likely is an intermittent connection though; right now I'm running it with the back off and will tap around when the problem reappears. The tuner is dirty though.

It certainly is a nice set. As for mine, I prefer the tuner bezel on certain other Chromacolor consoles. The stock bezel comes off easily enough; I wonder if the other kind would fit.

[TUD1]

If you start poking around in there, DON'T touch the horizontal output transitor. I once got horizontally deflected almost across the room.

[Jon A.]

Oh yeah, I read about that. I'm sure I'll be horizontally deflected one of these days - I've already been bitten twice by a residual CRT charge. A full wallop is much worse I know.

I've had only one module out, the 9-57 horizontal module. The set started acting up shortly after so that's where I started tapping (with a pencil). Boom, the HV popped back in, then went again. More tapping did the same thing. I've had little success with DeOxit so those pins will need a good manual cleaning. Subbing my spare 9-57s did not improve things.

Mom took a shine to the Zenith once I set it up in the living room on a trial basis. More incentive to keep it performing well.

[sampson159]

this is the same model set that my friend had in his store.best picture i had ever saw.people came to sit and watch it.i love these zenith sets

[TUD1]

Yeah, these late 60's, early 70's Zenith's are among my favorite TV's. Built to survive a nuclear war, and one in good working order can produce a stellar picture. I'm certainly looking forward to getting this set.

[TUD1]

Good news, everybody! The Zenith 25CC50 is safe awaiting repair in Atlanta at my friend's house. It does have a couple boo-boos. The UHF must have taken a hit at some point. The gyro drive shaft is bent, and the knob hits against the plastic, and the plastic itself is broken. There is a nice big chunk missing out of it, and the UHF numbers are all visible. There are also some burnt tube sockets that will have to be replaced. It's pretty clean except for some very light rust inside.

[TUD1]

Broke plastic.

[wa2ise]

An aside: Looking at this chassis, you can see that aside from the high voltage cage, a plastic piece I see just under left of the CRT neck, and tuner, the only parts above deck are the tubes. What Zenith did was to have their assemblers (hand crafters) insert the resistors, caps and such into the cone shaped terminals. Things like IF transformer coils and trimpots had presoldered leads added to them so they could be mounted and stuffed as well. Then after all such parts were inserted, they'd take the chassis and send it thru a wave solder machine that would solder all the connections at one time. A bit like what they do for circuit boards. Then they'd add the power transformer and high voltage cage and such.