Just found this great RCA combo today at a thrift store, the found out that it was already on here as an Ebay auction...lucky find I guess. Seems to be a really early solid state set. Everything on this set works, picture is acceptable although I think it could use a good tune up as convergence seems a little off and some having some contrast/brightness woes. But powered it up and everything worked including the turntable so I was quite pleased and I only gave 25 bucks for it. If anyone can give me some idea of the vintage of this set and/or the model number that would be even better as the tags on the back of it are gone. Also missing is the cover for the rear of the tube (just the plastic piece) so if anyone has an extra laying around I'd be interested in it. Love to find some spare parts for the turntable as well.

I'm not so sure the TV chassis is solid state since the power consumption is 360 watts. Pull the back off and look for a CTC-something stanped on the chassis. The tube chassis of that period were the CTC38 and CTC39 series. The solid state chassis were the CTC40, CTC44, and CTC46. The 38 chassis was around from '68 until about '70. The '39 was around from around '70 until '74. The solid state 40 would be between '68 and '70. The 44 would be around '70 or '71. The modular 46 chassis would be around '72 or '73. Starting in '69, RCA sets had the RCA block logo plastered on them. Prior to '69, they had "RCA Victor" on them. I have a late "RCA Victor" with a CTC38 chassis with date codes from early '69.

i remember that set. kent ohio?great find. like oldtvguy says,its a ctc 38-39. it is on the chassis written with red dye stamp. if crt is soft,i little juice will bring it right back to life. those rca rectangluars were good and heavy and can take a jolt or two. post pictures in operation.

I have one almost like that with a slightly different cabinet style. The tv part is tube and the stereo is solid state Mine was a trash find a couple of years ago. I plan to work on it this spring. Someone robbed the 6x9 speakers out of it. Would anyone have a couple they would sell?
John

Looked inside the cabinet and the chassis is a CTC40. Is there anyone in the akron/cleveland area that is good at setting up old tv's or working on them. Have some minor color issues, crt seems strong but everything is kinda washed out.

There's a few members out in the OH area that might help you out. Dunno if they are color guys though.

does this crt have a safety glass? if so,those sets never really looked good. always slightly out of focus.cranking up the sharpness or peak picture only made it worse .could be rca s low budget set. set up is very easy to do. make sure purity is good and check for focus range. good luck on this great find!!

i have my mom,s console stereo from about 71,72 it has the same turntable and radio as yours the sound is great on it. does the fm work properly on yours mine has one side that has static on it. steve

Everything on this set works great except the turntable doesn't function the way it should.....could use a new cartridge as well so if anyone has a turntable sitting around for this one I'd be interested in it. Sound quality is quite good. Even when watching tv the sound is full and very BIG. I'd like to make this my daily watcher but I'll have to have someone go thru it and set it up properly, white balance is off and if you crank up the brightness or contrast too much the whites bleed quite badly and I lose alot of color. Reds seem to be hot as well while other colors are slightly washed.

sounds like a soft crt."fires up"!color bleeds over the image itself. you can turn burn down the drives and adjust screens to try and compensate. picture won t be as bright with the reduced contrast,but could be very good to watch. rca made a good crt, except the low budget one. i ve had new tubes that fired up. pics in operation?

Is there anyway a "soft" crt can be rejuvenated? I'll take pics soon as I get my digital camera up and runnin. How hard is it to adjust the covergence and the pincushin on these?

convergence and pinamp are very easy on these sets. as for crt,you will need a picture tube tester. we all have had luck with increasing heater voltage to 8 volts and letting it cook for awhile.if you have to hit it ,do it gently! i have seen many tubes ruined by too much. i ve done it myself.

The only CTC-40 I've have produced a good picture. Keep in mind that this set won't be as bright as a modern set. Most modern TVs have the contrast set to maximum by default. If you try to make it produce a picture this bright it will show problems.

Is there anyway a "soft" crt can be rejuvenated? I'll take pics soon as I get my digital camera up and runnin. How hard is it to adjust the covergence and the pincushin on these?

I've rejuvenated these old tubes with good results; but, not with an old style tester. Any B&K model 467 or newer will be suitable. The older testers (like the B&K 465) have a very crude rejuvenate function and will probably do more harm than good. My first crt tester was a 465 and I ruined more color tubes that I helped. I have a B&K 480 from the '90's and it's much better.

Another bad thing with a CTC40 is that they have instant on and thats probably why your crt may be tired. The instant on feature keeps the filiments lit even when the tv is turned off. This was done so the picture would come on quicker when powered on. theres no switch to turn that function off as on other sets but someone here might be able to tell you how to disable this feature. You might luck out and the crt may have been replaced sometime in yours but if it is original and put through heavy use the crt may be shot. The best results i've gotten with reactivation of crt's was with a beltron tester/cleaner/reactivator. Easy on the tube and longer lasting results. The positive side to this is that there are suitable replacements available and reasonable. I got a NOS crt for mine on an auction site for $85 with shipping included. There might be a member here that can help you out also. I have the same model but in a french provincial cabinet. Mine worked well for awhile until something went wrong in the deguassing circuit and took out the b+ boost circuit with it. A fellow member offered me another tv chassis for mine but never came through so i'll probably parts mine out now as i persued that avenue for over a year. I have a good changer in mine. Actually the whole stereo portion works well and only needs the controls cleaned. Mine has the deluxe version of the stereo unit and turntable in it. It has those oddball giant oval woofers in it also. Need parts?
Good Luck,
Tony

I didn't know this set had "instant on" feature as I used my cable box to feed it and control the power with the outlet on the back of the box. Hopefully that'll help out in the future with the set once i get it runnin at its best. Plus I just don't trust leaving this old of a set powered up 24/7, makes me nervous.

As far as parts, YES I need a turntable and the crossovers as my left crossover is kinda fried. Doesn't let low frequecies through. Mine also has the strange oval speakers as well. Have never seen these in a set before, but still love the sound this console produces. Let me know how much u want for that table.

I'm actually carting this console off to a guy who used to repair these sets when there were new and I am gonna have him do the work on the crt as it appears it needs hit with some voltage to bring it back. He is confidant that he can get it back to where it is supposed to be.. and honestly it just looks like the red gun might be a little weak as the green and blue are quite a bit stronger. I'll keep ya guys posted on its progress.

Tony, sorry to hear things haven't worked out on that -40. Seems like someone here would come through with a good chassis?

The turntable probably just needs a cleaning and lube. 40 year old oil and grease don't work very well! Any turntable that age will need some work. As long as it's in good condition, I would repair it rather than trying to find a replacement. You'll regret it is you don't keep it original.

A crossover is a VERY simple circuit which should be easy to repair. It's just a few caps, and maybe some resistors and inductors. If there's no low frequency, then it's either a bad woofer, or a problem with the amplifier.

The turntable probably just needs a cleaning and lube. 40 year old oil and grease don't work very well! Any turntable that age will need some work. As long as it's in good condition, I would repair it rather than trying to find a replacement. You'll regret it is you don't keep it original.

I agree-- it shouldn't be too difficult to repair the record changer; 98% of the time all old record changers need is cleaning/re-lube, a new idler wheel, and maybe new motor mount grommets. Also be sure to replace the stylus; you'll be glad you did. I wouldn't replace the original cartridge unless you're certain that the cartridge really is bad; some of these changers have non-standard cartridge mounts that make it tough to install a different cartridge. (besides, there aren't very many choices out there for new ceramic phono carts anyway)

As Andy says, I wouldn't replace the whole changer unit; not only would it be far nicer to keep the thing all-original, but-- unlike most other manufacturers, RCA made their own record changers, so it's likely that another make of changer (such as a V-M or BSR) won't fit correctly in the cabinet without rework anyway.

Good luck with your restoration-- Neat combo unit!

The cart in this turntable is quite different than any other ceramic cart I've ever seen. Its a high gain cart and can be fed directly into any aux input eliminating the need for a phono stage. I haven't looked at in yet in detail but it seems that the mount for the cart inside the tonearm is broke as it will not hold it in. If I did decide to replace this table it would have to be exactly the same model as its original. But if I can get this one goin I'll keep it as it seems the idlers are in great shape in it, I was surprised. Turntable has a really good sound as well. Very clean with good lows and smooth mids and highs. Not audiophile quality but definitely up there for its time.

Right now the set is in a cool old shop in a tiny town near here getting its TV gone over just to set purity, convergence, grayscale etc. Soon as I get it back I'm gonna tackle the turntable issue myself.

Also what are your opinions on refinishing these old tv's. this one has some heavy duty wear on the top and sides and I am thinking of refinishing it as it will be a piece of furniture on display in my living room. I know some guys don't wanna alter its original finish.

i refinish all of my pieces as i want them to suit me. dont care too much for the value of an original finish,etc. the ones i refinish are keepers. working on a rca ctc-15 remore set at the moment and the cabinet is too good to mess with. just some wax and that is it. my combo;(ctc 15 ,busted crt) will get the full works when i find a crt.i try to save as much as i can,but if it is something to go in my collection-it gets the treatment.

Beautiful Combo.
The cartridge is hinged at the back and held in place by
a small white clip at the front, I believe RCA called this clip a pressure limiter. It has a tiny felt pad that rides on the record
This was called floating feather action. Look around under the
TT, the clip falls off easily when the unit is moved.
The RCa changer is easy to service, clean and lube motor,
replace motor mounts and clean and lube the cycling slides
and idler wheel.

P.S
On some models the plastic pressure limiter clip is black instead'of white.

you know the turntable needle was warranted for ten full years. the one in my mom,s rca is by now worn out but it is the original and it was used a lot.
steve

OK, finally got the combo back from the shop and it looks fantastic. I couldn't ask for a better picture. color is amazing, picture is sharp and clear and having a plasma as my main tv I forgot how great these older sets can look. Been watching it for a couple days now and I think I prefer watching it daily as opposed to the plasma I have, aside from the HD broadcasts of course.

Only thing I'm missing is the pressure clip from the front of the cartridge. ONce I find that and throw in a new stylus for good measure, I'll be all set.

The color reproduction and the contrast on this tube is near perfect in my opinion. I'll take pictures this week and post them so you guys can see how it turned out.

glad to hear!!! cant wait to see pictures in operation.

I have an extra pressure limiter clip somewhere, it is yours when I find it.

great....let me know I need it as the cartridge wont stay put!

Also looking for a relacement crt just in case.....

Mark,
I found the pressure limiter and sent you a PM.