I have no affiliation
Someone please save this, I have no room.
Very old color TV on Toledo Craigslist
Looks like a CTC 5 in relatively good condition $250 OBO
This is listed in the electronics category titled very old TV 3/15

It's the Aldrich 21CS7815. It's about 2hrs from me so I'm trying for it.

John

:thmbsp:

hope you get it!!

Me too!

John...Save that set! If that's the original optional stand, it's a rare find. Here's the link: RCA Victor vintage television (old TV)
Address:http://toledo.craigslist.org/ele/1646113145.html Changed:1:35 AM on Tuesday, March 16, 2010

It looks like it still has a 21AXP22 as well, and since they say it powers up, it might be a good one. Good luck!

Good luck John :thmbsp: That's a nice lookin set.

Has'n fras'n dirty ras'n...They're NEVER down here...Seriously, hope you get it, & we get to see pics of the Glorious Lollipop Color is due time...(grin)

Nice set...Hope you get it !:yes:
Indeed, that blueish color of the crt face makes me think that it could be a 21AXP22!
Best of luck,
jr

If you decide not to go for this...let me know, I will probably give it a shot. It is a few hours from me. I do have my westcott, with what appears to be a fine tube, but another 5 would be fine. I will NOT interfere, if you do want it though.

If you decide not to go for this...let me know, I will probably give it a shot. It is a few hours from me. I do have my westcott, with what appears to be a fine tube, but another 5 would be fine. I will NOT interfere, if you do want it though.

Currently I plan on getting it. If I change my mind I will definately let you know. This looks a lot like the one that my OIC in the Air Force gave me after I made a number of repairs for him and he decided he wanted a newer set. My situation didn't let me keep it once I left the AF and went to school.

John

It looks like it still has a 21AXP22 as well, and since they say it powers up, it might be a good one. Good luck!

Would have to be 21AXP22A ?

Are you still looking for a Sansui G-9000 ? PM me for details

Yes, I forgot to put on the "A" :) I'll PM you sometime today:D

Was this a prank?

The CL poster never replied to my E-Mail, and I notice the CL link itself has been edited out of the original post.

Oh man, DON'T tell me that!! Not ANOTHER "fake" listing!! I was hoping you would get this, as we agreed to. Well..check again, maybe it will "get put back", sometimes a post will disappear and come back again.

Oh man, DON'T tell me that!! Not ANOTHER "fake" listing!! I was hoping you would get this, as we agreed to. Well..check again, maybe it will "get put back", sometimes a post will disappear and come back again.

It's not a fake listing. The CL lister replied to me right away and I have plans to pick it up at the end of this coming week.

John

I picked up the CTC5 today. The seller asked me what I was going to do with it. He hoped I wouldn't make it into an aquarium or the like. I assured him that would not happen.

I forget whether it was his father's or grandfather's, but it's been in their family until I bought it.

There's some water damage on the top. Other than that, the finish is in good condition. Guess I'll have to learn how to repair photo print finishes. There's actually nice veneer under that photo print.

There's a sticker on the base that says Universal Woodcrafters. Does that mean it's not an original RCA stand?

It seem pretty clean inside. The CRT is a 21AXP22 and it tests strong on all three guns, good balance, and good tracking.

One convergence coil has me a little worried. There's a something that looks like a solder splash where the wire goes to the coil. Sorry for the bad focus, I should have done it manually. There's also about 1/32" of wax between the coil and what appears to be solder. None of the other coils have this much wax on them. It looks easy enough to wind one if necessary.

Anyway, I'm really happy about the CRT. It seems like it hasn't been used much. The life test on the Super Mack doesn't work the same as other testers. It reduces the filament voltage by a certain percentage. If you see the emission drop below good, then you might not have much life left. The emission didn't waver.

He had hoped to have a neighbor help him carry it out of the basement since he knew I wasn't supposed to lift more than 20 pounds after the cataract surgery. The neighbor was out of town so fortunately, this is the day that I was allowed to exercise again. Carrying 175 pounds up a narrow set of stairs was more difficult than I thought.

It has the back and it's in good shape. I was surprised to see an ion trap, but this is the first CTC-5 I've seen up close.

I believe this is the Aldrich, but it says Special on the front.

John

BRAVO!!! :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:
Looks great ! can't believe how good the CRT is ! I Think the "ion trap" is really the blue lateral adjustment. :scratch2:

jr

Hi John;

Glad you finally managed to pick up the set. It looks to be in great shape and having a crt that strong, especially an 21AXP22, is a great big plus.

There've been some disparaging remarks made about "The Super Series" CTC 5 Chassis (your Aldrich is one of them), but I have one myself and I think the color reproduction is quite good. There are some quirkie things about it that make the initial set up a real challenge, but even at that it was quite an interesting experience. I think you'll be challenged and educated at the same time.

My set also came with what I assume is the factory base, but it looks different than what your set is sitting on. I'm sure some of the experts here can tell you what it's all about.

Good luck with your new acquisition.
Bob

BRAVO!!! :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:
Looks great ! can't believe how good the CRT is ! I Think the "ion trap" is really the blue lateral adjustment. :scratch2:

jr

Duh, I knew that! :withstpd: I started thinking about what I said and hoped to edit it out before anyone noticed. The only other roundie color set that I've worked on had a different setup for the lateral magnet. I guess I was tired from the trip and carrying the set twice.

John

Hi John;

...
There've been some disparaging remarks made about "The Super Series" CTC 5 Chassis (your Aldrich is one of them), but I have one myself and I think the color reproduction is quite good. There are some quirkie things about it that make the initial set up a real challenge, but even at that it was quite an interesting experience. I think you'll be challenged and educated at the same time.
...
Good luck with your new acquisition.
Bob

I'm sure I'll learn alot from it. I'm moving this set to the head of the queue and will work on it after I finish the cabinet for the Sylvania. That could mean this fall the way things are going.

John

John,

The "Special" series was the price leader CTC-5.
It used the "Super" series chassis. Aldrich was the name of the model. The difference between the Special and Super is there is no black in the mask around the pix. tube. Your set has an aftermarket stand. The original RCA Victor stand is as pictured in Bob's post has a grill cloth. My first color set was also the Aldrich model. It produced a beautiful color picture. I wouldn't fuss to much with trying to refinish the cabinet. It has, except for the front panel, fiberboard under that photo finish. RCA also produced the CTC-5 "Deluxe" series with a more complex chassis, but that's another story.

-Steve D.

Wow, nice set.

Phil

Way to Go John!

Glad to see that the 21AX is very good. You're going to have a lot of fun with that set. It will get you hooked on early color. Then you will get the craving for an early 15" color set and you will get the 15G disease like me and John. Good thing you have high vacuum equipment. I can see you using it in the not too distant future. :yes::D:banana:

Way to Go John!

Glad to see that the 21AX is very good. You're going to have a lot of fun with that set. It will get you hooked on early color. Then you will get the craving for an early 15" color set and you will get the 15G disease like me and John. Good thing you have high vacuum equipment. I can see you using it in the not too distant future. :yes::D:banana:

I barely have room for this set. Being on an open stand is a big plus for where I have it.

Although they say "never say never," I think I'll leave the CTC-100s to the experts. Now if I ran across a Westinghouse H-840CK15 or an Arvin 15-550KB-UHF that I could afford, I might change my mind...

John

John,
I just dug out a slightly damaged approx 90 page RCA booklet on the CTC 5 sets... Yours free if you want it, drop me a PM.

The damage is strange, it looks as if it was burned on on one corner, and the damaged area was cut off... as you can see no info is lost, it just looks sorta ugly :tears:

jr

John,

The "Special" series was the price leader CTC-5.
It used the "Super" series chassis. Aldrich was the name of the model. The difference between the Special and Super is there is no black in the mask around the pix. tube. Your set has an aftermarket stand. The original RCA Victor stand is as pictured in Bob's post has a grill cloth. My first color set was also the Aldrich model. It produced a beautiful color picture. I wouldn't fuss to much with trying to refinish the cabinet. It has, except for the front panel, fiberboard under that photo finish. RCA also produced the CTC-5 "Deluxe" series with a more complex chassis, but that's another story.

-Steve D.

Thanks for the advice. I might leave the finish alone. But, there doesn't appear to be fiberboard anywhere on this set. I've attached a photo of the damage on the top and to me it looks like birch plywood underneath the finish.

John

I'm glad you got it John. I've seen some amazing restorations of photo finishes on radios so it certainly can be done. I think it mainly takes practice and patience.

Good luck!

John,
I just dug out a slightly damaged approx 90 page RCA booklet on the CTC 5 sets... Yours free if you want it, drop me a PM.

jr

Any chance someone here could scan it and make it available to all? Same for any other very early factory service literature. Sure beats relying solely on the Photofacts and Riders information.



.

Any chance someone here could scan it and make it available to all? Same for any other very early factory service literature. Sure beats relying solely on the Photofacts and Riders information.



.

It's already on its way to me. I'll scan it after I receive it.

John

The Aldrich has a permanent magnet for the blue lateral adjust. The SAMS shows that some models of the CTC-5 used an electromagnet. Are there any advantages to one over the other?

I didn't notice any cigarette smells in the seller's house when I picked it up. But I had just finished a 130 mile trip in my neighbor's smokey Jeep Cherokee. The Aldrich has a really annoying cigarette smell right now, even though it looks clean. Think it picked it up from the Jeep?

It should go away in time. My Majestic 71 radio had a strong burning tar smell for months after I brought it home. That has finally disappeared.

John

Thanks for the advice. I might leave the finish alone. But, there doesn't appear to be fiberboard anywhere on this set. I've attached a photo of the damage on the top and to me it looks like birch plywood underneath the finish.

John

John,

I stand corrected on the Aldrich top being plywood under the photo finish. My Aldrich didn't have factory UHF, so I installed a UHF receiver inside the cabinet and drilled two holes in the side for the receiver knobs to protrude. I recall that at least the side panels were fiberboard or Masonite. This was many years ago. I don't drll holes in CTC-5's (or any vintage set) anymore. I do agree that you should leave the finish alone, although you probably could touch up the top a bit.

-Steve D.

John,

I stand corrected on the Aldrich top being plywood under the photo finish. My Aldrich didn't have factory UHF, so I installed a UHF receiver inside the cabinet and drilled two holes in the side for the receiver knobs to protrude. I recall that at least the side panels were fiberboard or Masonite. This was many years ago. I don't drll holes in CTC-5's (or any vintage set) anymore. I do agree that you should leave the finish alone, although you probably could touch up the top a bit.

-Steve D.

And you were right about the sides. They are Masonite.

John

It's already on its way to me. I'll scan it after I receive it.

John

Thank you!

The Aldrich has a permanent magnet for the blue lateral adjust. The SAMS shows that some models of the CTC-5 used an electromagnet. Are there any advantages to one over the other?

John

The permanent magnet is better, I think - DC into the coil can drift or the pot can go bad.

It's already on its way to me. I'll scan it after I receive it.

John

I received the guide today. It's very detailed. There are about 87 pages so it'll take me a llittle longer to scan it than I expected. I might stay after work tomorrow to do it.

John

Any chance someone here could scan it and make it available to all? Same for any other very early factory service literature. Sure beats relying solely on the Photofacts and Riders information.



.

Here is the 700 Series Setup (https://www.msu.edu/~yurkon/Documents/RCA700SeriesSetup.pdf)

I don't plan on deleting it right away, but you never now. Please save a copy rather than relying on it being here.

John

Thanks!

Normaly I'd be adverse to doing this, but since the seller said the set powers up I'm tempted to try it. Based on what others have said it sounds like RCA used pretty good electrolytics in these sets. No doubt the paper caps have to be changed.

Do you think it would be safe to try with a variac, or just wait until I recap it?

John

Why gamble? You know what you have to do to recap it. It takes a while, but then you'll be much safer.

Did the seller indicate how long ago it was powered up?

jr

Did the seller indicate how long ago it was powered up?

jr

I could email him and ask. I assume it was just before he listed it on CL. They've had it sitting around for decades and finally decided to part with it.

John

Or it could be one of those "well it was working just fine when we decided to store it in the basement.....20 years ago" stories. :no:

jr

He said that the last time he powered it up was about a year ago and that it hasn't been powered up or moved since then.

John

After a year, there is certainly some risk involved... Slow ramp up, careful observation of key items such as the 5U4s, electrolytics and monitoring B+ voltage and perhaps current, listening for hum and taking some precautions such as having the proper fire extinguisher, perhaps pulling the plate cap off the 6CB5A for the initial power up will reduce but not eliminate the risk.

On the other hand, a decent "baseline" for the set will be established. If it does indeed have a very serious problem, such as a shorted power transformer, it would be good to find that out early.

just my 2cents or less worth,
jr

Also, the power-up a year ago could have stressed parts such that another power-up now would blow things that didn't blow a year ago. You are going to re-cap it anyway, you might as well do that (at least the electrolytics, etc.) first.

Here is the 700 Series Setup (https://www.msu.edu/~yurkon/Documents/RCA700SeriesSetup.pdf)

I don't plan on deleting it right away, but you never now. Please save a copy rather than relying on it being here.

John

Very nice scans! Thank you very much.


.

I've started to test the tubes but only got about 1/3 of the way through. Until I get my reading glasses it's a bit tiring.

Besides the CRT having tested so strong, all of the tubes I've tested so far test like new, even the 6T8 of which I usually have trouble finding a strong one.

They also are all RCA with date codes in 1957. It seems like they're the original tubes. I don't think they watched this set much.

The 6BK4 seems to be the one without lead in the glass. Guess I'll make sure the cover is on the HV section when I ever get around to powering this set up.

Here's an interesting article on how to use the 6BK4 (http://www.belljar.net/xray.htm) to generate x-rays.

John

In the end I decided to follow jr_tech's advice. :thmbsp:

I removed the 6CB6 HOT and gradually brought it up on a variac monitoring the power. It was drawing 380 watts at full voltage which is about 40 watts high. Just the variac draws 10 watts so it might be closer to 370 watts.

After reinstalling the 6CB6 and hooking up my laserdisc player I had a raster and good sound! :banana: The raster is high and to the left.

When I adjust the horizontal hold and get it close to locking in it goes into something that looks like barkhausen.

The power draw was down to 340 watts during this. I don't understand why, maybe having a signal helped. I thought having the HOT tube in would make it draw more.

Although it's difficult to tell in the photo, when I looked at the bright dots caused by the closed captioning, the convergence wasn't very bad. I thought it would be a lot worse with the raster positioned like it is. With no signal I get a very uniform white screen.

It looks like a simple recap and checking for bad resistors will make this an easy restore when I get around to it.

Oh, cats... All three of mine wanted to help. This made it quite a bit more difficult.

John

Great News ! :banana::banana::banana::banana:
It looks like nothing is seriously wrong with the set ! Now the big decision... repair the problems or do a total re-cap. :scratch2:

jr

Yes! I have also noticed that cats can be great little helpers. :D

Now the big decision... repair the problems or do a total re-cap.
I'd replace the electrolytics before passing Go. You can still have fun troubleshooting, with less risk.

Phil

Sweet :thmbsp: I need to get a cat!

I agree with Phil. I had been doing slash and burn on all capacitors, but lately I'm just doing the electros. first to see how it runs. Then, going after the bad caps one by one.

I was reluctant to post this, but guess I shouldn't be.

I don't have as much experience as you guys, but my experience so far has been that:

Electrolytics, 50+ years old, that pass value, leakage and ESR after reforming and maintain those after letting rest a few day, are very reliable. I've not had a failure yet after years of use. I use my Hammarlund HQ-160 at least weekly and I've never recapped it. It's about 52 years old. I wasn't very old, 12 maybe, when it was given to me by a gentleman who was dieing of stomach cancer who knew my interest in electronics.

Paper capacitors on the other hand have nearly all been bad and I've replaced all of those in radios and the Sylvania I've worked on.

Of the micamold (real mica variety) nearly 50% have been bad. Other brands have been o.k.

Polystyrene, I've only experience with one that is from 1950 but it is good.

I had one bad silver mica in an IF transformer.

I had one bad disc ceramic. It was actually o.k. I just didnt' like using a ceramic without the coating and with 10% of the disk broken off.

When I do replace electrolytics, I've decided to use 105 C ones. I've had to replace too many 85 C ones in modern electronics.

I had originally planned on replacing all of the electrolytics in the Sylvania, but when the replacement electrolytics didn't test as well as the old ones I decided to keep them. I had ordered the electrolytics from one of the inexpensive online suppliers and I think they're the 85 C ones. I'm happy with their film caps, just not the electrolytics.

John

Nice going John! Looks like you have a winner! Great acquisition, especially with the good 21AX. Once you get hooked on color you might never go back. I am having trouble trouble getting excited about restoring the many B&W sets in my stable, now that I have so many color sets that need my attention.

So many sets, so little time! And I am retired to boot.