Unfortunately, neither one of them are old enough for me to keep; but, I thought I'd post them.

I got "built up" on the first one. An elderly lady called to say that she had an old Zenith TV that she wanted hauled away. She said that she'd lived in her current home for 30 years and that she had the TV before moving into her current house. Naturally, I was thinking CCII, or older; but, it turned out to be an '84 model space command TV that uses a 9-181 main board and a 9-186 sweep module. She said that the TV wouldn't turn on one morning and that's when she decided to get rid of it. When I got it home, it fired right up (I didn't test it in her home). So, I don't know if the TV has an intermittent problem or if she simply had a dead power strip. I'm going to replace some high failure capacitors and touch up some high risk solder connections before finding it a new home. It still has a decent picture and the cabinet has ben well cared for. Upon removing the back, I saw where the tape that holds the deflection yoke wedges had came loose and the wedges had fallen out.

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/zenith007.jpg

The second set came from one of my high school classmates that I had not seen since graduation. She found me on facebook and said that they had an old Zenith TV that belonged to her grandparents and wanted to know if I wanted it. Again, I'm thinking of a CCII; but, it turned out to be a 2001 model. One good thing about it is that it uses a Philips CRT instead of a dreaded Zenith tube. She said that her Mother claimed it wouldn't work; but, once again, it fired up with a decent picture.

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/zenith001.jpg

Here's a video I made of the two TV's. As you can see, the newest one has very little in the way of a chassis in it. Quite a change from the older models.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YwKFlYcYpc

I've gotten my share of calls over the past few years where someone had an "old TV" I could have. One was described as a "very old" RCA console that turned out to be a '84 Colortrak. I was hoping for a roundie. I was able to find a home for it since worked quite well, though. I always end up taking these sets though, because who knows, I may just get that Royal Soveriegn I've been looking for all these years.

Thirty years ago, I ridiculed anyone who "wasted" their money on a console TV instead of the more modern "monitor style" TV's. Now that I'm dangerously close to senior citizen status, I'd much rather have one of those Zenith consoles in my living room, than the new LCD models. At least you have a nice piece of furniture to look at when it's turned off, unlike the mass of plexiglass and black plastic of a modern flat panel TV. Even worse, the flat panels can't be easily disguised by putting them in entertainment centers or armoirs, like bpc sets could be. Plus, it's so convenient setting your VCR or DVD player on top of the console TV, where you can easily access it, rather than having to set it on a shelf under an LCD TV, where you have to get down on your belly to insert a DVD.

where you have to get down on your belly to insert a DVD.

I know what you mean. ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v395/Evilweredragon/newtvsetup.jpg

I've gotten a number of those phonecalls:
"it was our first color tv"
"we got it when the kids were little" (junior is now 44)
"bought the set from Joe Smith" (who died in '74)
"we replaced it in '76 and it's been in the basement ever since"
Every single one of them was from the 80s+. Oh, well. Some of them turn out to be winners!

My biggest problem is that I think it's still the 1990's and not 2012. Back in the '90's, I was always finding TV's that were made between the mid-'60's to mid-'70's. Back then, said TV's were 20 to 30 years old. In 2012, I'm still finding 20 to 30 year old TV's. It's just that most of today's "20 to 30 year old TV's" don't interest me that much. Most of the older stuff is not likely to be found sitting in the living room and what old TV's do remain are either in barns are storage buildings.

The second set is an lg and is probably one of the last console"cabinet"sets ever made.So it is a piece of history!

My biggest problem is that I think it's still the 1990's and not 2012. Back in the '90's, I was always finding TV's that were made between the mid-'60's to mid-'70's. Back then, said TV's were 20 to 30 years old. In 2012, I'm still finding 20 to 30 year old TV's. It's just that most of today's "20 to 30 year old TV's" don't interest me that much. Most of the older stuff is not likely to be found sitting in the living room and what old TV's do remain are either in barns are storage buildings.

Man, you nailed it there......

I remember looking at those on the Zenith website when they were new. RCA had a similar model around that time, I think they dropped it very slightly before Zenith dropped theirs. I wanted the RCA, based on the superior picture tube, because I always seem to want things the most when they're on the way out - but the price to performance ratio on both those models was so far off.

Yeah, those consoles cost in the $500-$600 range and they contained the same chassis and CRT as the $200 BPC portable version. I guess the extra cost was in the fine photofinished particleboard cabinet. It's like those "last gasp" Sylvania B&W consoles that me and a friend got from a closed dealer. One of those still had the $399 price tag on it; but, a similar 19" plastic portable could have been bought for around $150. By the time these "last gasp" color consoles were being sold, I'm sure the only people buying them were senior citizens who wanted a console.

I think Magnavox, Zenith, and RCA were the last ones to make a console; but, I think Magnavox dropped out of the game before RCA and Zenith. I'm sure the reason RCA and Zenith hung on as long as they did was because those brands had quite a following among older people.

You know, it's funny. I love console TV's, but only the older ones. But me personally? I'd only ever own a table top. I'd love to own a metal cased table top or a real wood cased table top.

I think it's with table tops, I can have them a little higher to eye level rather than on the floor.

I wonder when the last GOOD console was made. Something with more contemporary styling, and better guts.

I know Sony was still making them up to the late 80s and early 90sm but not sure when they stopped.

The last really good consoles were probably made during the late '70's. RCA consoles remained decent until the late '80's and the NAP (Magnavox/Sylvania/Philco) consoles of the late '80's-early '90's were decent. I think that pretty much everything made after the late '70's were housed in crappy photofinished particleboard cabinets. Come to think of it, I don't recall seeing a Magnavox console any newer than '93-'94. It's possible that they were made later; but, no one around here carried them. I remember seeing Zenith and Thomson era RCA's in stores until the early 2000's. RCA even had a few 32" and 36" consoles into the early 2000's.

These were pretty neat! :)

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=166740&d=1270583978

Add: I'm guessing early to mid 80s... anybody know for sure?

jr

Used to snort at the consoles when I was a teenager-By then, virtually all of 'em had gone to the "P&P"-Plastic & particleboard-route. Even the ones who hadn't were that ghastly "Luan" wood-whatever the hell THAT was. I CAN remember the megabuck REAL wood consoles of the Fifties & Sixties-Something to be PROUD of, not garbage.

the first one is a really fine set.saw many of these in the 80s and they were good performers.blew caps in the vertical and the b+ but otherwide good sets.excellent crts.the other one ,i wouldnt hit a dog in the ass with it.no offense intended,but not a good set.

Zenith seemed to be the last company with a lot of small, independent dealers. Consoles were an important thing to stock in little towns like mine.

My biggest problem is that I think it's still the 1990's and not 2012. Back in the '90's, I was always finding TV's that were made between the mid-'60's to mid-'70's. Back then, said TV's were 20 to 30 years old. In 2012, I'm still finding 20 to 30 year old TV's. It's just that most of today's "20 to 30 year old TV's" don't interest me that much. Most of the older stuff is not likely to be found sitting in the living room and what old TV's do remain are either in barns are storage buildings.

How true this is:sigh: I have the memory of exactly how old everything is and unreasonably expect that of anyone who "has an old set" for me to take. It matters not where you live, the really old sets are not in a farmhouse attic or a suburban 1950's basement anymore.

My last several treasures came through CL and ebay and were recognized as something more than trash when they were discovered in barns, old businesses and garages. Some of the least ideal of storage conditions. At the last few estate sales, folks in thier 80-90s had nothing older than the 80's:boring: