I'm in a facebook group that celebrates my hometown and one of the regular posters has gotten hold of a box full of copies of a local weekly newspaper with issues dating back to the late 60's to mid 70's. He's been posting ads scanned from these papers of various local businesses including 2 TV shops. Here are 2 ads, one showing a vertical Magnavox combo unit and another showing 4 Quasar models. Melody Shop was a TV, stereo, record store and was in business until sometime in the mid to late 90's maybe early 2000's, I'm not sure. Gerken's is still in business although they moved in the mid seventies. Needless to say they no longer sell Quasar Works in a Drawer sets :tears:

Wow... portable 19" Quasars were selling for 450 bucks.... that's freakin wild to think!! And consider what 450 dollars was in those days.

Funny to think... those Philco roundies in the late 60's were $399.

Today, $450 will get you a huge flatty that will die in a year or two and can't be reasonably fixed.

Today, $450 will get you a huge flatty that will die in a year or two and can't be reasonably fixed.
Better fatty than flatty I say (starting now).

In those days when you paid $450 and up for a color tv you naturally expected to get it fixed. When I was a kid in the Seventies, people would generally not replace a tv until it started costing money through frequent repairs and by then the set was usually several years old. Most color sets seemed to last about five years before they started needing frequent servicing. It was not unusual to see people's tvs with reduced vertical or pulling in from one side, in those days we just lived with the little things.

Wow... portable 19" Quasars were selling for 450 bucks.... that's freakin wild to think!! And consider what 450 dollars was in those days.

Funny to think... those Philco roundies in the late 60's were $399.
The Philco basic metal table model, roundy, was advertised at $299.00 . :yes:

:yes:That 19" set for $349 seemed to be popular. I saw a few of those but the Zeniths looked so much better. The WID 23" sets were very common too and I cleaned many a tuner which was an easy task on those! . Solid state chassis (except 4 tubes) LOL

I wonder what the extra $100 got you besides the solid state horizontal/vertical and that smart-looking furniture styling?

Late 1971, my dad paid $549 for the Zenith 23", so a $30 difference was not much for a better set, but with 12 tubes:yes:

The Philco basic metal table model, roundy, was advertised at $299.00 . :yes:

Oops... sorry... my mistake. That makes it an even bigger difference!

In those days when you paid $450 and up for a color tv you naturally expected to get it fixed. When I was a kid in the Seventies, people would generally not replace a tv until it started costing money through frequent repairs and by then the set was usually several years old. Most color sets seemed to last about five years before they started needing frequent servicing. It was not unusual to see people's tvs with reduced vertical or pulling in from one side, in those days we just lived with the little things.

I more or less pointed this out before, and I noticed, with a mixture of annoyance and amusement, that it was promptly ignored. :scratch2: I've since mentally labled this as an inconvenient truth.

It's always amused me when people whine today about modern sets having problems after a couple years, when at one time, extremly expensive sets doing this sort of thing was considered acceptable. That's not to say that arguments like declining build quality aren't valid, but the fact that older TVs, particularly tube chassis sets, needing frequent service, is something to think about.

I keep several tube color sets in regular use and usually any given set will go for over a year to three without needing anything more than control adjustments.

:

I wonder what the extra $100 got you besides the solid state horizontal/vertical and that smart-looking furniture styling?

Usually........
A longer warranty 1yr/1yr/2yr vs as little as 90/90/1 .
Better picture.
Higher reliability.
Longer life.
Also the unmeasurable like owning the best, being
first, having the "latest" etc.

73 Zeno:smoke:

It's always amused me when people whine today about modern sets having problems after a couple years, when at one time, extremly expensive sets doing this sort of thing was considered acceptable. That's not to say that arguments like declining build quality aren't valid, but the fact that older TVs, particularly tube chassis sets, needing frequent service, is something to think about.
This is I think why. Sets made between abt 1980-mid 90's peaked in
reliability. Ofter they were put in place & didnt move for 10-15yrs.
If they did break most the time you could bring it to a mom & pop
shop and have it fixed in a few days for a C note or less. Now
that is over. People remember that & get pissed. Have you ever
had to tell someone their $5000 4yr old set is junk? Not fun.
Not pissed at the maker for not having a part but pissed at ME !
He dont understand why the old $500 set is still in the guest room running
after 20 yrs. & I can still order OEM parts for it...................

As far as the old days go yes things were not reliable & people
accepted it. But till SS sets repairs were the norm back to through
the radio days.

enuf fer now
73 Zeno:smoke:

Have you ever had to tell someone their $5000 4yr old set is junk? Not fun. Not pissed at the maker for not having a part but pissed at ME ! He dont understand why the old $500 set is still in the guest room running after 20 yrs. & I can still order OEM parts for it...................

Makes me think that the guy who gave me that loaded, near-perfect Panasonic console because he "upgraded" is going to regret it down the road. I was told that the thing cost about $900 when new. Too bad, so sad, he's not getting it back.

I recently advised someone who was giving away her 27" RCA CRT TV to keep it if at all possible to make room for it in her new place, citing the high failure rate of flat screen sets. I didn't hear back from her on that one, but the free ad she had posted for it disappeared the next day and so far hasn't resurfaced. She had posted it more than once.

Usually........
A longer warranty 1yr/1yr/2yr vs as little as 90/90/1 .
Better picture.
Higher reliability.
Longer life.
Also the unmeasurable like owning the best, being
first, having the "latest" etc.

73 Zeno:smoke:
The better line Quasar sets had Black Matrix CRT's, as the ad states.
The $449.00 19" table model had the voltage regulating power transformer like the Zenith's used. It didn't use that troublesome JA panel, like the earlier models did.
The lower priced sets used Westinghouse CRT's, where the costlier models used Sylvania CRT's. :yes:

there are plenty of rca sets out there still working i sold new 25 years ago. tv,s today will not last that long. steve

Gotta love Miss Monadnock 1971 :D

I wonder how many light engines and bulbs have been put in the set that replaced the 1992 CTC-169 32" console in my room I got from A CC "junk pickup" 9 years ago...and it STILL runs today! (I KNOW it was a LE type set---the delivery man told me so. )