My New Keeper - '83 Sylvania E34-53
 

Thought I'd show a couple of pics of my new console, a 1983 Sylvania CLC254AK01 with an E34-53 chassis. It was built in Greenville by Magnavox/NAP. It has a nice picture, needs a couple of caps replaced, and whistles out the back. I don't think it is a remote set, but I haven't opened it up yet to confirm.

Oh, the pics were taken with no antenna attached.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3565/...c8d57c39_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3538/...354f2ea7_o.jpg

Cool. The NAP Sylvanias are usually very reliable sets. Nice looking set.

After those caps are changed, it looks like the picture would be perfect. I second the fact they hold up pretty well. It doesn't look like a remote set though, I looked at one like that last summer, but I may be wrong. The whistling is most likely a dirty anode connection. Discharge the CRT and clean the connector, cup and socket on the CRT with alcohol. Then put a small amount of di-electric grease on the cup. Sad to see the days of a tv on with no antenna coming to an end. Viva analog!

I think the E32's and E34's were among the last GTE designed chassis before the NAP takeover. They were kept in production for a few years (up until around '85) after the '81 buyout. I have one of the last true GTE-Sylvania's from '81, a 19" E32 chassis set, which is the 19" version of the E34 chassis.

Looking at the picture, I'm sure some new caps in the vertical circuit will fix it. While you're in there, resolder anything on the chassis that looks like it's been hot. I'm sure your set uses a 25" inline tri-pot tube similar to what was used in the early Zenith system 3's. That tube will give you a sharp picture if it's in good shape.

Well, you know about missing the obvious, right? :)

It couldn't be a remote set, with the push-pull power switch...

That's not always the case. I've seen some remote sets from the late '70's-early '80's that still had a pull on/volume knob. The switch was usually just a master power switch and the volume control was more like a volume limiter.

Your set, however, is non remote.

I have a friend with one similiar to this, on a wall mount. Probably been there since new. Every time I've ever been over there the set has been on. Still looks like new.

Very nice looking TV. The picture is very good for a 26-year-old set, IMHO, even if the set needs a few new capacitors. Does the TV still have its original CRT?

However, I'm wondering. How on earth are you getting such good pictures without an antenna? I looked at several websites that show only New Orleans' NBC channel 6 with its transmitter in Chalmette. How close are you to New Orleans' other network affiliates' transmitter sites? You must be in an incredibly strong signal area, within only a mile or two from the stations.

Or the TV might just have very good fringe area reception. (nice pic with no antenna)

I'm not sure if it's the original CRT - I'm hoping to pop the back off this weekend to take a look inside.

Believe it or not, this set is next to my metal garage door and that is the worst area in the house for reception. I'll have to snap some pics of my '77 XL100 in the bedroom - I could pick up most stations without an antenna.

As far as how close I am to other transmitters, well remember we're on flat terrain, which I'm sure helps. Here's what's left on analog:

WDSU 6 - 1.2mi
WYES 12 - 1.3mi
WGNO 26 & WNOL 38 - 3.3mi
WPXL 49 - 4.6mi
WWL 4 - 5.7mi
WUPL 54 - 24.5mi

I could pick up WXXV on uhf from the Gulf Coast (77.5mi) until they killed analog transmission. I can also occasionally get WLOX 13 (75.0mi) if the wind blows the right way. I'm sure it helps that there's nothing between me and Biloxi but the Gulf of Mexico.

And, of course, the DTV box won't pick up anything without an antenna.

Opened it up, real clean on the inside, you can tell this came from a clean non-smoking home. The crt is a NAP with a Sylvania eia code, 25VHRP22. Lots of "Assembled in Mexico" tags on the wires inside.

The first screenshot is of VHF via cheap rabbit ears (WYES-TV 12)
The second is of the signal from the Quasar VCR - the tape seems to have a bit of degradation, and maybe the heads need cleaning.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3370/...c8d79c24_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3601/...d25b7031_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3376/...02c1793b_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3661/...be136fd7_o.jpg

That looks like a low hour set. Mine (E32 19") has about a million hours on it and it's still going; so, there should be a lot of life left in that one.

The "chassis" looks very small. I knew some TV manufacturers were putting small PC-board chassis in large console cabinets by the 1990s (Zenith had a console in the early '90s with a chassis so small, I swear one could put a hi-fi system in the leftover space), but I did not realize this was going on in the early eighties.

Hmmm... On that last picture, between the channel display and the control knob, is there some sort of sensor in that spot?

That looks like a light sensor that controls the auto brightness depending on room light. Shine a flashlight on it and see, the picture will get really bright. I have several sets with this. I like it as the light comes in right on the tv sometimes because of a picture window on the other side of the room. Very popular in the mid to late 70s into the mid 80s, a few companies kept the feature but not many after then.

I generally try to turn off the auto-brightness/photocell feature. I like setting it once and leaving it alone from there.

About the small chassis-- once TVs became more reliant on ICs and all-solid state designs, they could make the chassis very small like this. In this set, the cabinet is large so the chassis just appears tinier.

That's what it is. My '65 Magnavox has one too.

These were built about 30 miles from where I live. Several of my friends were engineers there. I used to have many parts for this set but no more. That is a non-remote set. There is a IC chip in the tuner (plug in) that would fail-it is no longer available except for cannalbalzation. I used to know every problem in that chassis but have forgotten most of it by now. They were also notorius for flybacks esp the E31 chassis. At one time I did several hundred repairs for motels with the E31. (mostly flybacks)

My wife has a distant cousin in Kentucky; they have a Philco console from the mid-80s which always catches my attention. I always saw lots of the Magnavox models, fewer of the Sylvanias, never the Philcos. I know it is just a nameplate but still, neat to see. A good running set, anyway.

Yep, I live about 30 miles on the OTHER side of Greeneville-I know where that set was made. I have some friends who worked there, too-at one time, it had the highest quality rating of any of the North American Phillips plants, & they had a pretty sizable engineering staff there.

I'm trying to remember the E31 and can't place it and can't find it in Sams, either. Did you really mean E32? If so, that's not good news about the high flyback failure rate. I've got an E32 19" with a million hours on it and the flyback looks original. In some respects, I think they would have been better off to have stuck with the seperate flyback and tripler. It seems like flyback failures became much more common in solid state sets when they went to the IHVT design.

Here's an '88 Philco console for you - it's going to a friend of mine who's TV is dying rapidly.

I held onto this set for two months for a "needy mother," was going to give it to her. When she finally showed up last week, she says it's way too big for her daughters' bedroom. My wife asks if she could use it in her living room. "Oh no, we have two flat-screen TVs already. Got them with the FEMA money after the storm." I told her she could improve her "desperate" circumstances by selling the two flat-screens and BUYING this fine Philco for only $25. I don't think she'll be back...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3636/...876ab3f366.jpg

my sister has that same set,cabinet and all.it is her daily watcher.bought it new at suns back in late 82 and is still going strong!one repair to the tuner that was under warranty and that is it.crt is still bright and sharp.this set is on all day and most of the night.amazing how those sets come and go with alot of them being trashed after 6-7 years.this particular set must have been made to work forever.i wonder how many lcd,dlp and plasma sets will still be operating after 3-5 years?and they did away with crts?

I guess it all boils down to what someone's priorities are. Had I been in the shape that most people were in after Katrina, spending my FEMA money on two flat screen TV's would have been the last thing on my mind.

There's been several times that I've tried to help people that were so called "in need" just to have them turn up their noses.

I can remember one instance where the person involved was actually appreciative. It was a girl that went to church with my neighbor's son. She and her young daughter had just left her abusive husband and they needed some things to help them start over. I had a '60's era hide-a-bed couch that was still in good shape and one of those mid '80's particleboard box table model 25" Zenith color TV's like what the schools had. As soon as we got word to the family that the stuff was available, they came right over and picked it up and was very happy to get it. I don't mind helping people like that; but, I don't have time and I'm not making time for these people that are so called "in need" that come across with an attitude and think they are owed top of the line new modern stuff.