CTC 5 in Ohio
 

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.

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

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.

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

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

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:

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

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!

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

General Questions
 

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

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

Thank you!

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

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

Here is the 700 Series Setup

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!

Risk powering it up?
 

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.