Last Hoffman made TV?
 

Ive been wondering, I've seen quite a few Hoffman Easy view sets, I've seen one Colorcastor dating 1966, and the roundies they made. But when did they stop??

According to this 1977
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Hoffman
But if they actually built them is questionable. By 1977 you HAD
to be 100% solid state so the date makes sense in that respect.
Either engineer sets or by them somewhere for a tiny market share.

In New England Hoffman was unknown, I never saw one in 40 yrs
in the biz. There was one set on this forum a Wards IIRC that was
IDed as a Hoffman. 19"B&W apx mid 60's. It looked quite well built.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

It's surprising that there was quite a few of them in Milwaukee. It was supposed to be a California make, but I had understood they were built in ST Louis or Chicago.
The last one I worked on was 23" console, CTC15 clone, not that much different than a Muntz. :scratch2:

Well, that must be about the same as the one. Just got going. I find the quality pretty good, ctc15 chassis. Hilite tube, good color.

Not the greatest camera, but I got it going fair, next part is going to be fixing the tuner, its quite warm and has a lot of play.... Wish there were tuner repairmen around still

Is it a turret or wafer switch tuner ?

It's a torrent. Plastic strips and all...

It's a Standard Coil, the same as all the firms that cloned the RCA CTC15 design. 6HB7 and 6HQ5 tubes. :scratch2:

I'll be honest, I haven't really had to mess with tuners before but if it's anything like the ctc15s I have a parts set I could take it out of. Other than that it's a great set with good color, I wouldn't say it's muntz quality.. Its pretty good overall, just another duplicate of an rca design with a twist.

First step on any tuner clean the contacts...if IF lead is soldered to tuner check that the wire hasn't ripped off.

The rectangular CTC15 clone sets had to have pin cushion corrector circuit where the original roundie design didn't need it.
The only difference I saw between the Hoffman and Muntz was the tuner cluster, color presets called "Easy-Vision Cinema" with an indicator light when button was pressed and the Hoffman had a 6BQ5 audio output, instead of a 6AQ5 for more output. Hoffman part numbers were their own.
Admiral ended up buying out Hoffman in either the late 60's or early 70's.

Well I knew that it would, haven't seen a rectangular set without one. I like how parts availability is good due to the clone factor, I crossed the FLY and the chassis is very similar. I've cleaned the tuner and did what I could with it, it's just got a lot of play in it and likes to drift on signal, I swaped the tuner tubes, and checked all the obvious. It acts perfect with my subber on it. Didn't muntz make this PO7 sets, wouldn't I love one of those! Haven't seen a rectangular muntz thougj

I guess you think I'm just knocking the set comparing it with a Muntz.
Everyone thinks of the inexpensive B/W sets they were famous for. The color sets were the same as the other clones, using the same parts.
The tuner you are having grief with is the same version Magnavox used. For some reason those tuners always gave trouble. They seemed to use poor quality contact material.
Remove the tuner completely from the assembly, Remove the turret and check the stator contacts for tension, clean all the nasty old lube from the contacts. You can't always rely on tuner spray on a tuner like that.
Dave.

Muntz color sets were quite decent. I have a Wards Airline rectangular CTC15 clone still going strong with nothing but tube swaps since new...they seem to have sourced better parts than RCA did.

One of the best parts of clones especially later ones is that they worked out design flaws, and many makers modified things often with an improvement in servicability and or function/form.

Well having not dealt with any Muntz color I guess I was suspecting the same old crap they played with their B&W sets. Having that said, I would love to see a rectangular color Muntz if you have a picture!! I have always liked the etc 15 chassis for the reasons electronic M mentioned in these off brand sets and because of the rugged FLY design. Having the off brands is my thing after all, having sets ranging from AMC, Setchell Carslon, Heathkit, Penncrest, and a few mainstream sets.

I still worry about the fly on the roundy clones...RCAs HV design tended to be an exercise in brinksmanship at worst and a case of not building in quite as much tolerance to real-world conditions as there should be at best...Many of the early 15 clones used RCA built chassis too so you got a real RCA, warts and all.
Heres the Airline.
https://i1095.photobucket.com/albums...y/DSCN0250.jpg

Very nice, I'm surprised didn't Wells Gardner make wards tv's for them? I suppose it would be a clone aswell, I have a 1968 AMC color made by wells gardener, it has the C3 chassis they also sold to Electrohome. Great quality. Has a Very beefy silicon flyback

Both Sears and Wards had more than one supplier for both domestic and Japanese TVs...They wanted a product at a price point on their shelves and achieved it thru supplier competition.

That makes since, also I have seen a rectangular Curtis Mathes with the ctc15 clone chassis, wouldn't mind one of those if it wasn't giant. When I was in high school the first tv I restored was a 58 Hoffman I found in a abandoned repair mans shop. The owner have me it, actually there was 2, one was in bad shape but has a good tube and the other was mint but necked, it came together great. I watched it for years with no real problem then sold it. So this color set is kinda neat to me cause I admired Hoffman's history, I actually got to meet the 58s owner and learned how they ended up in South Dakota! Next week I'm giving a 67 packard bell a new home so I guess my hoffman will have a California brother so to speak. Thank you both for the info btw

If you watched the earlier "All in the Family" episodes, they had a 23" B/W console, early 60's model Hoffman. It was just a prop. IIRC, an empty cabinet.
They never showed the front. As a complete set, it was a great set. :thmbsp:

Did that set use a 1B3?

I remember the episode! Most of the B/W sets did.
Motorola was the only one that used 3A3's in their larger screen sets at the time.

:scratch2:That set looks awfully familiar...

Yup Mark, I suppose it does! It's on my bench for now, I got everything close to wraped up

Glad to see it being used, lots more will get new homes this spring. I'd rather have a couple old cars than 50 old tvs...

Hey, I got myself a muntz built airline. It's quite nice! it's got the CTC 15 chassis as well. Thanks for the info. I find it odd how they updated the look from yours to mine so much. The fly in mine is toast and the tube is weak, but I got spares so I'll likely stick a black matrix in it. This one also has that Magnavox cinema controls.

I always wanted a good look at Archie's TV or at least the remote:scratch2:, Always figgered it was GE or Sears - looked like a very slim 23" BW from the rear.

BTW *My* first TV was a '63 Motorola 19" (see avatar) used a 3A3 HV rect and 5U4 on an angle bracket from the power trans, uber-plain gray/silver but w/UHF, sure as heck not one of their lighter models either.

:thumbsdn:I thought Hoffman once was located in Minnesota like Setchell-Carlson. It was a west-coast brand like P-B, rarely seen here and only because someone brought it when they moved east.

Now its REAL funny Dieseljeep mentions this Hoffman and a Muntz clone with a 25AP22, indeed!

I got a Muntz-branded Combo and it was only 10 years old, but a "newer set" to a novice-tech in 11th grade Vo-tech electronics who just learned to use a B&K analyst.
The plain walnut cabinet had an AM-FM radio with record player under a lid, area above the escutcheon raised just enough to accommodate them.
6x9 coaxial(?) speakers firing out the sides of this big box, with grills cut into the veneer plywood. I think I have the Sams for it too.

Not surprised to hear others praise Muntz in THIS case, it ended up looking very good, I credit RCA CTC12-15-16 experience up to that point, then sold it to a friend whose parents moved into an apartment and had to downsize. Fortunately they had cable at the new place, it was NOT an RCA tuner Im pretty sure.

Once I fixed all the PW700/6GU7 wiring and adjusted HV -convergence- Eff coil, not much more work until it was as good as an RCA, often having lurking issues.

The tuner was definitely not impressive! Same Standard -Kollsman that Magnavox and GE used with an even cheaper, non-lighted U/V selector knob like so many Sears. I think it had strips, not wafers.