'77 RCA and older Magnavox console - advice needed
 

Hi everyone,

I have the chance to go look at a couple of console sets someone in New Orleans looking to get rid of.

The first one is an RCA Colortrak GB705H, mfd. 1977. Seller says it works. My questions are: Which chassis is this? Were these really good sets? I really wasn't looking for this style of set and have limited storage room, but if it's a one of the better models I might save it.

The second one is a Magnavox, no model number in his e-mail. He says the sound comes on but it has no picture. This one is more in line with what I want, but is it worth fooling with? Anyone know what year it is?

Thanks

The RCA likely uses a CTC89 or 92 modular solid state chassis. They were decent sets; but, the CRT's tend to be weak by now and they can cause some difficult problems in the power supply and horizontal sweep circuits. Still a farily common set. Really nothing special. The main solid state sets you'll want to look out for are the Zenith Chromacolor's and Chromacolor II's, The early Motorola / Quasar "works in a drawer" sets from the late '60's, The early RCA TransVista and XL100 sets (CTC40, 44, 48, 68 etc), and the Sylvania GT Matic sets of the '70's. BTW, the Zenith sets almost always have good CRT's, even 35 years after they were made!

The Magnavox is an early '60's tube type B&W. Sound but no pix could be caused by many faults. You may have a horizontal sweep failure, a video ouptut circuit failure, a toasted CRT, or a combination of the three. That one will almost certainly need all of it's paper and electrolytic caps replaced before it will work properly.

Don't invest too much in these; especially if you don't know what condition the CRT is in. Sometimes, a weak CRT can be brought back to life with a quality CRT rejuvenator; but, it's much better to start off with a good CRT to begin with. Rejuvenation is usually only temporary and will get you by until a suitable good CRT comes along.

The Magnavox looks like it has a remote receiver.

Beyond that, I agree with the above.

I noticed that sensor and it could be the remote sensor or an LDR. I had a Magnavox set of this vintage that had an LDR for the purpose of adjusting picture brightness according to room lighting. That was the oldest set that I've seen that used that feature. That feature reappeared on many sets from the late '70's through the early '90's.

I have an early 60's RCA set which has an LDR for adjusting the picture to room lighting...it called it "Magic Eye". The set needs a new CRT so I haven't been able to observe the performance of it yet.

This Magnavox is likely a 1964 or later due to the built-in UHF tuner. There were some solid state Magnavox B/W sets that looked very similar to this one so it may even be solid state but is likely tube type.

That Magnavox looks awfully close to the 69 model my grandparents had... Was a remote set too!

Thanks everyone for the information. I'm going to look at the Magnavox in the next few days - if the cabinet is nice and the price is right I'll go for it. This will be a learning experience for me, and if I can get it running it will go in my front parlor I'm going to redecorate in a mid-60's style (to match the age of the house.)

Ryan

Well, I bought the Magnavox - I believe it's a '65 model (10T338N). I'll be posting pics in the B&W TV forum.