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Originally posted by Chad Hauris
Yes, I have one of those type RCA consoles but it is at my parents' house. There is a large flip-up and down switch for power at the top and the control panel is fairly narrow, consisting of all the controls in a row when you pull it out. I think it is a ctc-48. CRT is weak, the instant-on feature on the CRT probably did not help it.
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How about those RCAs with the picture controls on a tilt-out panel, something like Admiral's high-end non-remote console sets of mid-'60s vintage? The difference, however, is that Admiral's tilt-out panel had not only the picture controls but the VHF/UHF tuners as well; when the panel was retracted into the front of the set, all that was visible were the illuminated channel windows. Made the set look a heck of a lot nicer, IMO, in the living or family room.
I never saw an RCA set, however, with the picture controls in a row, behind a panel door. Zenith had an arrangement very close to that which is found in many of their '60s-vintage roundie table models and consoles (the controls are behind a panel door to the lower right of the CRT). The arrangement like yours, with the controls arranged in a neat row, was used in many of Zenith's older rectangular black-and-white and color sets; I once had a 1963 23" Zenith with the controls behind a long black flip-down door below the CRT. The only controls visible on the front panel were the volume control with push-pull on-off switch and the channel selector.
This was easily one of the best-looking console TVs I have seen. It looks like the manufacturers are coming back to this design as most TVs today, except those cheap 5" b&w portables with radios, have no front-panel knobs whatsoever, only a row of pushbuttons below the CRT. The picture, etc. controls are in on-screen menus and are invoked and adjusted by either the front-panel buttons or by similar buttons on the remote (the TV's front control panel is essentially duplicated on the remote, with the addition in many if not most cases of a random-access keypad for channel selection). I have an RCA in a dark gray cabinet; in dim light or in the dark the buttons below the CRT are practically invisible--all you see is the picture. Perfect for installation in an entertainment center or to set on a wood stand matching your living/family room furniture. I've done the latter with mine, and couldn't be more happy with the results.
This kind of installation (using a small wood stand to put the TV on) is just perfect for small spaces. Just be sure any stand you use is sturdy enough to support the TV. Mine is good enough for a 19" set, but if I were to get a larger set some time later on I'd have to find something stronger. The weight of most modern CRT-based televisions is largely the tube itself; the larger the screen, the bigger (and heavier) the tube will be. I've seen 25- and 27-inch CRT-based sets weighing upwards of 150 pounds, and these are modern ones.
The new flat-screen plasma and LCD sets are thinner and lighter, of course, and are a lot less trouble to move if necessary. In fact, these sets can be hung on a wall like a framed photograph or work of art. Remember when the electronics magazines, not to mention science publications like Popular Science, used to have articles back in the late '60s and '70s about TV 30 years in the future? These showed picture-on-the-wall TV screens, but the sets were simply prototypes of designs which had yet to make it to the consumer market. Pop Science had an article in one of its 1970 issues detailing a prototype of a futuristic-looking RCA TV with no fewer than five screens. The set was called the Showcase 70; the claim was that the viewer could watch up to four different channels, being able to switch the picture from any of the small screens to a larger screen in the same cabinet. The set had digital channel indicators (Nixies, IIRC) for VHF and UHF. However, it never got on the market. Today's sets with picture-in-picture operate on the same principle, and work much better than that Showcase 70 probably ever did (remember, the Showcase 70 was simply a prototype, not meant for production).
Chad, you are probably right about the instant-on feature of your set (and all tube-powered TVs of early-to-mid-'70s vintage) taking hours off the life of the CRT. Having grown up in the '70s I remember instant-on, and never liked it for just that reason. The filaments of every tube in the set, not just the CRT, were constantly on regardless of whether the switch was on or off, which meant the TV set was never completely off unless one pulled the AC plug from the wall socket. This could have caused a fire hazard if anything were to go wrong in the filament circuit or anywhere else in the power supply. Another drawback of the instant-on system was that lightning strikes near the set often shorted the instant-on diode, which was wired directly across the power switch; the shorted diode in effect bypassed the switch, rendering it effectively locked on. Some people just left their sets alone when the diode shorted as long as the TV itself still worked, turning the TV on and off by using a wall switch or by simply unplugging the cord from the wall socket. Some DIY TV repair books of the period mentioned this problem and a way to restore the set's on/off switch, at the expense of the intant-on feature; the method was simply to cut the shorted diode out of the circuit. The TV set worked every bit as well without the diode as with it; many people, concerned with energy conservation (this was during the energy crisis of the early to mid 70s), didn't even mind being without instant-on. Needless to say, the sets lasted longer with the circuit disabled as the main power switch now turned the set completely off, filaments and all.