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Old 06-11-2009, 09:55 AM
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dr.ido dr.ido is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: SE Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 550
In my experience - Keep in mind that my perspective comes mainly from the early 1990s onward by which time these sets (and Australian and Japanese sets speaking more generally) were already old, but at the time any working color set was still relatively valuable and many many 70s sets were still in use:

These European sets seemed to show up in "pockets" in some areas more than others (though I have never personally seen a Philco or Radiomarelli). They had a reputation of unreliability with many people, though I can't say that this was deserved. They seemed to have a polarising effect on people. Some prefered them over all other sets, others outright refused to work on them. While I have known quite a few people who absolutely hated Sony sets and refused to deal with them, I've never met anyone who hated all Japanese sets.

The only hybrid sets I've ever seen here were those using the Decca 33 "Bradford" chassis sold under Healing, Decca and possibly other names (I'm thinking HMV and Baird, but I may be wrong). There may have been others that I have never encountered.

As a kid back in 1990 I remember buying such a 22" Healing along with 3 random hybrid B&W sets at a junk auction for $8 (my parents weren't happy). This was a testament to how much the techs in the area hated Hybrid sets as at time any other dead color sets would bring at least $30-40. Around this time I saw a fire damaged (charred wooden cabinet, melted plastic parts, but still producing something of a picture) Philips K12 bring $80.

I never did get that Healing/Decca going (though I did have varying degrees of success with the B&W sets). They are all long gone now and while I don't really miss those B&W sets I wish I still had that Healing.
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