Quote:
Originally posted by Carmine
Hey, that Motorola looks really great. BUT, I'd love that stereo unit behind it!
Is that a Maganvox? Is it a combo? It would be perfect for the living room I'm remodeling at the moment.
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Carmine,
That is my 1963 Curtis Mathes combo. It was my first "vintage" set. Got it about 10 years ago. I think this set was one of the reasons my wife left! She hated that thing being in the house! It needed new caps and a few tubes. I've been watching this set almost 10 years now, and it hasn't given me the slightest bit of trouble. Since then, the only thing I've done to it is take the back off to clean out the dust.
Funny to think... back in the day when these sets were new, it was pretty common to have them serviced at least every year or so. Hell, a freind of mine tells me they had the TV man out at least once a year due to needing tubes or other repairs. But, now-a-days, you can recap one of these babies, and run them for years with no trouble.
Being next to the coast, i would think that humidity caused most problems back in the 50s and 60s. Most folks didn't have air-condition, so summertime was probably a big strain on sets. I suppose that people back then probably dealt with power surges as well. Today's power is probably cleaner. (Remember that guy on ebay a while back that thought today's power might be too much for an old set?
What a moron!) I guess the caps we put in them today are probably the main reason we can get lots of trouble-free use out of these old sets.