zenith console tv - just OK or holy grail ?

[Snade]

This is at local church-garage sale this morning - price of $5.

It just says Zenith above the tuner knob and "electronic tuning" below the knob.

Holy Grail or just an OK console ? I did not test it the picture.



Next to it is a Zenith Sentry 2, that I assume is not that great a console.

Thanks, Snade

[jpdylon]

If its a chromacolor II, great sets, high quality delta gun CRT, brilliant color.

Just be ready to replace some power supply caps, and a high voltage trippler. Turn it on and see if the set still has a good B&W picture. If so, the CRT is still ok and you should grab it. If the B&W picture is tinted then the CRT is starting to get tired. While you would probably be able to adjust it back into spec, it still is a sign of failure.

Looks to be from 76 or 77

[radiotvnut]

I think that Zenith is one of the last one-knob tuners from around '84. A friend had an identical set that used an inline tube and the 9-181/9-186 style chassis. His finally died and got junked because both the 9-181 and 9-186 were bad. If you can find a date on the back, that will help determine what chassis is in it. If it's '79 or older and has a circuit breaker and an AC interlock where the cord goes in, it's a Chromacolor II. The 9-160 type System 3 chassis was used from around '79 to '82. The 9-181/9-186 chassis was from about '82-'86. Unless it's a CC II, I wouldn't fool with it unless it worked good.

The Sentry 2 looks like one of those '90's jobs and probably has a bad CRT. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole!

[Snade]

Right, thanks.

I went back about 5p and the sale was over and they said there were two consoles they just threw in the dumpster because they did not sell.

She said "how bad do you want them?", meaning their buried in the dumpster. I said... not that bad.

Live to fight another day.

[vintagecollect]

Grab that console snade, very few are being preserved. I have 25cc55 chassis that just seemed OK at first--realized it had a great cabinet. Almost prototype service modules made on a beadboard, modules and rest on a chassis big and really made for a tube set, 1971. It's first generation chromacolor with awesome picture.


that set Once common, now somewhat rare, that's a CCII set. I can't find one locally.

[sampson159]

i have that same zenith. mine is dated 1977. this is a great set. dumpster dive for that one!!

[Chad Hauris]

Something about this looks like a system 3 chassis. The external looks of the SYstem 3 and chromacolor II sets of this style are almost exactly the same...however the CC II sets will have the interlock and circuit breaker like radioTVnut said. Also there will be no Zenith "crest" on the system3 sets.
The CC II sets are much better made in my opinion than the System 3...have had problems with weak CRT's and bad components on the CRT modules on the system 3's.

[vintagecollect]

that's got to be a CCII set, with knobs. system 3's have electronic tunning by then. every zenith that's been a CCII, has had the same or similiar knobs.

[drh4683]

radiotvnut is correct. Thats one of the very last dial tuner zeniths from around '84. Keep in mind, if it were a chroma II, you should see the zenith crown logo, which zenith apparently dropped in 1980 on all of their electronics. This set has the cheap little plastic knob for the on-off which is typical of these early to mid 80's zeniths.
This is a cheaper economy set from the time. But yes, there were chorma II's that looked very similar to this. Most had the chormatic button and a rectangular on/off push button at the top though.