Score at estate sale...

[Old1625]

Yesterday morning I was cruising along South Central street in my town and drew up shortly as a police officer held up both hands. The roadside across from a run-down place was crowded with cars, and there was a throng of people browsing an obvious estate sale.

I couldn't stop to browse the sale then, as I was on my way to do a piano tuning in another town, but I revisited the estate later in the afternoon. Amongst other electronic debris there were a few very old television sets, most of which were incomplete. I selected 2 that appeared to be intact, and noticed that they were priced at $10 ea. It was getting late in the day, and a guy that was clearly in charge of the operations announced that he was getting ready to close, and said "Take what you want--get it outta here; all the rest goes into the dumpster!"

So without even touching my wallet I brought home 2 sets--a Bendix 2020U and an Emerson model 700 series L. They appear to be complete, and both have their original backs. The late owner was apparently a ham and electronics technician, as there was a bunch of other stuff there, including early loudspeakers and radio parts. I may open these sets up and find that they've been recapped at some point--who knows....?

[70salesguy]

One can only wonder what treasures might have been there at the beginning!

[Old1625]

Originally Posted by 70salesguy

One can only wonder what treasures might have been there at the beginning!

Definitely! But it was not to be.

1) Whatever was there I probably have one or more of already; I'm an archetypal packrat.

B) Work must come before play.

III) I'd have to spend money, which is agin my nature.

I usually hit the flea markets early, and stay all day, browsing but not touching my wallet until toward the end of the day as a rule. A booth holder, not liking the prospect of having to pack all their mdse in for the day, will usually become very soft in a dicker. Yard sale supervisors are usually tired at the end of a day--especially those handling estate sales--AMHIK....

[Old1625]

Because I like the occasional excitment I tried operating each set once I could see that there was nothing obvious as a safety hazard.

The Emerson had filaments light up, but nothing else. Surprisingly the ubiquitous 5U4 is not present in this set. LV rectification is done with a pair of 6AX4 tubes as normally found in damper service.

The Bendix on the other hand gave me a bit more of a show. I could hear the faint sing of the horizontal sweep, and--lo and behold--a horizontal line, classic of complete vertical sweep failure. Changing out the 6SN7 didn't make any difference, but it at least shows that the 12LP4 kine still has a little something left of it....

I'll get the vertical sweep going by hook or by crook, and if I get a good solid raster, and at least some noise on the screen indicating that the kine is responsive to signal, then I will go to the trouble of doing the recap work that will inevitably need to be done.

I snapped a pic of the display, brightness control set about midway and working fast so as not to damage the phosphor...

[tomt]

Originally Posted by Old1625

all the rest goes into the dumpster!"

including early loudspeakers and radio parts.

that dumpster most likley has some very vauable items !

[Old1625]

Originally Posted by tomt

that dumpster most likley has some very vauable items !

I'm tempted to drive back in the cloak of darkness with a flashlight and a ladder--and have a look.....

[BajaGringo]

I probably wouldn't be one of your favorite yard sales then. I had one years ago before moving down to Mexico and most of the stuff on sale was in excellent condition and priced very low to move quickly. I didn't want to have an all day sale and in the ad in the paper I mentioned that the yard sale was only from 9:00AM to noon and featured some great audio gear at cheap prices. Wasn't trying to make a bunch of money - just selling the stuff I wasn't going to take with me and figured that somebody who could use it would be willing to pay a few bucks for the privilege. I even provided a power cord and small speakers to hook up to demonstrate that the audio gear all worked. Most of the stuff was going very quickly but a few people asked the question, what time I was closing? I told them at 12:00 and what hadn't sold by then was going to the American Cancer Society Thrift Store - no exceptions. I also mentioned that if they really wanted it they should grab it now.

Sure enough, these guys show up at 12:15. Watching me stow the few remaining items back into the garage the one guy sees the Pioneer CTF9191 deck that I had priced at $20 still there in addition to an old pair of large Acoustic Research speakers that were in great shape and priced at only $45 for the pair. He asks if he can just take them since I was going to donate them. I told him no, the sale was over. He pleaded and again, I said no. He offered me $25 for them both and again I turned him down. Upset by now he finally broke down and offers to pay the price I had them marked at. I looked at them, looked back at him and said I would like to but I had made a commitment to the folks at the Thrift Store and meant to keep it. I closed the garage door and told him to go by the Thrift Store to see what kind of deal he could cut if they were still there next week.

He was soooo pissed. I was amazed that somebody could risk passing up a perfectly working CTF9191 and a very nice pair of AR's to try to come back later and save a few bucks.

[Eric H]

That Bendix is a very interesting set and it looks like it wouldn't take much to get it going again!
You already have one line so just 524 to go!

[peverett]

Are you sure the rectifier tubes are 6AX4 in the Emerson? I restored one of these and I remember them being 6AX5 or 6AV5 or some number like that, not 6AX4.

If you restore the Emerson, be sure and change all paper caps. I left an original paper capacitor in the AGC circuit that had all of 4 volts across it. Sure enough, the AGC gave trouble until I replaced it.

Another note about my restoration of the Emerson is that the CRT was dead as a doornail. I could not get any brightness, no matter how many times I tried to rejuvinate it. I had to wait until I found a parts set with the same CRT before completing the restoration.

[Old1625]

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

I probably wouldn't be one of your favorite yard sales then. I had one years ago before moving down to Mexico and most of the stuff on sale was in excellent condition and priced very low to move quickly. I didn't want to have an all day sale and in the ad in the paper I mentioned that the yard sale was only from 9:00AM to noon and featured some great audio gear at cheap prices. Wasn't trying to make a bunch of money - just selling the stuff I wasn't going to take with me and figured that somebody who could use it would be willing to pay a few bucks for the privilege. I even provided a power cord and small speakers to hook up to demonstrate that the audio gear all worked. Most of the stuff was going very quickly but a few people asked the question, what time I was closing? I told them at 12:00 and what hadn't sold by then was going to the American Cancer Society Thrift Store - no exceptions. I also mentioned that if they really wanted it they should grab it now.

Sure enough, these guys show up at 12:15. Watching me stow the few remaining items back into the garage the one guy sees the Pioneer CTF9191 deck that I had priced at $20 still there in addition to an old pair of large Acoustic Research speakers that were in great shape and priced at only $45 for the pair. He asks if he can just take them since I was going to donate them. I told him no, the sale was over. He pleaded and again, I said no. He offered me $25 for them both and again I turned him down. Upset by now he finally broke down and offers to pay the price I had them marked at. I looked at them, looked back at him and said I would like to but I had made a commitment to the folks at the Thrift Store and meant to keep it. I closed the garage door and told him to go by the Thrift Store to see what kind of deal he could cut if they were still there next week.

He was soooo pissed. I was amazed that somebody could risk passing up a perfectly working CTF9191 and a very nice pair of AR's to try to come back later and save a few bucks.

He was soooo pissed. I was amazed that somebody could risk passing up a perfectly working CTF9191 and a very nice pair of AR's to try to come back later and save a few bucks...

And that's the mark of a rank amateur at this sort of thing....Oh brudduh!

I myself would have no complaints with you in this respect--nor would I ever "get pissed" with you as a merchant. What the heck good would that ever do me....?

[Old1625]

Originally Posted by peverett

Are you sure the rectifier tubes are 6AX4 in the Emerson? I restored one of these and I remember them being 6AX5 or 6AV5 or some number like that, not 6AX4.

If you restore the Emerson, be sure and change all paper caps. I left an original paper capacitor in the AGC circuit that had all of 4 volts across it. Sure enough, the AGC gave trouble until I replaced it.

Another note about my restoration of the Emerson is that the CRT was dead as a doornail. I could not get any brightness, no matter how many times I tried to rejuvinate it. I had to wait until I found a parts set with the same CRT before completing the restoration.

And indeed such concern as to kine condition is paramount in my mind as I assess these sets; if such are in bad shape, and R&R of these kines is going to be prohibitively expensive or impossible, then I need to stop considering restoration operations. I can still get capacitors fairly inexpensively, but there is still no need of pouring good money into a chassis that will require first and second mortgages to simply find a working kinescope for it ....


I appreciate your concern over the extact type of rectifier tubes used, and I will make sure to ascertain that rectifier tube #, but it sure looked to my old and jaundiced eye as a good old fashioned damper tube....

And believe me I will solemnly swear to recap these bad boys.... After all; we've all been there and done that--who needs the trouble later...?

As for CRT condition I was more concerned about the 12LP4 in the other set. I might be able to find a replacement kine for the second set, but I might not try too hard; the older-style set is of more chief interest....

[BajaGringo]

I would understand if I was asking market level prices and he wanted to come back near the end to see if I would be willing to negotiate. It was very obvious to 90%+ of those who showed up that I was giving this stuff away and never even thought to ask for a price cut on anything. This pair of guys just pushed my buttons with their arrogance. I remember one guy who was so excited buying up half my stuff that he ran out of money. he asked me if he could leave his wallet with me so he could run home and get some more cash. I told him to pick out nthe gear he wanted and I would just hold it for him for an hour. he was back in 10 minutes and actually filled his extended van with gear.

I was making the comment to you tongue in cheek as far as you not liking my yard sale. I know you caught my meaning...

Enjoy the TV's. They remind me of the first set we had back in the late 50's at home...

[peverett]

I do remember that the rectifier tubes on this set were not 5U4s. My grandfathers set, which I still have and is also a table model Emerson of about the same age as yours, contains two 5U4s as the rectifiers. I also have a couple more Emersons that look similar to the one you found, but I have not restored these yet. I am not sure what rectifiers they contain.

[Old1625]

Originally Posted by BajaGringo

I would understand if I was asking market level prices and he wanted to come back near the end to see if I would be willing to negotiate. It was very obvious to 90%+ of those who showed up that I was giving this stuff away and never even thought to ask for a price cut on anything. This pair of guys just pushed my buttons with their arrogance. I remember one guy who was so excited buying up half my stuff that he ran out of money. he asked me if he could leave his wallet with me so he could run home and get some more cash. I told him to pick out nthe gear he wanted and I would just hold it for him for an hour. he was back in 10 minutes and actually filled his extended van with gear.

I was making the comment to you tongue in cheek as far as you not liking my yard sale. I know you caught my meaning...

Enjoy the TV's. They remind me of the first set we had back in the late 50's at home...

Cripes! You do indeed tolerate an interesting clientele....!

[BajaGringo]

Audio addiction attracts a very diverse crowd...