Beautiful 1982 Sony

[Eric H]

Awesome 1982 Sony Console on the bay, back then this would have been my dream set.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Sony-27-...3A1|240%3A1318

[Sandy G]

27"s almost a small-screen anymore...That IS a Bee-Yoo-Tee-Full set, though...

[Snade]

Nice.

Right, it looks like the model you could never afford back in the day.

Shoot. It's located only 15 minutes away from me.

[zenithfan1]

Those are great, I have the remote for one but that's it. Didn't those have issues with the CRT getting weak? Either way, I would love to have it. I saw one this summer at the Value Village but it was all banged up and was cracked around the screen bezel.

[radiotvnut]

Yes, that's the one that had a lousy CRT. 710AB22, IIRC. I recently gave a set just like this to the thrift store. I rejuvenated the tube; but, I doubt it will last long. The cabinet was also beat up on mine.

[jstout66]

I just had to toss the exact same model. I have a friend who loves console TV's, and since his RCA died I picked up the Sony on Craigslist for him. The picture didn't look bad when I picked it up, but it got worse within a short period of time. It used that HORRIBLE 26" tube, and sometimes the convergence would go "off" on his, so I gave him my 79 Magnavox and the Sony went to the trash dumpster. It had a beautiful cabinet, and weighed a ton, but I would advise anyone getting a Sony with that 26" tube (which I'm sure this one has). I LOVE the look of old Sony's but their tubes did NOT hold up well at all.

[SDA SRS 1.2]

My parents had this set bought new in '82. I loved it but unfortunately, it only lasted about 7 years before the 26" CRT bit the dust. It did stay on most days for 14 hours straight, 'tho. I just loved the looks of it!

[Telecolor 3007]

Curios: why in a period when the tv's where made to last (unleass 15 yrs), "Sony" had such bad C.R.T.'s?!

[jstout66]

I don't think they meant to produce such a bad CRT, but as any set ages, its design flaws become apparent. I've never been a huge fan of Sony. Granted my opinions are based on sets I've seen recently that are 15 plus years old, but I've never seen one that had an outstanding picture in my opinion. That 26" tube was the largest CRT for the American Market at the time. ALL American sets had 23" tubes untill the late 70's. They may have been advertised as 25" but they were not. Viewable surface was 23" I think RCA advertised the CTC 38 set as a 25", but the tube it used was a 25XP22 which IS a 23" tube. I don't think the manufactures could make a reliable tube in a bigger size. Sony with the flat screen Trinitron had a TRUE all screen viewable surface, and that 26" tube was put out to "one up" American sets, and it proved most unreliable. Zenith's Tri-focus in-line tubes were produced to be superior to the delta Chromacolor tube, and I sold them new and they DID have a superior picture, however those tubes did not age well either, but you still see a few that are fantastic, just like this 26" Sony tube appears to be good. I guess it's "hit and miss"?

[sampson159]

outside of a few 19" sets,i am not a sony tv fan. i do have sony audio and video equipment in my movie room and find them to be extremely reliable and durable.of course these are 5-6 years old.bought a surround system about 6 months ago-sony 7-1 system.quality was so bad that i boxed it up and took it back.brought out the old unit and reinstalled it.my techs will not touch a sony set no matter what the vintage.i have passed on many sony consoles because of that crt.i think the quality has dropped massively and back in the day,those were very high dollar.sold at lazarus and jimmy rhea electronics here in columbus.remember when samsung was bottom of the barrel?

[ChrisW6ATV]

That is a great-looking Sony. It is a good thing I am only visiting Illinois right now (maybe 30 minutes away from that set), or I might have bid on it. Of course, if I lived here, I would probably have a house with a basement to put it in as well.

About 12 years ago, I tried to fix an all-white version of that set, the KV-2644RS I think, but its CRT was bad too. Sony still had replacement CRTs for sale at the time, for about US$350. I ended up breaking the set into trash-can-size pieces when its owner didn't want it back.

[zenith2134]

Guy across the street had one, an 82 also. Had the bad 26inch tube and BOY DID IT WEIGH A TON. Like all Sony's, as we've discussed before.

But in 82, how much did that cost, minus the arm and leg?!

I like Sony's personal efforts to the AV game more than the actual products they export.... Examples... Minidisc, Betamax, Trinitron, XBR, to name a few. But after the 90s, the TVs just went downhill as did the audio gear.

[kx250rider]

The 710AB22 was indeed awful! I bought a new Sony KV-2654R when I was in high school, and the tube went flat in a couple months. It was replaced under warranty though. That set still is in use today, in a friend's mother's livingroom. I lost count of how many CRTs though.

Sony replaced the 710AB22 in the early 90s with an upgraded tube, whose number escapes me. It was something like A67JHG60X, etc. Those seemed to be pretty good, as I installed dozens & dozens of them in early 1994 after the Northridge Earthquake. I don't remember ever having one of them go flat.

Other than the lousy 710, the 26" Trinitron was a great TV, with very few problems other than the HVR block and an occasional flyback (but when the FBT failed on those, it didn't take out the whole power supply as it does on other later Sonys).

Charles

[ChrisW6ATV]

I don't remember the price of the Sonys, but it made 25" RCAs and Zeniths look cheap. Maybe something like US$900-1100 maybe. Not long after that, though, the Profeel series were available, and THOSE were expensive. $850 for the 19" monitor, $1500 for the 25", and about $450 for the VTX-1000R tuner.

[KentTeffeteller]

Hi,

Consider the fact that Sony Trinitons were 17" and under until around 1980. Sony's USA plant in Long Beach was opened around that time so Sony could sell larger TV sets for US market due to shipping costs from Japan being high. Those larger CRT designs were a stretch for Sony then.