1950s (more like 1970s!!) Zenith on LA craigslist

[Adam]

I don't know why whenever somebody sees something old, they automatically think its from the 50s. This is an interesting set anyway, but I don't think its worth the 100 bucks, though. Although, I'm considering e-mailing this guy and telling him its 70s and offering him quite a bit less. This looks to me like a Chromacolor II with space-command. I've never had a Chromacolor II with remote, anybody know if they still used the ultrasonic remote?
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/clt/138696328.html

[Chad Hauris]

Yes it would be ultrasonic. The last Chromacolor II's and the first System 3's from around '79-80 used an ultrasonic system with an electronic battery powered transmitter (as opposed to the usual mechanical ones)

[Eric H]

Remember this one?: http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-1975-SPA...QQcmdZViewItem

[kx250rider]

That's a rare set though... For each of those 19" Avantis, there must have been 1000 25" ones. I wouldn't pay $100 for it, but then again, I'm not into 70s space age stuff. I bet a Hollywood-type person with a 70s house would pay big bucks for it if it's clean.

Charles

[Adam]

I e-mailed the guy and told him it was from the 70s and offered him 40$, I probably would have went a little higher if I knew it still used the ultrasonic remote at the time. I'm not into that 70's space age stuff either, but I like the Chromacolor IIs, and really wouldn't mind a remote one. It would be something good to watch my DVDs retrace-line-free on.

[Adam]

I got it. It's an early model Chromacolor II with the mechanical remote -- space command "SC600Z" according to the history of space command remotes posted here a while back. Whatever paint or coating was used on the TV case (not the pedestal) has cracked badly and it would need to be removed and repainted if I ever wanted this set to look nice. Living in an apartment doesn't really give one space to do this kind of work, so I'll have to wait for a while. The reports of this set working were greatly exaggerated. When I turned it on first I got no picture, then after shaking the "chromatic" button I got an all blue picture, shaking it a bit more I got a good picture (as far as the color, but lacking in vert. size) for a few seconds, until it shut itself of. I was able to turn it on one more time, but it just shut itself off shortly, and now won't go on at all. However, the remote did work. This is going to be my first move into the exciting world of solid state television repair. I'm going to wait until I get a schematic before I do anything though. Its another sams I'm missing, I bought all these sams from an electronic parts store last winter which amounts to about 1000 out of the first 1500 folders, but lately all the new TVs I get are ones that I'm missing. Next weekend I'm going to have to go to the library and copy this one and the one for my CT15 and Philco roundie that I still haven't got.

[jstout66]

Adam, Nice set tho! Does it look like the set had ever been repainted? Haven't ever heard of the finish cracking. Those Chromacolors are great sets, but can be glitchy bastards if they've sat awhile. From your description, it sounds like it just needs the controls cleaned, minor adjustments, and probably the vertical module replaced. There is something in the design that when the vertical module fails you can lose picture. When you lose picture do you still have high-voltage and sound or is the set shutting down completely? Make sure all the modules are firmly in place, and clean up the controls.The Chromatic button gets "gunked" up from non-use, and I heard someone say to clean the carbon off with a pencil erasure. Anyway.... good luck and keep us posted!

[Adam]

It is possible that it was repainted, there does appear to be two layers to the coating, but the cracks are through both layers. Perhaps second paint reacted with what was originally on it causing the cracking. Also maybe it just cracked over time taking the original coating with it. I do know that paint over plastic tends to do things like this, you see it on those urethane bumpers used on Corvettes in the 70s and other similar places. Although whatever the lower layer of coating is it is too thick to be any kind of ordinary paint, I'm not entirely sure what it is. The pedestal has no coating at all and appears to be some kind of white plastic, but looking on the inside of the set, the plastic used for that was not of a solid white color it is a bit see-through, so there must have been some coating on it originally. Either way, the plastic itself is not damaged, so I could just sand all this stuff off and repaint it.

""When you lose picture do you still have high-voltage and sound or is the set shutting down completely?""

Actually, it does both. When it first went on it was with sound and HV and no picture. Eventually the picture came up (low vert. size and all blue), messing with the chrmatic control fixed the all blue, then the TV shut itself completely off. Then I only got it to come on two more times, both times as soon as any picture came up, it shut off completely. Now it won't go on at all.

Thanks for the advice, this set does look like it has been sitting for a long time. Strangely, I got mixed stories about the history of the set. I talked to a woman on the phone who said it was her mother's, then to a man when I went to get it who said it was left behind in their house when they bought it. It will probably be a month or two before I get seriously into it though, I want to fix up my CT 15 first. I've been getting TVs at a faster rate than I can fix them.

[jpdylon]

As mentioned before, clean all the controls including chromatic and the service switch. THen replace the vert module. There was an updated version that is a direct replacment for the original, although I do not recall the number. As for shutting down, I'm not too sure where to start on that. i do remember that if the vert sweep fails, the raster will blank to prevent a burn line into the screen. This had alot of techs confused.

Don't forget to check to see if this has the terrible White four-lead cap. This was part of the HV regulation IIRC, and can destroy the CRT with excessive HV if not attended to. I'm not sure if that particular year is affected, but its always good to look. If you see a orange 4 lead cap at the bottom of the HOT heatsink or have two ceramics underneath the heatsink, you should be fine.

[Jeffhs]

After I read Charles' (Kaye-Halbert TV) post, I began to wonder. Was the Avanti "pod" style of television cabinet ever copied by other TV manufacturers, or was Zenith the only one with this "space-age" avant-garde design? I've never seen this cabinet style before or since the Avanti, although I once saw a Sony Trinitron on a wood/metal stand (in a picture posted here at AK some time ago) that looked somewhat like an ultra-modern version of the Zenith design (but nowhere near close enough that Zenith could lodge a patent-infringement suit against Sony with any hope of winning).

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by jpdylon

As mentioned before, clean all the controls including chromatic and the service switch. THen replace the vert module. There was an updated version that is a direct replacment for the original, although I do not recall the number. As for shutting down, I'm not too sure where to start on that. i do remember that if the vert sweep fails, the raster will blank to prevent a burn line into the screen. This had alot of techs confused.

Don't forget to check to see if this has the terrible White four-lead cap. This was part of the HV regulation IIRC, and can destroy the CRT with excessive HV if not attended to. I'm not sure if that particular year is affected, but its always good to look. If you see a orange 4 lead cap at the bottom of the HOT heatsink or have two ceramics underneath the heatsink, you should be fine.

I agree. Those four-lead HV capacitors were very troublesome in sets which used them, and as you mentioned, they can cause serious damage to the CRT or possibly other parts of the set if they short or otherwise fail. My experience has been mostly with tube-type TVs. which did not use four-lead HV caps; I don't know that much about SS designs. I do know that all recent-model SS televisions are designed to blank the raster when the vertical sweep fails, and all color sets since the '60s/70s (IIRC) have HV shutdown systems that will either kill the raster or cause an unusable picture if the HV exceeds a preset limit. The HV shutdown in your set may be activating because of a problem somewhere in the HV supply, causing the shutdown you mention; I'd replace that four-lead cap on general principles. I'm sure others here with more experience on SS televisions than I can give you more ideas as to the cause of your shutdown problem; however, replacing that four-lead HV cap will be a start, even if it isn't defective. Obviously, the white four-legged caps are bad news and should be replaced anyhow.

[Celt]

It amazes me the idiots on Flea-Pay who never even try to gather the correct info on what they auction. Last month there was a Rat Shack "Crosley" am/fm/cassette radio that was listed as being from the 1940's!

[colortrakker]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

After I read Charles' (Kaye-Halbert TV) post, I began to wonder. Was the Avanti "pod" style of television cabinet ever copied by other TV manufacturers, or was Zenith the only one with this "space-age" avant-garde design?

Often imitated, never duplicated. Believe it or not, the Avanti style might have been copped from RCA's revolutionary 2000 made in 1969. Except for the sliding doors and twin speakers on the RCA, the cabinet is the same idea. White floating pedestal, wood top. Zenith added a sloping front for extra interest.

[kx250rider]

Oh yes! There were white "avanti-style" sets cranked out by everybody from Magnavox, Elecrohome, Philco-Ford (looks identical to RCA 2000), and others. I guess it was the future style at the time.

It's the same as when Sony came out with the KX series "profeel" line in '82. It was the first component-style TV (separate tuner box, monitor, and no internal speakers), a million external video-audio inputs, and the return of external safety glass. By '84, there were a ton of "monitor-style" 25" table model TVs with external tuners, multi-inputs, and external glass to resemble the high-end elite Sony Profeel which sat in the livingroom of every Beverly Hills lawyer (and one teenage boy in West LA) .