Rca and Zenith from 1st to worst

[Chad Hauris]

I think RCA may have been tops in sales back then but I would hardly say the technical quality was astounding. Now, I really like the styling of RCA's but there were a lot of problems where it seemed they cheaped out on materials on their tube sets leading to burned wiring, flyback failure, etc.
Zenith was more conservatively and solidly built and had more features for ease of service.

Let's not get into the politics of USA/vs. foreign manufacture, that subject is really beyond the scope of this forum.

[oldtvman]

as a tv shop owner for over 15 years, unfortunately, Rca buttered my bread much more than any other brand on the market. I watched my beloved Rca stoop to levels i never thought possible. When they went to the surface mount tuners, almost every one of them failed due to solder problems. I guess i'll keep my two ctc 9's running and finish restoring my ctc 5 wingate model.