Is this Set Tube or Solid State?

[Magnavox300]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

I have 2 little 9 or 10" Admirals from 1964-65 that are "Thin" like that..On one, the cabinet has yellowed, on the other, its still that sort of dingy white.

I am assuming the cabinet is plastic?
The middle section painted red looks metal, but maybe it's all plastic...

[Sandy G]

Originally Posted by Magnavox300

I am assuming the cabinet is plastic?
The middle section painted red looks metal, but maybe it's all plastic...

Yeah. both of mine are plastic. They made a RED version, too, I've only seen one on De Bay. Dunno if it was MOULDED "Red" or painted... They MAY have made a black version, too, I dunno...Kinda doubt it, these seem to be "Loss Leader" type TVs...Sold these at a loss, hopefully made up the difference on the big consoles, color sets, etc. Admiral by then was sort of a "Second-Tier" type brand, I think..

[Magnavox300]

Was Olympic ever a good name in televisions?
This is the first I ever heard of them....

[Whirled One]

Originally Posted by Magnavox300

Was Olympic ever a good name in televisions?
This is the first I ever heard of them....

Frankly, Olympic was generally an el-cheapo brand. They started out in the 50's mostly making inexpensive TV-radio-phono combo sets; some of their advertising pushed price as the main draw-- i.e. you can have a combination console for the usual price of a TV by itself! Later on, they seemed to move away from combo units.

One semi-infamous Olympic model was a (I think) 17" B&W set which sold for the then-blistering price of only $99 list. Why? One reason was that it had only *one* IF amp stage! This might be the model Dieseljeep referred to in his post. I think even Mad-Man Muntz managed at least two IF stages in all of his TV sets. Consumer Reports did a "Once Over" on that Olympic set, and, IIRC, they indicated that the contrast control and AGC were really unnecessary in that TV, because it always needed the contrast control set at maximum!

Speaking of Consumer Reports, in their 1960 round up of "minor brand" TV consoles, they indicate that while Olympic's top-of-the-line chassis did have 3 IF stages, none of their sets had keyed AGC (which was not exactly a high-end feature in 1960). As such, even that set was overall rated below their lowest-rated "major brand" set that year, an Emerson. [...but at least it rated better than the Muntz tested...]

Sorry to sound so disappointing, but Olympic B&W sets really were pretty low-end in general. I think they used a "clone" chassis in their color line, though, so those probably were better. On a more positive note, I doubt there are very many "surviving" Olympic sets these days-- I'm sure sets like yours are rather thin on the ground! I've never seen an Olympic portable before, and it's always interesting to see minor-brand sets like that. While it might not be a great performer, simple sets like that can be easier to deal with from a repair standpoint.

Good luck and have fun!

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Magnavox300

Was Olympic ever a good name in televisions?
This is the first I ever heard of them....

I you look at the old Sams and Rider's, they appeared to be fairly good circuit-wise.
They were made in Long Island City,NY, so they were more common, out East.
The firm was in business for quite a while. Originally was Hamilton Radio Corp.
They were bought out in the 50's by Lear-Seigler, who also owned Bogen.