The Predicta by Philco

[old_coot88]

The one thing i could never 'get', in a nutshell, about Predictas was the rationale for 2V CRT heaters. It seemed to have something to do with ultra-short neck. But beyond that, explanations just trailed off into the weeds.

[DaveWM]

I assume the reason they are popular now (and perhaps then) has to be the styling. I have worked on a few, all the transformer chassis, and finally found out that you can pop the chassis off with out too much trouble. I think the electronic design was pretty good, as mine makes a fine pic, but the use of the output tubes mounted to the PCB was a bad idea. Ok if not used much but if used a lot just smoked the pcb from heat.

I got a couple of the last CRT's from VDC, the neck is a tad longer and uses a 6.3v heater. Considering how long I use my sets they should last a life time.

I kinda like working on them from the perspective of the modular design (again just talking the transformer based ones).

I can see how it would be a pain with customers, a set I worked on for a buddy started acting up (audios dropping out) not long after I fixed it. My guess is a bad tube socket that did not present to me at the time. My own sets I don't mind when new prob pop up, but that would not be the case doing this as a profession.