Zenith on eBag

[Jeffhs]

Someone should save that TV as it is an SC600X remote set. I don't know if these sets will work with universal remotes or not, but if so, the remote can be replaced easily.

I would replace the missing speaker, however, with an exact replacement since this TV has a solid-state audio output stage (and SS everything else, for that matter). Solid-state audio stages are very fussy about speaker impedances, especially lower ones than the speaker originally in the set; a higher impedance speaker will work but you will have lower volume, whereas a lower impedance could and likely will damage the audio output stage in no time flat. Some sets, like my RCA XL-100 CTC185, will suffer incredible damage if the speaker terminals are shorted; I read somewhere, don't remember if it was here or somewhere else online, that the chassis of these sets will be permanently damaged if the speaker terminals short to each other or to ground. I think the reason this can happen is because the CTC1xx series has a hot chassis, not unlike the old series-string transformerless TVs used to be.

BTW, someone mentioned the Zenith "Avanti" series of TVs recently, either in this thread or one similar to it. The Avanti came out in 1972 and, while it had a white cabinet, rosewood top and was on a white pedestal base, it had standard tuners for channels 2-13 and 14-83. The set described in this thread is obviously a much later version; needless to say, it will not work with today's digital TV signals without a converter box or a cable/satellite connection.

I'm surprised people still collect old TVs with analog tuners, given the fact that these sets just won't work on the new ATSC standard without a box, cable or satellite. Not all areas have analog low-power (LP) stations or translators (the only translator I would see in my area would be channel 51, rebroadcasting the Cleveland PBS station), so unless you use an external video source such as a DVD player or VCR (yes, there are still a lot of VCRs still in use, if only for playing old tapes; I have a Panasonic PV-4022 and use it regularly) you will not see anything on your old sets.

I wonder how Doug (drh4683) in Chicago manages to get signals to all his vintage analog NTSC TVs. I hardly believe he has 75 cable outlets in his house, although I guess that's possible, considering that many cable operators (such as Time-Warner) do not charge extra for additional outlets. If he is using antennas to receive ATSC signals, again I hardly believe he has 70-plus converter boxes on all his sets. I think he must use a VCR or DVD player on these old sets, although, again, I wonder how he manages to split the signal from one RF modulator 70 ways. The sets at the head of the line would get decent pictures, I'm sure, but the ones near or at the very end of the line, furthest from the distribution amplifier(s) if one or more are used, would get the worst reception. This was a real problem for CATV systems in the '60s and seventies, when these systems were relatively new. I hate to think of the problems and all they must have had with the first CATV system near Philadelphia in the late 1940s.