1976 XAM (Toshiba) 'Deluxe Solid State' 13" - Videokarma.org TV - Video

zenith2134 · #1 07-07-2010, 04:28 PM

I got this tv from a VK member a few months ago and just got around to messing with it again after being in storage. It is a metal-cabinet 13 incher apparently built by Toshiba (it has everything on plug-in module boards which affix to the main chassis board with sockets...and all of them are marked made in Japan) The CRT is a Toshiba black-stripe.

What really impressed me is the build quality of the set...it's very heavy for a 13"... and the picture is quite good as well.

So I went ahead and replaced a handful of electrolytics on the video output and power supply boards since some looked leaky. A simple tuner cleaning & grayscale setup and she's good as new.

Pics to follow.

Right now I have it hooked up to a VCR and a UHF bowtie. Playing some old tapes on the VCR and attempting to dx a bit with the bowtie...tuner seems to be pretty hot so far.

ChrisW6ATV · #2 07-08-2010, 03:26 PM

XAM was an S.S. Kresge/K-mart brand in the 1970's. My brothers both had Admiral 9" B&W tube TVs with a "K" logo glued on their speaker grilles around 1974-75 as well.

zenith2134 · #3 07-09-2010, 04:31 PM

It was my understanding that XAM was E.J. Korvette's house brand...

In fact this one says Made In Japan for Korvette's NY, NY.

Nonetheless, not much love for this set I see.

radiotvnut · #4 07-09-2010, 05:48 PM

I don't think I've ever seen a XAM brand set; but, I have seen some similar Toshiba built sets for Sears. Those old Toshiba's are very well built and have a nice picture. Toshiba even built a tube set that used plug-in modules. Just a few months ago, I fixed a '76 Toshiba built 13" Sears for an 80something year old man. It only needed it's tuner cleaned and some minor adjustments and he was happy to have it fixed.

zenith2134 · #5 07-09-2010, 08:18 PM

This one responded well to a tuner cleaning as well. Like I said in the original post, the tuner is very 'hot' in the sense that it pulls in seemingly far off stations with ease. Too bad there isn't more to DX these days.

But I've always had an affinity for metal-cabinet color sets...not sure why.

radiotvnut · #6 07-09-2010, 10:55 PM

Around here, there are no analog stations to DX, that I'm aware of. We had one LP station on channel 47, TBN; but, they ceased OTA transmissions last February due to excessive cost to keep the analog signal going and not enough OTA analog viewers. They are still on cable and satellite; but, not OTA. DX'ing digital is almost unheard of around here. There was a channel 34, whos transmitter was about 70-80 miles away, that I could receive at most anytime of the day with a bowtie antenna. The picture was usually very snowy; but, it was watchable. I've also been able to receive, in the morning and at night, WDAM-7 and WHLT-22 (Hattiesburg, MS) and WLOX-13 (Gulfport, MS) while analog was still going. With digital, I've only been able to receive 34 twice and I've never gotten anything on the other channels.

I like metal cabinet sets myself, especially the larger ones. I have a 25V Zenith CCII, a 23V RCA CTC38 in somewhat sad shape, a '73 Teledyne 14" tube type color portable, and an early '70's 15" Packard-Bell B&W. Zenith still had metal cabinet sets at least until the early '80's and there were some Sanyo/Sears 19" metal cabinet sets until the early '80's.

*zenithfan1* · #7 07-09-2010, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenith2134

But I've always had an affinity for metal-cabinet color sets...not sure why.

That's easy, you're smart and have good taste.

That's a neat little set, not too many 13" metal sets to be found here. I have found none. I really like the Japanese stuff from the 70's, they really had their act together then. They sure made some awesome receivers in that era too

Glad this one is saved and was an easy fix.

zenith2134 · #8 07-10-2010, 05:13 PM

Bryan, it's true, not much left to DX here. I'm getting some skip on 14 and 61 but that appears to be police/fire dept. radio communications. The rest is home-shopping network and low power Christian programming.

Thanks for the compliment, Mark! It is a nice little set. I re-capped two of the boards just to be safe in the long run, but I bet they didn't need it.

How about a shot of the chassis? I'm gonna pull it apart so you guys can see how well built she is inside

ChrisW6ATV · #9 07-11-2010, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenith2134

It was my understanding that XAM was E.J. Korvette's house brand... In fact this one says Made In Japan for Korvette's NY, NY.

I had forgot all about Korvette's. Too many "K" stores confusing me, I guess.