Color Tube Table Top Rarity

[Spinning Head]

Why are color all tube table top sets so rare to find? I’m thinking 18 to 23” rectangular and not a hybrid with a significant solid state portion. I’ve been wondering this for awhile, and I’ve come up with some theories but I’m wondering if they make sense. My thoughts are: 1) They were only made for a few years, maybe ’66 – ’69. Before this time, there weren’t rectangular tubes, and after this, most designs were hybrid or solid state. 2) Color sets were expensive, and if someone could afford one they generally put it in their living or family room, and a console was preferred for aesthetic reasons. One thing I don't know is how did console prices compare with table top sets and did this have any effect.

[ctc17]

Color consoles seemed to be much more 'in' at the time. BW was much more popular for a table top. I believe the wood supernatural effect also may have had something to do with it. People are much less likely to trash a nice all wood piece of furniture.

We recently cleaned out a HUGE tv store/shop/warehouse and I would say the number of 66-69 all tube color table tops was equal to the number of BW consoles.

[Ed in Tx]

Our first color TV, 1968, was an all-tube 19" tabletop Sears Silvertone, with the Chromix control. Cost was about $450. We got that set because a friend had a 23" Silvertone console with same Chromix control which I thought was a pretty cool feature. My dad did not like consoles though, didn't like looking down at the picture. He stacked the new color set on top of the old deceased Zenith Walton which was used as a TV stand. 1st class!

[marty59]

Most likely but not the rule is that if a set had screw on legs then sometimes there would be feet mounted on the bottom of the cabinet also. This was more common on the metal sets that I'd seen.

I remember seeing roundies or large rectangle sets that would be in a bar setting mounted up high. And old Black Angus resturant where I grew up had a chrome cabinet Zenith Chromacolor..maybe 1974-ish, solid state. What a find that set would be today!

[RobtWB]

Kurt I believe your 2 theories are correct. Color was expensive in the late 60 and these smaller table top set were just enough lower in price to make a difference to buyers - a good late nite winter project for someone - to search the web and get some idea of pricing back then(probably already been done). The conversion to hybrid and SS sets made the smaller screen sets much more portable and cheaper to manufacture & sell - hence the quick obsolesence of wooden tubed table top sets.

Here is a Maggie I picked up a year or so ago: tube driven and a wooden cabinet - IIRC it does have the feet/bases to screw legs into.
The second set came from the same household as the first - but it is much older - VHF only and b/w - used as a table top or a consolette -


Correction: I looked again at the color Maggie I have - it is a table top set- rubber feet on the bottom of the cabinet, not the feet/bases for srew in legs - it is the blonde b/w consolette/tabletop that has the feet/bases for twist in legs.

[sampson159]

always liked the table model.we had a metal cabinet 19 inch sylvania.what a great picture.the metal was green and it had the olive green face crt.the colors were rich and full.love to have another one.also like the metal cabinet zenith sets,especially the hybrids and the flat chassis.our neighborhood was about half/half console to table model.it seemed like the folks with plastic on the furniture had consoles.we had both sets.no plastic though.

[radiotvnut]

Ever since I've been fooling with TV's, which has been 20+ years, old console sets were always more common than portables or large table models. When a portable or large table model was found, it was usually "out of sight out of mind" in someone's shed, barn, or garage. When the non-console sets gave out, they were usually trashed. The consoles were kept because the owner either didn't have a way to get rid of something that big or they had plans on gutting the TV and using the cabinet for something else.

As far as console pricing, I remember some late model 25" RCA consoles that used the CTC177/187/203 chassis and these sets were in the $500-$600 range. One could buy the BPC table model version of the same set for around $200-$250. These last consoles were usually being sold to senior citizens who insisted on a console. I'm sure color console sales of the late '90's-early 2000's were about equal to B&W console sales of the late '70's-early '80's.

[DaveWM]

those are a couple nice looking maggies

[bgadow]

A 23" tube color set makes for a monster of a table model. Finding a place to put it gets to be a problem. You either need a very stout table or a hefty shelf unit. Places you might see them were bars or as a built-in if someone had a really nice house. I think the crt that Elvis shot out was a built-in metal cabinet CTC-31 table model.

I've had several "full-size" table models, from GE, Admiral, RCA...I have a Sylvania right now. It would be a lot easier to deal with if it were a console, and if I had the floor space I'd have screwed some legs on by now.

The real monster is the one I have sitting next to it...an Admiral roundie table model! I would tinker with it more but I always have to get help to move it off its perch.

[radiotvnut]

I have a Sylvania roundie color table model in a metal cabinet and that thing is a MONSTER, both in size and weight.

[Red Raster]

I had a good one, a customer put a 36" JVC on a cheap stand. Well to make a long story short, Within 30 days the set fell down and broke it's neck

[kx250rider]

I have a few theories...

Zenith made a ton of metal-cabinet color table models (13" up to 23") from the mid 60s to the early 70s, and they lasted about 20 years trouble-free. Other brands may or may not have lasted so long, and the early Japanese tube sets were a little unreliable, and used bizarre and expensive tubes. I have a '60s Panasonic 17" wood table model (courtesy of a fellow AKer in San Diego), and it's the only Japanese color all-tube table model I've seen change hands in the past couple years.

My theory is that after these sets started to give trouble, they were all junked since there was no "beauty" in the cabinet, or sorrow in throwing away a cheap piece of metal or plastic as opposed to a nice wood cabinet that some housewife might have waxed lovingly for 20 years. To boot, the regular trash man would take the table models, and you'd usually have to call somebody to come take a console. Hence it was easier to shove the console in the garage or basement with a blanket over it, in case you "need it some day". My secondary theory is that as the OP said, there were fewer table model and portable color sets overall made & sold during the 60s than consoles, and they were generally more expensive than consoles due to tougher engineering to cram all that circuitry and heat into a small space.

Charles

[AUdubon5425]

Generally, tabletops were $50-150 less than comparable console models within the same line. That's what I've gathered browsing ads this morning from 1965-69. Interestingly in late '67 Philco was pushing the 5239GY as an affordable color set - metal tabletop roundie - $299.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by AUdubon5425

Generally, tabletops were $50-150 less than comparable console models within the same line. That's what I've gathered browsing ads this morning from 1965-69. Interestingly in late '67 Philco was pushing the 5239GY as an affordable color set - metal tabletop roundie - $299.

Interesting! About that time, I think a fairly major shift started to occur, a generation of near $300 medium sized "portable" sets with roll around carts became available. The 15" RCA CTC 22 for example. These convenient sets sold quite well, I suspect that most people chose convenience over the larger screen size if a table bound set. I suspect that console sales started to decline as well, as this type of design became very popular.

jr

[AUdubon5425]

True, and you also saw some smaller screen Japanese color sets significantly cheaper than the RCAs and such. Cheapest color set I remember seeing was maybe $239, a 15" Panasonic or something similar. There were also the BOTL rectangular color consoles in the $325-350 range - probably tabletops with screw-in legs.

Of course, you could get a 19" B&W for around $140 or a 23" B&W console for $150-250, so they still were significantly cheaper. Some color remote consoles were around $800-$1200.