What was the 1st TV you purchased NEW?

[Username1]

I have never actually purchased a new tv. I have purchased tv's off ebay, and Cl over the last few years, but never a new one from a store.... TV in a box, new with guarantee, instruction booklet..... never had that experience.

[Jeffhs]

The first new TV I bought for myself, in 1975 after I graduated high school, was a Kenco (house brand of the now long defunct Kennedy and Cohen retail chain of the 1970s) 12" b&w tube-powered portable. Worked well while I had it, but something burned out or shorted in it after I had owned it just 3 years. Didn't bother having it repaired; instead, I replaced it with a Zenith J121Y 12" solid-state portable that lasted me 22 years. No problems with that set whatsoever, except for the UHF tuner detent mechanism breaking after about 10-12 years (!) and jamming the tuner on one channel.

[Sandy G]

Guess the 1st one I bought myself was that 1985-85 Sony 25" XBR set-GREAT picture, but it died after about 5 years. Still have the funkay square APM speakers.

[holmesuser01]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Guess the 1st one I bought myself was that 1985-85 Sony 25" XBR set-GREAT picture, but it died after about 5 years. Still have the funkay square APM speakers.

Sandy, you must be really rough on TV's. I've gotten 21 years out of the 1991 27" XBR set that I have... Got 19 years out of the original CRT!

I've done nothing other than replace the big regulator IC, and minor PC bad solder connections. It keeps going, and going... not unlike an energizer bunny.

[Sandy G]

I dunno, Bruce...That was when I lived across the street at my parents' house. there was somethin' FUNNY about the electricity there-Litebubs had NO life there, & one of my Boatanchors-an R-389-was forever blowing voltage rectifier tubes. We had the local power co-op monitor the voltage, & they found nothing out of the ordinary, but SOMETHING was amiss. Finally, I bought my house across the street, & -Knock on wood-I haven't had any more problems.

[Jeffhs]

I don't think a well-known brand of TV such as Sony, especially their sets from the '80s, before many makes became junk in a very short time, would konk out after only five years. One of my great-aunts had a 12" Sony color portable in the '70s that lasted over twenty years, and was used a lot since she liked sports and watching shows such as PBS's "Victory Garden", et al. When that set finally died, she bought another, larger Sony TV that outlived her. She lived maybe five years after getting that set, and to the best of my knowledge it was still working when she died. I don't know what happened to the set after that; it probably was inherited by another relative, who may still have it.

[holmesuser01]

Slightly off subject, but still relevant:

I had a Sears customer that owned a Warwick built Sears set that she bought in 1973, and had it checked every year under her maintenance agreement. It had never seen service, other than one focus rectifier in around 1975. I last saw it at her home in 1995, and it still looked good. It produced a good black and white picture, too. She passed away around 1997 and a friend of mine bought the television from her son, and it ran on for another 11 years before lightning got it thru the antenna and tuner. Even then, it would still turn on and give a raster. I saw it playing several times during the time my friend had it. Really good example of a Warwick set. It must have been built on a good day at the plant.

[Sandy G]

W/this set, the screen would go DARK, & all you could see was red & green-no blue. Seems like the sharpness kinda went south, too. I bought ithis thing from one of those catalog sellers in NYC, & it was well after the warranty would have expired anyway. PITA, it was an otherwise excellent set. Nobody around here worked on Sonys, & wrestlin' that damthing around was difficult, to say the least. I'd say it weighed a good 150-175 lbs, I know I saw stars 'n' lightnings & schitt when I picked it up...

[Username1]

Sounds like Sandy's parents house had a bad ground rod, A friend had blowing light bulbs, appliances, etc. I told him the ground rod was not good, and to check the connection, & get the rod replaced by a pro, he did and it fixed his problems. It was in Atlanta, where the rod can be a set of rods because of the ground resistance.

[Sandy G]

Originally Posted by Username1

Sounds like Sandy's parents house had a bad ground rod, A friend had blowing light bulbs, appliances, etc. I told him the ground rod was not good, and to check the connection, & get the rod replaced by a pro, he did and it fixed his problems. It was in Atlanta, where the rod can be a set of rods because of the ground resistance.

Oh, yeah, our house was built in '54, had "2-prong" outlets, I dunno if it even HAD a ground rod...Wouldn't have made any difference, our house sat on a rock ledge.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Username1

Sounds like Sandy's parents house had a bad ground rod, A friend had blowing light bulbs, appliances, etc. I told him the ground rod was not good, and to check the connection, & get the rod replaced by a pro, he did and it fixed his problems. It was in Atlanta, where the rod can be a set of rods because of the ground resistance.

Sounds to me as if the bad ground was sending well over 110 volts into the electrical system (without the ground, there may well have been 220 volts or more at every outlet, and every point in the system for that matter), which accounts easily for the burned-out bulbs and damaged appliances. I'm surprised there was no fire.

If the ground rod(s) at Sandy's folks' home was/were defective, I am surprised the electric utility technicians didn't see it right away rather than saying nothing was wrong, even after all their testing. Something had to be very much haywire, of course, if light bulbs were going bad before their time, the rectifier tube in Sandy's R-389 receiver failed again and again for no apparent reason, etc.

[dieseljeep]

All of the above entries suggest a neutral fault instead of a ground problem. It's true that a low resistance ground is very important, it shouldn't be a substitute for a neutral return. Many times there is a bad connection at the transformer secondary or the service drop. The ground is used for faults and lightning protection.

[julianburke]

Back in about 1981 bought a 21" Sony color for $750 from a friend in the TV biz. I got my dad to buy one not long after that. I still have them both in storage and they both still work.

[Kalamazoo-DJ]

Mine was a new 1996 35" RCA Colortrack Plus Console with PIP got it at best buy for $650.00 still have it and rarely used it less than 90 hours on it today

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

The first new TV I bought for myself, in 1975 after I graduated high school, was a Kenco (house brand of the now long defunct Kennedy and Cohen retail chain of the 1970s) 12" b&w tube-powered portable. Worked well while I had it, but something burned out or shorted in it after I had owned it just 3 years. Didn't bother having it repaired; instead, I replaced it with a Zenith J121Y 12" solid-state portable that lasted me 22 years. No problems with that set whatsoever, except for the UHF tuner detent mechanism breaking after about 10-12 years (!) and jamming the tuner on one channel.

That Kenco set was made by Sampo in Taiwan. IIRC, they were sold as a leader for something like $50.00, or a little more. Most people bought them for the childrens room etc. No one wanted to spend much to get them repaired, as they were so inexpensive to begin with. I must have gotten a few of them as freebees. They were always an easy fix and I sold them for close to what they cost new. So goes the good old days!