For those who have "done this" for awhile...

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by zenith2134

But it's a labor of love, since a lot of these electronics would just be overlooked and discarded if I didn't step in to save them. And I'm not talking about the later, eighties stuff..I've seen such blatant ignorance of people when it comes to high-quality audio gear, such as turntables, tube amplifiers, receivers, high-end speakers etc.
Stuff that can be sold for good money still..but if it takes up too much room or "looks too old" it gets canned. That's where we step in.

Really? I thought tube amps would almost never get canned because it seems they're considered the holy grail of electronics.

My amp isn't tubed, but it isn't as recent as the 80s either.

[rca2000]

Originally Posted by Jon A.

Really? I thought tube amps would almost never get canned because it seems they're considered the holy grail of electronics.

My amp isn't tubed, but it isn't as recent as the 80s either.

They may be the "Holy grail" to US...but to over 95% of people out there...they are just OLD JUNK. And treated that way....

[dishdude]

Originally Posted by rca2000

So...were those new tubes any better than the original ones? or just "more of the same"?

The worst were produced '93-'96, by the time the remanufactured ones were sent out as goodwill replacements they seemed to have the issue corrected.

[Sandy G]

Originally Posted by rca2000

They may be the "Holy grail" to US...but to over 95% of people out there...they are just OLD JUNK. And treated that way....

Yep. And "Civilians" just NEVER understand WHY anybody in his Right Mind would want such an old thing..

[rca2000]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Yep. And "Civilians" just NEVER understand WHY anybody in his Right Mind would want such an old thing..

NOT at least until they hear about how someone sold one of those "pieces of junk" often for enough money to buy a good laptop, I pad or flat-panel tv...

[Jon A.]

Still, it seems they're far less likely to be thrown out than anything else that plugs in.

[zeno]

Originally Posted by dishdude

I think they knew they had a tube issue, and were just taking care of their customers. I know they replaced a lot of tubes and boards that were out of warranty for a couple years with no hassle.

The last Zenith seminar I went to was about 2 yrs into the problem.
This one was run by the Chicago boys not the usual local distributor.
They knew there was a big problem but gave no clue as to what
was the cause. Must have been hard for them going from CRT's
that lasted too long to the garbage they had to defend. Must
have been like finding out a loved relative was an ax murderer.
Kinda felt sorry for them.

MANY CRT's were changed after warranty. They would go out as
far as 5 yrs, the higher the level of set the longer. All they asked us
was to chip in with a reduced labor rate & we did ONLY if we sold
the set new. No big deal, you can whip a jug into these in
minutes. Back dating was another commonly used technique
for sets we sold.

Sears sold Zeniths were a different story. At the time they were
buying sets WITHOUT a factory warranty & ate any repairs themself.
If your tube went in 2 yrs you were OK. 2 yrs & one day &
you were screwed !

73 Zeno

[Zenith26kc20]

best lived CRT's in my collection are the Motorola 7 inch electrostatic. I have one 8 inch that has a perfect tube but the chassis is set up with a 7 inch right now.
I have seen a lot of sets from motels and resturants that, as mentioned, were simply played to death.
As for the famous(?) Zenith tubes that wacked the regulator when it shorted, I never saw one with great color.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by rca2000

So...were those new tubes any better than the original ones? or just "more of the same"?

A friend that worked for one of the larger TV repair firms, back then, remarked the placement CRT's, that Zenith furnished, didn't have that great of a picture on them.
He remarked, the CRT's had that "gassy" look to them. They were only slightly better than the tubes they replaced.
They were only a little better than the "bleeders". I'll bet that they didn't look that good, a few months later.

[rca2000]

Originally Posted by Zenith26kc20

best lived CRT's in my collection are the Motorola 7 inch electrostatic. I have one 8 inch that has a perfect tube but the chassis is set up with a 7 inch right now.
I have seen a lot of sets from motels and resturants that, as mentioned, were simply played to death.
As for the famous(?) Zenith tubes that wacked the regulator when it shorted, I never saw one with great color.

I still have that 92 Zenith console with a VERY good tube--which appears to be original..believe it or not. I only got it to use as a test jig last month or so. It's need is long past, and it served me well as a jig. Now--it is all back together with it's original chassis, in my garage--waiting for its next use. The cabinet is quite good, and I just could not scrap it, as I very well may need it again in the future, either as a jig again--or maybe even someone might want a console color set. And i paid VERY little for the set.

[rca2000]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

A friend that worked for one of the larger TV repair firms, back then, remarked the placement CRT's, that Zenith furnished, didn't have that great of a picture on them.
He remarked, the CRT's had that "gassy" look to them. They were only slightly better than the tubes they replaced.
They were only a little better than the "bleeders". I'll bet that they didn't look that good, a few months later.

I seem to recall him being right. Those tubes they sent were not all that good. They kind of reminded me of a 23EGP22 tube--if anyone ever saw a good one. I have talked to a few who did, and they claim those tube also never really had a real good picture. I mean the replacement Zenith tubes were usually passable...but that was IT. And I am not at ALL sure they held out any better than their predecessors either...

As for that 23EGP22...a friend I have says he has seen an RE 23EGP22, and it had a VERY good pix, but I did not know ANY EGP22 pubes got the RE treatment !!

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by rca2000

I seem to recall him being right. Those tubes they sent were not all that good. They kind of reminded me of a 23EGP22 tube--if anyone ever saw a good one. I have talked to a few who did, and they claim those tube also never really had a real good picture. I mean the replacement Zenith tubes were usually passable...but that was IT. And I am not at ALL sure they held out any better than their predecessors either...

As for that 23EGP22...a friend I have says he has seen an RE 23EGP22, and it had a VERY good pix, but I did not know ANY EGP22 pubes got the RE treatment !!

I bought a brand new Motorola set with the ETS908 chassis, the 28 tube job.
Outside of having a slight purity problem, in the lower left corner, the CRT had a decent picture for about nine years. The tenth year, I used a brightener, as all three guns were low. It definitely outlasted most of my customer's CRT's, no matter what make.
The 23EG, used with the better chassis, seemed to last a lot longer, than when used with the TS914 chassis.

[rcaman]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

A friend that worked for one of the larger TV repair firms, back then, remarked the placement CRT's, that Zenith furnished, didn't have that great of a picture on them.
He remarked, the CRT's had that "gassy" look to them. They were only slightly better than the tubes they replaced.
They were only a little better than the "bleeders". I'll bet that they didn't look that good, a few months later.

i replaced a few of those tubes and i was an rca dealer and rca warranty. but zenith shipped the tubes to me and paid me. the replacement tubes i used did not look good. and they did not last that long either. the customers ended up with rca set's with no crt problems and ran great for years. say what you want but thomson made some great long lasting crt's. and if you stop and think just many they made in the millions the defect rate was very low. i sold rca for well over 20 years and a lots of them. very few i mean very few crt replacements now flybacks that's another story.