Sacreligious!!! I put a new TV in old cabinet!!!

[Jeffhs]

Carmine,

Those older Magnavox systems were great. I'm glad you decided to keep yours when you moved, as these systems aren't as common (even used) as they once were--even on ebay. Back in the '80s I saw a few of these sets and even one three-way stereo theater console with, IIRC, quad sound--I remember seeing a speaker switch near the phonograph (but the TV wasn't working; someone had either smashed the CRT or taken it out--don't know to this day, over twenty years later, whether that system was ever restored to its proper condition). One other such unit was a Magnavox AM/FM console unit with phonograph (Magnavox's signature Micromatic with very low tracking force, which was probably the best changer the company ever used in its combo units) from the '50s. I was reminded of it when I saw the pics of your console being refinished; the tweeter horns as well as the woofers were sitting on two chairs in, I think, your basement at the time.

BTW, those Magnavox consoles were probably the only such systems I ever saw with exponential tweeter horns; I have never seen anything like that since in 3-way or RP consoles of other manufacturers, including RCA.

BTW (2): I'm glad you said that the TV you installed in the older Porthole cabinet was "one of the last good sets" made by Zenith. I'll tell you why I said that. I have a Zenith SMS1917SG 19" table model set in my bedroom which I received as a birthday present in 1995. Today, almost ten years later, it still works as well as it did when it was new--no CRT problems or chassis troubles to date (knock on wood). The only problem, if you can call it that, I ever had with that set was one time when I couldn't get a clear picture on one of the cable channels. The cable technician told me it was caused by my set, not the cable.

Well, Comcast has completely rewired its system since then; my Zenith, as well as my RCA 19" in the living room of my apartment, now work extremely well. The Zenith set makes excellent pictures on most channels, whereas when I first moved here in late 1999 I had problems with certain channels (broadcast as well as cable), but I am sure that was due to problems with the cable system (I eventually started getting white sparkles on my TV picture on both sets on channel 3, the NBC station in Cleveland, as well as on channel 4, which is the channel the UPN station in Cleveland is downconverted to on this system). As I said, when the cable company finally got around to rewiring the system, the problem cleared up.