Here's the Zenith 14N22(Z) chassis B&W console from the "thrift"

[radiotvnut]

As promised, here are some pictures of the TV that I paid way too much for at the thrift store. It's a 14N22 (Z) chassis and looks nice. Someone took care of this set. The chassis is only dusty. No cigarette smoke residue, for a change. This set has a neat feature in that the VHF channel indicator is in the center of the VHF knob. Also, I'm impressed with the looks of the tuner and the fact that it has two decent size speakers inside. The only immediate evidence of repair are some Sylvania tubes. I think tubes was the main thing that failed on these sets. I used to find many style of Zenith B&W sets and most only needed simple repairs. They are really hard to beat.

I'm guessing that this TV is from the mid to late '60's. Any comments are welcome.

[radiotvnut]

Here it is in action just like I got it. I have not done a thing to this TV (yet). The CRT is better than I thought. All the controls and the tuner need cleaning. I'll also replace any weak tubes that I find. That should be all that's needed for this one.

[drh4683]

Cool set! Glad you saved it. By the chassis number, its a 1966 model, but theres some more to it than that.....

You have a very special set there. Its zenith's longest lasting production run of a particular TV model. It was introduced in 1966 as the model N2428W and was available as late as 1973 with the C2428W using the exact same 14N22 chassis! The TV's were completely identical as well, including channel knobs.

You can tell what year your set is off the model number. The model will start with a letter N,X,Y,Z,A,B,C which correspond to the follwing years respectively: 66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73. Also, take a look at the CRT label. The CRT is always the newest component of the TV and would indicate to the closest time as to when the set was manufactured. The date code on a zenith is a perforrated number like "1-19" which would indicate 19th week of 1971. The first digit is the last digit of the year. Third digit is assumed by approximate decade.

[radiotvnut]

Thanks for the information. According to the date code on the CRT and the Zenith tubes that still remain, it's a '69 model. I'm sure post '65 B&W consoles are rare. I think most people by that time would only buy a color TV if they were going with a cabinet model. Of course, there were plenty of people that did not want any part of a color TV. I can probably count on one hand the number of post '65 B&W consoles that I've actually owned. This one is probably the newest.

I played my set for several hours without problems. I'm impressed with the sound quality. I've heard newer, high end color TV's that couldn't match this one in terms of sound. I still need to clean the controls; but, that can wait until tomorrow.

[nasadowsk]

Looks like there's a huge fingerprint on the screen

[radiotvnut]

Yep, you can thank the digital camera for that.

[bgadow]

I have a variant of this; had a lot of weak or shorted tubes but after replacement it works well. It has a vertical roll problem so I need to go hunting for a bad cap, I guess. These are great DX sets.

[radiotvnut]

I'm sure the tuner tubes are weak in my set. The analog OTA reception is not as good as it could be. It does better on cable and the DTV converter box. I'll get it up to full speed before 2/17 so I can have fun with some analog DX'ing. I guess the tuner will stay on channel 3 after 2/17.

[NowhereMan 1966]

It looks like the TV set from the "Bewitched" TV series. Good catch.

[zenith2134]

It would be a treat to DX with this set. Lookin good!