Heathkit GR900 color set - Videokarma.org TV - Video

Ray Sieracki · #1 01-10-2010, 09:41 PM

Just brought a heathkit GR900 home today. It 's a 1 owner , and also came with the original asembly books , troubleshooting and other paperwork It also has a special order cabinet as apparently it could have also been put into a home built, or wall installation. I was told it was taken out of service in the 1980's and had a new 25VADP22 matrix tube installed before it was retired.
As I have not seen many Heathkit tv's, I find it looks like it was made to service , with a swing out chassis. It also has a service meter built in to calibrate circuits
My question is is this set worthy of a restoration. The chassis is in pristine shape as well as the cabinet , both were wrapped in a thin plasitc wrap for protection. In a day or so, I shall test this picture tube with my B&K.
and look into the HV cage for starter's .
I am not really into rectangular sets but this one is different, I appreciate your opinions and knowledge on this or other heathkits.

sampson159 · #2 01-11-2010, 10:12 AM

this is a keeper.heathkits are unusual and very scarce these days.restore any old set.the market is so low we need all saved.you have my blessings and please post pics!

zenith2134 · #3 01-11-2010, 03:38 PM

+1 Pics

Any Heath color set is worth having in my book!! Congrats

RobtWB · #4 01-11-2010, 04:47 PM

Picked up a GR 500 about a year and a half ago. Really haven't looked into it all that much. But I am almost 100 % convinced that the CRT has reached the end of its life, although other problems can cause this effect. It did come with all the manuals so it should be easy to diagnose and repair. I did watch some of the 2008 Olympic Games - Bejing, China on this old set. The picture is actually watchable once the set plays for a bit. Tried to post pics but the system tells me I already posted them in an earlier thread - maybe they are till there.

Ray Sieracki · #5 01-11-2010, 07:20 PM

Looks like I am leaning into getting into my 1st rectaganular set by what everyone here is telling me. I have not worked on a color set in years but I guess it is like riding a bike,you never really forget how. The set is plastic wrapped and in the garage. I will take some pictures as soon as i can. I went thru and skimmed thru the 7 books it came with. The owner said it was taken out of service in 1985 but I found some records that it was serviced by Heathkit Electronic Center out this way as late as 12/1986 with an updated High Voltage Module. So i guess it worked up until then, now how good is the CRT?

old_tv_nut · #6 01-12-2010, 09:42 PM

What year(s) was the GR-900 sold? I assembled a Heathkit in 1975, and at that time they used RCA CRTs.

Ray Sieracki · #7 01-13-2010, 09:03 AM

From what the previous owner told me, he took a course under the GI bill and I believe it was in 1975. It is alot warmer today , I hope to unwrap the plastic wrap that was put on this set and the cabinet as well and take some pictures as well to post. It has been in a plastic time capsule since the 80's.

wbain · #8 10-15-2010, 02:28 AM

Personally, I would resolder all the connections. I still have my GR-2050, 21" version of the 25" GR-2000. I built it in 1976 and it took a week.

holmesuser01 · #9 10-15-2010, 10:44 AM

I own some homebuilt Heath equipment, along with some Dynaco audio stuff. If the builder was a good solderer, I vote to grab the stuff. If not, they can be a real headache, like the Dynaco Stereo 70 that I got that I could bump with a hand and make the channels go out, or make the tubes go out. Its problem was that the builder didnt use enough solder on anything. Many intermittent connections later, all is well, and everything is working as it should. Even found a crossed connection that made everything coming off the preamp play through the output tubes in mono.

Bruce

mbates14 · #10 10-15-2010, 06:28 PM