RCA CTC21 combination

[DavGoodlin]

Craiglist ad find, after owner's neice was sick of FB marketplace inquiries ONLY interested about the records.
IMG_0179.jpg
The estate sale was held weeks ago for the 8-acre fruit farm with a solid, fall-out shelter grade brick cape cod built in 1959. A 1965 Monterey 2 door with 390 4V was sold also. The house had not been redecorated so it was a rare privilege to get a look at that kitchen, dining and living room the late 94 year old owner and wife called home. New owners are farm family of seven kids, FAR better than sold for another lousy warehouse or sprawling development. The had no use for this monstrosity OR the roof antenna.

This 1966 model HH852 combination theatre model sat on the front porch with records still in it, after no interest was shown at the sale. The CRT warranty card showed a local tech installed a new Sylvania RE25AP22A on Christmas eve 1977. The only other bill found inside was dated 1984, so the set may have been going a long after it. The CRT tested pretty strong, so I wonder how long it was in service. No cable at the house, balun from the antenna was connected only to FM terminals.

This has to be the last Rectangular/SS combination (now 3) that I fit in my shop-showroom, I leave the roundie combos to others, my tube stereo Motorola, Mag, RCA, Zenith and Fisher consoles are plenty for me.

No one stepped up to save this trifecta of aircraft carriers : 1965 Admiral in leggy early american with 23EG, Zenith in contemporary walnut 25MC36 25ABP22 replacement. Its hard to beat a CTC25* but this CTC21 has power tuning, and though it is not remote and the control panel was RCA's slickest design to date IMHO.
CTC21 controls .jpg
The TV chassis alone takes about 300 watts, leaving the rest for the 15(?) watt/channel stereo. I have found the biggest and heaviest solid state consoles are normally two echelons above the amp/tuner versions found in these rectangular combination models.

*now I need to move a CTC25 in a perfectly clean dark FP cabinet, its Sylvania replacement CRT is gassed but it makes HV. Maybe I can bring to Kutztown swap in September?

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by DavGoodlin

Craiglist ad find, after owner's neice was sick of FB marketplace inquiries ONLY interested about the records.
Attachment 204249
The estate sale was held weeks ago for the 8-acre fruit farm with a solid, fall-out shelter grade brick cape cod built in 1959. A 1965 Monterey 2 door with 390 4V was sold also. The house had not been redecorated so it was a rare privilege to get a look at that kitchen, dining and living room the late 94 year old owner and wife called home. New owners are farm family of seven kids, FAR better than sold for another lousy warehouse or sprawling development. The had no use for this monstrosity OR the roof antenna.

This 1966 model HH852 combination theatre model sat on the front porch with records still in it, after no interest was shown at the sale. The CRT warranty card showed a local tech installed a new Sylvania RE25AP22A on Christmas eve 1977. The only other bill found inside was dated 1984, so the set may have been going a long after it. The CRT tested pretty strong, so I wonder how long it was in service. No cable at the house, balun from the antenna was connected only to FM terminals.

This has to be the last Rectangular/SS combination (now 3) that I fit in my shop-showroom, I leave the roundie combos to others, my tube stereo Motorola, Mag, RCA, Zenith and Fisher consoles are plenty for me.

No one stepped up to save this trifecta of aircraft carriers : 1965 Admiral in leggy early american with 23EG, Zenith in contemporary walnut 25MC36 25ABP22 replacement. Its hard to beat a CTC25* but this CTC21 has power tuning, and though it is not remote and the control panel was RCA's slickest design to date IMHO.
Attachment 204251
The TV chassis alone takes about 300 watts, leaving the rest for the 15(?) watt/channel stereo. I have found the biggest and heaviest solid state consoles are normally two echelons above the amp/tuner versions found in these rectangular combination models.

*now I need to move a CTC25 in a perfectly clean dark FP cabinet, its Sylvania replacement CRT is gassed but it makes HV. Maybe I can bring to Kutztown swap in September?

Dave, there was a time when I would collect old TVs like this one and others. I lived in a Cleveland suburb at the time (mid-1975-1999), in a house with a large basement, so I had lots of room for old TVs I would drag home from trash piles. My favorite brand of TVs, then as now, was Zenith, so of course I had several of those old sets as well as an Admiral 3-way console (however, when I got the Admiral TV, the stereo and record changer were missing, so there were several gaping holes in the large console cabinet; it would have been great if the stereo components had been left in there, but the set's previous owner must have had other plans for them....darn!).

I also had an Admiral 21" b&w table model in a white cabinet, as well as a few others, such as a Western Auto "Truetone" b&w console and a few other smaller sets. Unfortunately, in the summer of 1972, I moved, not by my choice (long story and OT) and had to dispose of my entire collection of old TVs, save for a 1960s Silvertone color set and a 19" Philco portable. I hated to do it, but my circumstances at the time were such that I had no choice.

Today I live in a one-bedroom apartment, in a very small town 30 miles east of Cleveland, with no room for old TVs. The few sets I still had when I lived at the other house, again, were discarded (again, very long story and OT).

Oh well, at least I still have the memories (all good) of the old TVs I owned when I lived in the suburbs.

BTW, your RCA console looks great; I hope it works as well as it looks. The style of its cabinet was very close to that of the Admiral console I had. I wish the set's former owner had left the stereo components and phono turntable in the cabinet, as I am sure they were very fine quality and probably worked every bit as well as the television probably did.

I believe it was a crying shame Admiral went out of business when they did, as their TVs, radios and stereo components were good, except for some problems their TVs had (such as HV regulation problems, et al. in some of their color sets).

Had the company managed to work around these problems, however, Admiral might still be around today, with the company's name appearing on flat-screen TVs; in fact, I believe there may have been a few Admiral-branded flat-screen sets several years after Admiral's main plant closed for good. I had an uncle who, in the 1970s, IIRC, bought a 19" Admiral color portable TV to replace his Sylvania 21" b&w console. That little portable, which my uncle put on top of the old Sylvania console, worked well for him and his family, although I have no idea what became of it after he passed away some years (if not a decade or more) ago.