Very expensive 26" rca home entertainment center on let's make a deal
 

A few weeks ago i saw the great monty hall on an early 80s episode with this rca system i had never seen or heard of. I hope somebody here can identify it from my discription:
2 very large black face in white box speakers on each side of a claimed 26" tv with radio and i think cassette. Not sure if it had turntable but it should have for $6,000!
I was surprised by that price and imagine it must be an awesome sounding system considering my '72 rca hec with special enclosed speakers sounded excellent.
Thank you and i would like to buy such system in any condition if available.

I believe there was a thread about the same set or a
similar RCA. IIRC it was a component system like
Zenith & a few others tried in the early to mid 80's.
What ever the case a TOTL console TV would be $900-$1200
at the time. At 6K they would be VERY rare, probably one
run of 500-1000 units.

IMHO the ultra modern solid state sets from 70's to 80's
are very desirable. Only the Zenith Avanti's could be called
common. Seems every US TV maker came out with
one & some are super rare or none exist anymore. They
were the showpiece of the brand you would see at CES
but not many other places.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

The RCA component TV system was called Dimensia. Unlike the Zenith and Sony systems, RCA did not separate the TV tuner/switcher from the display, if I remember right. RCA's system would have included a VHS VCR and likely a CED video disc player in the full setup.

That $6000 price was probably like most "game show prices", that is, highly inflated from actual or maybe even list prices. Wheel Of Fortune routinely had a "$385" phone answering machine among its offerings in the early 1980s, well after such machines were seldom over $100-125 in the stores.

...

I just saw a black cabinet dimensia that I could have had cheap.

A good friend in the advertising business was puzzled by that choice of name. That's like alzheimer's, yes?...:thumbsdn:

Thanks everybody. Has anybody heard the stereo sound from one of these systems?
 

I wonder how those speakers perform? I imagine they are great. I have mentioned many times that my huge '72 rca hec had awesome sound from speakers that had enclosures inside and i think ceramic magnets? So, i am trying to get the equivelant in a tv record player stereo combo as i lost my precious '72 rca :cry:
Many years ago i serviced a bad solder connection in a module on a friend's 26" dimensia just like shown in the link here. I had forgotten about that set. My repair lasted many years until he through the set in garbage.
I bet the stereo, turntables and speakers are hard to find but hope to get a witness statement to how the sound range is compsred to ny beloved '72 rca?

When the RCA brass finally figured this out they dropped the Dimensia name from the product line. I bought RCA's Dimensia TV receiver, their 1st stereo TV, in 1985 along w/the stereo AM/FM receiver and the cassette player. Expensive gear at the time. The TV is long gone but I still have the stereo receiver and the cassette player.

-Steve D.

Who built the stereo gear ??

...

Have to agree w/Andy that short of removing the cover and exposing the interior, I have to go w/Hitachi during this time period. The product was made in Japan.

-Steve D.

It seemed the RCA VCR's were first made by Panasonic, then Hitachi and a mix of Panasonic and Samsung. Hitachi made some for GE, as well.
I thought "Dimensia" was a great name for the product line. You had to have a mental problem to pay that much for that equipment. :sigh:

They used to have similar names between competing companies with similar products
 

Can't think of a good electronic example but which is better? A ford xlt lariat or a dodge slt laramie?
So the rca dimensia should have to compete with a zenith alZheimer "electronics that'll take your mind away from it all"

You can add Silverado LTZ Texas Edition and Tundra 1794 edition to that list. As well as Sierra Denali.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have one of these systems from 1984 or so (tuner, amp, CD, cassette and speakers). It's a great system, but the first gen was really designed to work in tandem with the television. The TV had a computer board in it that tied to the components through the "control" port. Then if you pressed "cassette record" on the remote, the TV would turn, and then it would power up the amp and cassette recorder automatically and begin recording (if a blank cassette was loaded, of coarse). I don't use it anymore, and nobody seems to want it because it has the stink of late 90's RCA branded garbage. I think that this and the Sharp Optonica are two of my favorite systems.