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Telecolor 3007 02-15-2017 07:20 AM

The last tv set Made in U.S.A./the influece of Asian made tv sets
 
When where produced the last tv sets Made in U.S.A.?
What was the ifluence of Asian made tv sets on the electronics industry of the U.S.A.?

Electronic M 02-15-2017 08:17 AM

Depends on your metric. If it was the last American engineered sets made with a large portion of American parts, in America, then Zenith in the late 70's would be it...They moved the last of their consumer production to Mexico in the late 70's, and were probably the last old American consumer electronics firm in business to be American owned when Goldstar took them over... Other makes took Asian chassis and stuck them in American made console cabinets with American CRTs, and many Asian makes shipped kits to the USA for 'Assembly' plants to build to save on tariffs (I believe this is still done).

Telecolor 3007 02-15-2017 08:22 AM

But in 1975-1977 there was any U.S.A. set with U.S.A. made components? :sigh:

Electronic M 02-15-2017 08:58 AM

Zenith sets DID use American components in that time frame. There were some euro-sourced tubes and some other parts (certain cap and resistor types) but they used as much (mostly) American parts as they could while maintaining their quality standards.

You can find some euro parts in some American sets going back to the early 50's...When the Korean war caused parts shortages we bought resistors from Germany, and used mislabeled domestic resistors of correct electrical value to fill in gaps. It was not uncommon to source tubes from Europe or Asia and relabel them with a domestic brand....Ever seen a Zenith tube with Holland written on it?

Telecolor 3007 02-15-2017 09:14 AM

No, never seen one.

bgadow 02-15-2017 09:31 PM

The use of imported components really grew in the late 60's/early 70's with Japanese capacitors, tuners from Taiwan or Hong Kong...but final assembly in the US. Aside from smaller screen sets (13" or smaller, generally) picture tubes tended to be made in the US well into the 90's.

Zenith was probably the last major American-owned TV manufacturer, but among their later sets only the consoles were assembled here, and using imported chassis'. RCA & North American Phillips may have been packing more American-made content in their sets in the early/mid-90's than Zenith was; they were both foreign-owned companies by then, of course. Later, the NAP factory in Tennessee was run by an American company, assembling sets for other companies, and I believe there may be at least one American-owned company assembling flatscreen TV sets here right now. But like Tom said, it's just final assembly. I'm sure some components are still sourced here.

mrjukebox160 02-16-2017 12:46 AM

2 Attachment(s)
Here ya go.

Telecolor 3007 02-16-2017 05:55 AM

@ bgadow : but the rest of semiconductors, the circuit boards where Made in U.S.A.? :scratch2:

centralradio 02-16-2017 03:34 PM

Not to sound like anti American but those American made TVs looks like they were designed by drunk engineers as you see the rats nest of wires and idiot house numbered stamped parts.Some were not bad and some were a disaster to work on.

Thank goodness for Panasonic/Sony/Toshiba came in to clean up the rats nest of wires and easy parts numbering systems. And also more reliable then the American sets.I'll take any vintage Sony, Panasonic or Toshiba over a Zenith,Sylvania or RCA any day.

DavGoodlin 02-16-2017 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrjukebox160 (Post 3178725)
Here ya go.

Good tangent there! Zenith and some others like Fisher needed long-lived tubes for their high-fidelity console "stereos", so they went to Amperex and Mullard for tubes:thmbsp:

This applies to some of the TV's too. A good example is the 6EH7, 6GJ7 and other frame-grid tubes made in Europe that Zenith, RCA, Motorola and others used. Japan supplied some tubes to manufacturers in the 1960s as well.

Electronic M 02-16-2017 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by centralradio (Post 3178774)
Not to sound like anti American but those American made TVs looks like they were designed by drunk engineers as you see the rats nest of wires and idiot house numbered stamped parts.Some were not bad and some were a disaster to work on.

Thank goodness for Panasonic/Sony/Toshiba came in to clean up the rats nest of wires and easy parts numbering systems. And also more reliable then the American sets.I'll take any vintage Sony, Panasonic or Toshiba over a Zenith,Sylvania or RCA any day.

Depends on the vintage....Many tube and hybrid color Japanese sets were a cramped pain in the but to work on, with as bad or worse a rats nest as any American made color set of the time....Whats more parts and connections were often hidden and or buried under other parts and connections.....One of the more annoying examples I can think of is my early 70's Panasonic 6 tube hybrid....I've been putting it it off since it had lytic type hum in the sound, and the main cans on the chassis may as well be a permanent part of the chassis....They are packed in on all sides such that I can't remove them without basically tearing the chassis in half and disconnecting tons of soldered wiring...I can't recall if I can even access the terminals, but I KNOW they did not leave me enough room near them to mount new ones....So if I need to replace them I'm going to have to get VERY creative and or work VERY hard...I'd rather do 10 similar cap jobs on Service Saver Zeniths, RCA tube/hybrid sets, or Admirals of the day...

Telecolor 3007 02-16-2017 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by centralradio (Post 3178774)
Not to sound like anti American but those American made TVs looks like they were designed by drunk engineers as you see the rats nest of wires and idiot house numbered stamped parts.Some were not bad and some were a disaster to work on.

Thank goodness for Panasonic/Sony/Toshiba came in to clean up the rats nest of wires and easy parts numbering systems. And also more reliable then the American sets.I'll take any vintage Sony, Panasonic or Toshiba over a Zenith,Sylvania or RCA any day.

You're talkin about tube/hybrid sets or also solid state ones? :saywhat:

centralradio 02-17-2017 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electronic M (Post 3178785)
Depends on the vintage....Many tube and hybrid color Japanese sets were a cramped pain in the but to work on, with as bad or worse a rats nest as any American made color set of the time....Whats more parts and connections were often hidden and or buried under other parts and connections.....One of the more annoying examples I can think of is my early 70's Panasonic 6 tube hybrid....I've been putting it it off since it had lytic type hum in the sound, and the main cans on the chassis may as well be a permanent part of the chassis....They are packed in on all sides such that I can't remove them without basically tearing the chassis in half and disconnecting tons of soldered wiring...I can't recall if I can even access the terminals, but I KNOW they did not leave me enough room near them to mount new ones....So if I need to replace them I'm going to have to get VERY creative and or work VERY hard...I'd rather do 10 similar cap jobs on Service Saver Zeniths, RCA tube/hybrid sets, or Admirals of the day...

Yes those Japanese set had their share of rats nests.Probably had the same drunk engineers designing them.I remember those Panasonic's since my late sister had one.One good thing even with the rats nest in the Japanese sets is they used the standard Jedec part numbers then the crap house numbers the US TV's used.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007 (Post 3178793)
You're talkin about tube/hybrid sets or also solid state ones? :saywhat:

More likely Solid State sets.The hybrids were a mess including the overseas sets..GE comes up on the top of the list.The GE Port a Color I have here was my late step dads set which is the only reason I kept it.The Motorola works in the drawer were great except for the board connections.

Robert Grant 02-19-2017 07:15 PM

I see in some stores (even a very famous chain) new "Element" branded flat panel sets that claim to be "Made in USA".

mrjukebox160 02-19-2017 08:34 PM

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/l...ade-in-america


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