Uncommon 1948 FADA Model 965 Console

[Tim]

A week or so ago I received notification of a FADA TV going up for auction over the weekend. No model number but It looked interesting with the stepped top and in very nice condition so I threw in a token online bid and promptly forgot about it. Yesterday I received an e-mail invoice from the auction company. I briefly thought it was spam and then remembered about the TV. I had won.

I went to pick it up today and it is a 16" set from 1948 in excellent original condition with some scratches. I had thought it was probably a 12" but I had done no research. It is a model 965. I don't believe that I have ever seen one and I do not think there are many around. It even has the original wooden back. The center portion of the top lifts off and there is an AC interlock to interrupt power when it is removed. RCA 630 style chassis with channel 1. The chassis is rust free. I have not tested the metal 16AP4 CRT yet.

The 1948 ad for this model from the TV History site is here: http://www.tvhistory.tv/1948-Fada-Ad.JPG FADA must have offered these for several years as the date on the power transformer is mid 1949. No price listed in the ad so it was probably not cheap. It is an impressive cabinet and is larger that it appears in the photo.

Does anyone else have one of these?

[oldtvsandtoy]

nice set for $80

[Electronic M]

Great score!

The construction of the cabinet as seen from the rear almost makes it look like a table model that had the factory optional bolt on stand (I've seen later 50's sets in that cabnet config).

[MadMan]

Beautiful set.

"30 tube chassis" - holy crap.

Um... have fun!

[old_coot88]

Nice! That's a real cream puff. Luv the camo CRT coating. On the rare occasion we got a Fada in the shop, one of us goofballs would quip, "Here's da fadda. Where's da mudda?"

[kramden66]

Cool set

[Tim]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

The construction of the cabinet as seen from the rear almost makes it look like a table model that had the factory optional bolt on stand (I've seen later 50's sets in that cabnet config).

That had not occurred to me but it sure does. The tabletop 16" model 925 looks the same as the top of this one. Here is the ad for it: http://www.tvhistory.tv/1948-FADA-brochure2.JPG

I'll look at the set closer tomorrow and see if that is in fact the case.

Thanks MadMan.

LOL Old Coot. Some lines take on a life of their own. The coating is not "camo" like it looks. The shield is translucent plastic and where it has adhered to the bell over time it looks darker.

[Celt]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

"Here's da fadda. Where's da mudda?"

Haw!

[Crist Rigott]

Nice score!

[Jeffhs]

This set has 31 tubes, while later TVs from the '50s to the end of the tube era had far fewer tubes. This was due to the development of multi-section 7- and nine-pin miniature tubes that could perform two or more functions. These tubes were used extensively in small portables of the '60s, and I believe there was at least one set that had both video IF stages in one tube. Probably an inexpensive set designed for use in strong signal areas; I want to say like Muntz, but I don't think that company made portable TVs.

Combining the horizontal oscillator and AFC in one tube was popular in small, inexpensive portables of the '60s-'70s. I had several small portables that did in fact combine both functions in a single tube, and in fact my Kenco (Broadmoor) set, which I bought new in 1975, had a 38HE7 horizontal output-damper tube; my Sharp all-channel portable (both sets are long gone) also had such a tube, IIRC, in the same position.

Just goes to show how far TV had come since the late 1940s. My best guess is this Fada set required an outdoor antenna to work at all in most areas, since I'm sure most TV stations of the time were low-powered operations with, at most, a 15-20 mile range. This was for so-called "local" reception outside the suburbs; to get the stations at any distance from the transmitters, however, a high-power TV antenna on a tower was required. I remember in the '60s-'70s seeing large TV antennas on towers in the Akron, Ohio area, thirty miles from Cleveland; this was before high-power UHF stations and even before cable. I knew someone in the Canton, Ohio area (sixty-some miles from Cleveland) in the '70s who was able to get decent color TV reception from Cleveland stations using rabbit ears, but I believe this was an exception, not the rule, in those days.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Definitely an interesting design. I like it.

[Tim]

Well Tom's observation about this model being the tabletop version model 925 attached to a matching bottom does seem to be the case. The top cabinet is, in fact, bolted to the bottom with a decorative spacer in between.

I tested the CRT today and it is marginal but has good cutoff so will produce a picture. It is dated middle of '49 as are most of the other tubes I checked and the power transformer so I am guessing it is the original.

The 5U4's are dated early '55 and the 2nd sync amp 6SN7 is dated last week of '56. There is a note on the chassis that the 6SN7 was changed 2/5/57. This set seems to have been in use for nearly 10 years.

I am surmising that the serial number is 305 based on the numbers stamped into the chassis above the model number tag. I am assuming that the prefix (A92591) refers to the chassis type as the stamping was definitely done at a different time. It would be interesting to discover the serial numbers of any other 925 or 965 units out there.

[electronjohn]

Heckuva find!

[EdKozk2]

Nice set Tim,
An old fashion stackable.
When you get the set apart see if there used to be a safety screen/ grille under the chassis. I noticed alot of the sets us VKr's come across are missing the bottoms. I have a very curious little grand daughter, can't wait to get her hands into things. It's in the genes, I suspect. I wonder if some of the manufactures never even used underside shock prevention.
Ed

[Tim]

Ed:

It may be a while before I get to it but I am willing to bet there was no screen.