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  #1  
Old 12-23-2015, 02:58 PM
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What year Zenith?

I'm guessing this is solid state, not sure. A friend wants to know how old it is.
Anyone know?
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  #2  
Old 12-23-2015, 03:23 PM
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Circa '79-'82, solid state color. Likely uses a system 3 chassis with a 9-160 power supply/sweep module.
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Old 12-23-2015, 04:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by radiotvnut View Post
Circa '79-'82, solid state color. Likely uses a system 3 chassis with a 9-160 power supply/sweep module.
You nailed it! I have the exact same set IIRC mine says it is a 1978...9-160 System 3 inside, original instructions, and a darn good performer with a strong CRT to boot.
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Old 12-23-2015, 05:00 PM
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My first experience with one of those was a low hours set that someone gave me, back around '93. I repaired the 9-160 module and sold it real quick for $85. That's right, $85 - for a 13" set! My, how times have changed.

Currently, I have two similar models. One has a single knob varactor tuner and the other one has an oddball continuous tuner. I also have a 9-181-based 13" from '84, with a standard dual knob tuner.
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Old 12-23-2015, 05:26 PM
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Yup System 3 style ( 9-160 ) L, M, or N line. IIRC Y line
introed the 9-181 chassis. Lots of survivors. Still got a
remote one for back up. CRT still 95 %.

73 Zeno
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Old 12-23-2015, 05:29 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by radiotvnut View Post
My first experience with one of those was a low hours set that someone gave me, back around '93. I repaired the 9-160 module and sold it real quick for $85. That's right, $85 - for a 13" set! My, how times have changed.

Currently, I have two similar models. One has a single knob varactor tuner and the other one has an oddball continuous tuner. I also have a 9-181-based 13" from '84, with a standard dual knob tuner.
Wow, the used TV supply must have sucked down there back then! I remember buying my first TV a used mid-80's 15" knob tuned Emerson in the mid 90's at a garage sale in the Chicago suburbs for $10, and seeing many other similar sets back then in the $10-30 range....Of course the radio belt has always had a better appetite than the south for electronics as can be seen in the mountains of VCRs that and TVs that showed up in the thrifts here (when at the same time almost none in the part of the south I moved back here from).
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Old 12-23-2015, 05:55 PM
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Wow I didn't see any working color TVs for under $50 until the flat screen boom around 10 years ago. Around 2000 the Chinese sets started popping up like Konka, Changhong and Apex, and that dropped prices a bit. Let's not forget the fine Funai and Daewoo products too.
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Old 12-23-2015, 06:23 PM
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When I first started picking up TV's in 1989-'90, I could easily get $20-$25 for a 12" B&W. The cheapest color sets that I sold were tube sets and those were in the $40-$50 range. 19" knob tuned solid state color sets brought $75+ and models with remote and cable ready tuning brought $100-$125. The bigger the screen, the more I could get. Things started changing in the mid '90's, when places like China-Mart started selling 19" color TV's with remote for $139. Even though I had to lower my prices, I still did pretty good at selling CRT sets until around 2006, or so. Once CRT TV's stopped being sold by stores and while flat screens were still a little on the high side, I enjoyed a brief period of being able to sell used CRT TV's to people who could not afford a flat screen. Now, the prices of new TV's are cheap enough that anyone who wants a new set can usually afford one; so, there's basically no market for older TV's.

I knew an older guy who sold used TV's back in the '70's and according to him, prices were really way up there. He said he could get $75-$100 for a decent 19" B&W. When I started, 19" B&W's usually brought $35-$50 for the nicer solid state models.
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Old 12-23-2015, 07:23 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by radiotvnut View Post
..... 19" knob tuned solid state color sets brought $75+ and models with remote and cable ready tuning brought $100-$125. T

I knew an older guy who sold used TV's back in the '70's and according to him, prices were really way up there. He said he could get $75-$100 for a decent 19" B&W. When I started, 19" B&W's usually brought $35-$50 for the nicer solid state models.
...about the same for Dad - used BW's (baby sitter sets) would go for 40-75 bux, depending on screen size in the late 70s/Early 80s. Atari consoles brought about the need for small screen color sets - easily $100-150, and remote 19" and larger could get $200-275, well into the 90s.

After 2000, it had better be a remote 32 - 36" color, and we could get only $200 for a set, thanks to cheapo Sanyos, Apexes, Funais, and Orions in the 19-26" range at Walmart, Circuit City, and Kmart.

Funny - dad used to fix up a bunch and sell them at Christmas for a bit less, for the single moms buying a Nintendo for their kids - and we used to be open to 8PM on Christmas Eve, so they could get the sets. We literally sold dozens each year - best month of the year, and word-of-mouth got around. It also helped that the Electronics Dept Manager at Zayre/Ames would steer folks our way when they popped for a Nintendo on layaway.

Now, it's all flat screens, and only when folks upgrade in January-April, tax refund season. Tons of 32-46" sets on CL and at the flea markets....
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Old 12-23-2015, 09:23 PM
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I have a similar Zenith sitting upstairs. It developed an intermittent and I'm not sure if I'll ever get it going again. When it worked it was outstanding, with easily the brightest picture I've seen.

As for used sets...Wal*Mart sure killed that market, didn't it? Around '90-92 I was still seeing tube chassis color sets selling for around $45. When my sister started college I found her an early 80s knob-tuned 19" RCA for $85, which I thought was a great deal. I was paying $15-25 a piece for dead color consoles from the 70s/early 80s. Too many of them never worked again (since I didn't know what I was doing) but occasionally I got a winner. The best was a mid-80s RCA that I sold for $125.
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Old 12-23-2015, 10:03 PM
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I used to pay $10-$15 for non-working sets, fix the ones that I could, and use the other ones for parts. People were also giving me non-working TV's, just to get them out of their way. Then, there were the ones who wanted as much for their broken junk as what I could get for it, after it was repaired.
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Old 12-24-2015, 08:20 AM
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used to get dead sets for 5-10.00,repair them and sell for 50-75.00.sold tons of them.most i ever gotwas 150.00 for a philco hybrid console that had the best picture ever.was my living room set.my neighbor came for a visit and left with the set.an offer i couldnt refuse!those 50-75.00 sets paid lots of bills and bought many christmas presents back then
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Old 12-24-2015, 08:55 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sampson159 View Post
used to get dead sets for 5-10.00,repair them and sell for 50-75.00.sold tons of them.most i ever gotwas 150.00 for a philco hybrid console that had the best picture ever.was my living room set.my neighbor came for a visit and left with the set.an offer i couldnt refuse!those 50-75.00 sets paid lots of bills and bought many christmas presents back then
Funny thing about the neighbors....Dad worked out of the our Garage in the mid-70s before starting his shop. He had just restored a 3-year old Quasar II console he was given, and our neighbor spotted it, and wanted it. Dad gave it to him, as he (and all of us) really loved the neighbor. Dad was nervous about that set for years, but it never failed, and was only replaced with a 26" remote set when the neighbor was home recovering from bypass surgery and needed a remote set.
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Old 12-24-2015, 11:41 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by radiotvnut View Post
Circa '79-'82, solid state color. Likely uses a system 3 chassis with a 9-160 power supply/sweep module.
Nineteen seventy-nine was the first year this set was made. I had one exactly like it, model L1310C, in the late '70s--same cabinet style and all. I didn't realize at the time, however, that it used a System 3 chassis; if I had known that, I would have kept it and would very likely still be using it today (it got lost when I moved in the late '90s). I did not have one bit of trouble with that set, and it had an excellent picture. Only one other TV I've owned since then (my present TV, an Insignia flat panel) had a better picture and sound; my FP has MTS stereo sound, whereas the Zenith had a standard monophonic sound system.
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Old 12-24-2015, 12:43 PM
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When did they switch to the really thick tuning knobs?
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