New-to-me Sony Trinitron KV-1710

[AdamAnt316]

Hello, everyone! I've generally shied away from TV collecting, but this showed up during a "ZoomFest" held in lieu of my antique radio club's usual spring swap meet, and I just couldn't help myself. It's a Sony KV-1710, circa 1972. Supposedly one of their last sets to use (mostly?) discrete transistors. The 17" Trinitron jug seems to give a good picture; the reds might be a bit weak as is typical, but the picture seems pretty well balanced from what I've seen with my NES 'toploader' game console connected to it as a makeshift source. Here are some photos of it, both off and being fed with the title screen of Super Mario Bros. 3:





And for fun, a snippet from a Burdick's ad found in a 1972 edition of the Santa Cruz Sentinel, showing an ad for the KV-1710:

(click the image for a larger version)

[maxhifi]

Looks great!

[CrtsRtubular]

Oo nice set! I like the early trinitrons. I haven't been able to find one like this yet though

[etype2]

Great find! This was Sony’s first venture into “large screen” sets with its 17inch diagonal measurement. The actual date of introduction was in Fall, 1970, not 1972. I know because I purchased a KV1720 with walnut cabinet about September, 1970. It replaced my RCA CTC-19 Bremanger.

[AdamAnt316]

Thanks for the replies!

Originally Posted by CrtsRtubular

Oo nice set! I like the early trinitrons. I haven't been able to find one like this yet though

I'm sure they're out there, though how many of them still have a decently strong picture tube is another question. I was lucky to buy mine from the original owner, who most recently had it set up near his treadmill.

Originally Posted by etype2

Great find! This was Sony’s first venture into “large screen” sets with its 17inch diagonal measurement. The actual date of introduction was in Fall, 1970, not 1972. I know because I purchased a KV1720 with walnut cabinet about September, 1970. It replaced my RCA CTC-19 Bremanger.

I saw your page when looking for info, especially since I wasn't sure about the model number at first. I could see that the 1710 and 1720 looked similar, but wasn't entirely sure how they were related. As for the year, the seller told me that he bought it in 1972, and that's when the above-pictured Burdick's ad was from, so I went with that.
-Adam

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by AdamAnt316

Thanks for the replies!

I'm sure they're out there, though how many of them still have a decently strong picture tube is another question. I was lucky to buy mine from the original owner, who most recently had it set up near his treadmill.


I saw your page when looking for info, especially since I wasn't sure about the model number at first. I could see that the 1710 and 1720 looked similar, but wasn't entirely sure how they were related. As for the year, the seller told me that he bought it in 1972, and that's when the above-pictured Burdick's ad was from, so I went with that.
-Adam

The earlier Sony CRT's seemed to stand up better. I seem to think that they were still made in Japan. The ones, made in California didn't last as long.
It sure is a nice example of a well-kept set. It was worth getting.

[Popester]

Price of tv then was a bunch of money in ‘70 or ‘72. At least it was before the troubled SG613 gated switch design that most techs hated working on. Sony TVs are kind of like timex watches logo. “It takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Not sure if Sony’s logo was research makes the difference or if they were using Sony no baloney by then.

[Popester]

Upon closer look at the photos that cabinet is in really great shape as even the rabbit ears are all there with the orange tips and aren’t even bent.

[AdamAnt316]

Once again, thanks for the replies!

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

The earlier Sony CRT's seemed to stand up better. I seem to think that they were still made in Japan. The ones, made in California didn't last as long.
It sure is a nice example of a well-kept set. It was worth getting.

Good to know, thanks! Hope that's true of this set; the sticker on the back of the cabinet says Made In Japan, though I haven't opened the set to look at the CRT itself. And yes, I do believe it was well worth the $25 I paid for it.

Originally Posted by Popester

Price of tv then was a bunch of money in ‘70 or ‘72. At least it was before the troubled SG613 gated switch design that most techs hated working on. Sony TVs are kind of like timex watches logo. “It takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Not sure if Sony’s logo was research makes the difference or if they were using Sony no baloney by then.

In the full ad I linked to above, the 1710 carried a $50 premium over the MGA 17" solid-state set also being offered. Speaking of which, were 17" TV sets common back in the day? It seems that 19" was a more typical size among tabletop and/or "portable" TVs in general, and this is the first 17" set I've knowingly seen, though perhaps I've confused them in the past.

Originally Posted by Popester

Upon closer look at the photos that cabinet is in really great shape as even the rabbit ears are all there with the orange tips and aren’t even bent.

As I mentioned, I bought this set from the original owner, who took very good care of it. The 'rabbit ears' are the original Sony AN-14, and other than missing spade lugs on the end of its cable, it's in great shape. One odd thing about this set is that it uses binding posts for antenna connectors instead of the usual screw terminals. Not sure I've ever seen that on another older TV, and I've connected game consoles to many different two-dialers over the years...
-Adam

[etype2]

In 1970-72, the largest TV consoles were 23 and 25 inches.

[JohnCT]

Originally Posted by Popester

Price of tv then was a bunch of money in ‘70 or ‘72. At least it was before the troubled SG613 gated switch design that most techs hated working on.

I liked those models, it was the earlier ones that were the nightmares. We were one of only two shops in our city that would work on Sony TVs.

The thing with the Sonys was that you could NOT use anything but a Sony part for the SG613 horiz output, the 2SC867A regulator (God, I can't believe I still remember those numbers) and the damper diode (which I have forgotten, but it was huge and metal cased).

When the horiz output shorted, it always shorted the regulator which was a series/pass arrangement. If you put in just a new SG613 without changing the regulator, it would blow immediately because the regulator pumped full B+ into it.

These parts weren't cheap but if you changed all three at the same time using Sony parts, resoldered the horiz drive circuit, recapped the vertical circuit, you wouldn't see them back for at least three years. Lots of techs tried using HEPs, SKs, ECGs, etc. but it was a futile effort. Use Sony parts or *boom* and smoke would be the result.

John

[damen]

Some of those Sony antennas came with this connector that just plugged into those binding posts.

[damen]

The connector unsnapped from the wire so you could also connect regular 300 ohm twin lead to it.

[AdamAnt316]

Originally Posted by etype2

In 1970-72, the largest TV consoles were 23 and 25 inches.

I was aware of that, plus the fact that at least some of those 23" sets had originally been classified as 25" before an FTC(?) ruling regarding visible size. I was wondering more about smaller tabletop/portable sets like this one. When I was growing up in the '80s and '90s, most of the smaller tabletop color sets were available as 5", 13" and 19", and I don't recall seeing many sets in between, yet that ad shows 15", 16" and 17" sets as well. I'm wondering when the (relatively) odd portable sizes went away, and things became more homogenized.

Originally Posted by damen

Some of those Sony antennas came with this connector that just plugged into those binding posts.

Originally Posted by damen

The connector unsnapped from the wire so you could also connect regular 300 ohm twin lead to it.

Very interesting! Can't say I've seen one of those before. I'm guessing the pin connector which came with the AN-14 on this set got broken at some point, and the owner removed it and stripped the ends of the twin-lead.
-Adam

[zeno]

QUOTE I was aware of that, plus the fact that at least some of those 23" sets had originally been classified as 25" before an FTC(?) ruling regarding visible size. I was wondering more about smaller tabletop/portable sets like this one. When I was growing up in the '80s and '90s, most of the smaller tabletop color sets were available as 5", 13" and 19", and I don't recall seeing many sets in between, yet that ad shows 15", 16" and 17" sets as well. I'm wondering when the (relatively) odd portable sizes went away, and things became more homogenized. END QUOTE

Sony color started with a 12" then 8,15, 17, 19 over the 1970's.
Tube built USA sets were 14", 16", 19" then bigger ones.
When they went solid state 13", 15", 17" & 19"
Almost all sizes up to 27" were built over the years after 27" a few
sizes were skipped.
Canada kept the old system so a 20" set was actually a 19" almost every
where else. There was a class action suit over all this with computer
monitors. IIRC you got $10 or something if you filled out the form. I did get a rebate.

73 Zeno
LFOD !