RCA model names

[Steve D.]

I still have several of the Dimensia components I purchased in 1985. They still perform well. I also still use the original remote! I gave the Dimensia AM/FM tuner to my brother some years back and it still works like a champ. Components included: 26" TV/Monitor, CD, VCR, AM/FM tuner, linear tracking turntable, stereo amp, and matched speakers. And custom cabinets. An equalizer was added later. There was a CED player planned but never produced. I believe the Dimensia name was phased out around 1988. As I recall, the use of the word "Dimensia" as a model line was called into question because of the association with the mental condition. This may explain why it was dropped. The intergrated components remained in the RCA line up with out the Dimensia label for a couple of more years. Perhaps GE decided they were to expensive to produce.

-Steve D.

Originally Posted by veg-o-matic

Anthony, aren't you the one who sold his Dementia and bought a Phlegmington?

Or was that a Phlegmington II?

Yep, I don't know what I was thinking. I might be getting senile but I can't remember what the doctor said. The Phlegmington is a royal pain as I have to manually manipulate the electron beam to scan the screen. All of those people with carpal tunnel syndrome from computer use ain't got nuthin on me!

Anthony

Back to the console stuff...

OK, here I am on the other side. My theory runs something like this...

In the late 50's, cars seemed to be the largest, heaviest, and most chrome ridden pieces of "artwork" out there. Size meant style, size meant that you had MONEY, size was everything by the late 50's through to the early 1970's. Gas was cheap. TV's (IMHO) seemed to run along the same marketing ideas. I don't think that technologically the picture tube could grow, so why not have an enormous cabinet? My father purchased a 1966 GE console the "top of the line". Even though it had more than its share of problems, our family loved that set deeply. My parents kept it long after it quit working and the tv repair dude told my mom "...we just can't work on it any more, just can't get the parts....." Mom told me last week that she gave it to good will. For me, that TV was the greatest, and always will be.

[andy]

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[Chad Hauris]

Yes I agree with that, as what most companies sell is the "sizzle" not the
"steak", maybe perhaps more so in the old days. It's harder to sell the technical merits of a product to consumers as opposed to the exterior qualities, as many people are non-technical and are more interested in fashion and style.

You often can or could sell a product on technical merits and not fashion (such as, say, Checker cabs) to an industrial or commercial customer.

A table model CTC-38 in a black metal cabinet with non-illuminated channel numbers is the exact same inside as the deluxe console, except for the speakers. Even if the larger sets had more speakers there were not usually better amps or bass/treble controls, etc. except in the case of some of the Zenith sets.

The thing that I find most interesting is that when you go to one of the electronics shops, their best TV's are usually displayed in something that resembles a cabinet. It might be glass, or plastic, or possible even some type of wood product, but people still want to see their favorite electronics inside a cabinet that is "in their minds eye" enhances and shows off their favorite equipment.

Me? Right now, I have (modern stuff) a 2004 Sony 32inch monitor in silver that is setting on the old 31inch RCA stand that is black! The RCA has a problem with the vertical circuits, and I just can't bear to heave it out, even after my son threw the boccer balls at it (steel round balls a little larger than a marble). Chipped the picture tube like a case of acne.