7VT5 scored!

[bandersen]

I was perusing eBay and stumbled across a Motorola 7VT5 in my old hometown. I arranged a local picked in the parking lot of the public library. Turns out the seller went to my high school - although he's a few years older. Ended up talking to the seller for 2 hours about the good ol' days.

Anyway, here she is. Somewhat different than zenithfan1's. It's a red-ish case and the knobs are a little different. Also, this has a TS-4J chassis while I think his has a TS-18?

A little beat up, but not too bad. Any ideas on cleaning and preserving that fabric (canvas?) covering?


Opened up. The accessories are missing


Odd CRT manufacturer - 'NU-VIDEOTRON'


Works fine in another set


TS-4J chassis in good, original condition. At least one old cap has blown.


Asbestos?


All the tubes and speaker are missing


I guess I have one tube after all. Some knucklehead mashed the HV cover onto the flyback and bent it over.


One big happy family

[Dan Starnes]

Only have seen pics of those type sets. Very cool.

[Sandy G]

Ahh HATE Yew....(Best Yosemite Sam voice here...Grin)

[bandersen]

I live about 2 miles from the old Motorola HQ. I imagine that has something to do with my finding these. Small, easy to work on, unique circuitry, but far from high quality.

I'm in awe of the amazing RCA, GE, Zenith, Dumont, Crosley, etc, sets you guys have!

[zenithfan1]

Awesome! That is asbestos BTW, no compressed air to clean these. I left mine be, as it wasn't friable. I have the speaker and tubes for that, I doubt I'll restore that ratty one I have any time soon. Both of my sets are a TS-18 so I don't know if the tubes are all the same but probably most are.

[bandersen]

I'm missing the speaker for the bakelite one too. They're just 3.2 ohm PM so not too hard to replace. I've got most of the tubes from for my scavenging days. 6SL7s are the only tough ones. Seems that audiophiles are nuts for them and the eBay prices are sky high. I think I can find some that aren't 'cool' enough for them at a reasonable price.

Did you do anything to clean the exterior of your cabinet? I'm not sure what to use of this stuff. Seems like it's wallpaper?

[bandersen]

Yes, the TS-18 and TS-4... are very similar. I believe the TS-18 is the later, more refined version. It has a a sort of turret tuner instead of all those rf coils mounted on the chassis.

[zenithfan1]

It IS kinda like wallpaper, I can't believe this many survived. It is quite delicate, I used my usual method of a small amount of Dawn dish soap on a microfiber cloth. I used water sparingly and kept a dry half of the rag to dry with as I cleaned small sections at a time. Took the crap off with no damage.

[bandersen]

Thanks, I'll give that a try.
$250 for a pair of 6SL7s

[jeyurkon]

Originally Posted by bandersen

Thanks, I'll give that a try.
$250 for a pair of 6SL7s

I guess it's my turn to complain about some bay sellers. I was going to complain about their spelling, but I see they're in Greece. I'm sure my Greek would be terrible if I knew any.

Later in the posting they say that you are bidding on one tube and that more than one is available. That's scary. Does that mean it would be $500/pair?

John

[bandersen]

I just received 8 NOS Russian 6N9S tubes from the Ukraine ($16 on eBay). They are equivalent to 6SL7s. I've tested them and they work fine in my set.

[walterbeers]

There is one of these sets in Omaha NE for sale but they want $250 for it. Claims it works, the ad shows that is has a raster, but I'm sure it would need recapping, cleaning, tubes, etc. I don't have an extra $250 lying around, but wonder what one of these would actually be worth. http://omaha.craigslist.org/atq/4209477825.html Would love to get that set, but kinda out of what I can afford right now.

[bandersen]

$250 is way too high. $75 is more like it. Good to know the CRT has some like left.