1969 Muntz color roundie ad

[Steve D.]

1969 ad for new Muntz 21" color roundie. Could this be the last new color roundie combo offered for sale?

-Steve D.

[oldtvman]

Could be, I know Philco was still selling Round crts around that time but the only ones I saw were basic models

[wa2ise]

I noticed the ad copy saying "color TV with power transformer, 3 stage IF, and super powered fringe area chassis". Seems Muntz"s reputation for minimal circuitry was well known...

[stromberg67]

A friends Dad brought home a closeout Motorola roundie in 1968. They put in the basement rec room, and were located in a valley between two mountains. Never saw it on, but can speculate on how it might have performed. Hope it was all good.
Kevin

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by stromberg67

A friends Dad brought home a closeout Motorola roundie in 1968. They put in the basement rec room, and were located in a valley between two mountains. Never saw it on, but can speculate on how it might have performed. Hope it was all good.
Kevin

That was really a closeout! The last Motorola roundie, was a 1965 model.
They designed a strange, series, transformerless chassis, that was only used with a round CRT, a TS912 chassis. It was similar to the newer TS914, with the much-loved Motorola color demod circuit. That chassis used many strange Euro-tubes like, 15DQ8, 16A8 and a 15LE8.
The only one I worked on didn't have UHF, so it must've been a pre-May '65 model.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

I noticed the ad copy saying "color TV with power transformer, 3 stage IF, and super powered fringe area chassis". Seems Muntz"s reputation for minimal circuitry was well known...

I worked for a small Muntz dealer, around that time. The set shown in the ad, was a specially built, leader model. The cabinet was finished in a burnt orange, Plextone paint job. The stereo part was a AC/DC, AM radio with a simple S/E 50C5 output stage. The phono was a simple manual 4 Speed record player, using a turntable and a tone arm, as found in a school type phono. It had two 5" speakers, one for each channel. The TV used it's own output stage, with those speakers.
The color TV was the common CTC15 design, that everyone seemed to use.
The CRT was a left-over Zenith OEM 21FBP22.

[marty59]

Seems like when the rectangular tubes came out that they dominated the combo market with some initial overlap. That Muntz would be a rare one.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by marty59

Seems like when the rectangular tubes came out that they dominated the combo market with some initial overlap. That Muntz would be a rare one.

The leader model was never offered as a rectangular set. The model numbers started with a 55 prefix.
The model 1580 was never intended to be a regular production model. It was intended to be a leader model. The set, actually cost the dealer, more than the advertised selling price.
The bait-n-switch, was alive and well.

[David Roper]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

I worked for a small Muntz dealer, around that time. The set shown in the ad, was a specially built, leader model. The cabinet was finished in a burnt orange, Plextone paint job. The stereo part was a AC/DC, AM radio with a simple S/E 50C5 output stage. The phono was a simple manual 4 Speed record player, using a turntable and a tone arm, as found in a school type phono. It had two 5" speakers, one for each channel. The TV used it's own output stage, with those speakers.
The color TV was the common CTC15 design, that everyone seemed to use.
The CRT was a left-over Zenith OEM 21FBP22.

I don't quite understand the radio/stereo portion, specifically I'm curious about the filament string. I picture an ordinary AA5 chassis, but that would be mono, obviously. If there were two 50C5s, was there a selenium rectifier?

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by David Roper

I don't quite understand the radio/stereo portion, specifically I'm curious about the filament string. I picture an ordinary AA5 chassis, but that would be mono, obviously. If there were two 50C5s, was there a selenium rectifier?

The radio was an AM only, mono, of course. The radio receiver section used a 12AU6 autodyne convertor, one IF transformer with a crystal diode detector.
The amplifier section used a 12AX7 and two 50C5's or 50EH5's, for stereo phono playback. Controls were radio-phono selector, tone control, volume-on-off and a knob for the direct drive tuner, like any other inexpensive radio.
The only reason, I remember it so well, is I had one from a scrap set.
IIRC, they all had a silicon rectifier, for the power supply and AA5 type output transformers.

[ChrisW6ATV]

Notice that the $298 price is "with trade in". I wonder exactly WHAT you had to bring in to get that price. I am guessing "a working 19-inch or larger B&W set", but who knows? I imagine that the dealer would re-sell whatever was traded in and make up the "loss" at that time.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

Notice that the $298 price is "with trade in". I wonder exactly WHAT you had to bring in to get that price. I am guessing "a working 19-inch or larger B&W set", but who knows? I imagine that the dealer would re-sell whatever was traded in and make up the "loss" at that time.

The $298 priced model was only a leader model, not a regular production set.
That model was only sold, one per dealer, so they could advertise that price.
They would have a higher priced model, next to it, selling for like $409, that had a photo-finish cabinet, Admiral Ensign record changer and a solid state Japanese AM radio, stereo amp.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

Notice that the $298 price is "with trade in". I wonder exactly WHAT you had to bring in to get that price. I am guessing "a working 19-inch or larger B&W set", but who knows? I imagine that the dealer would re-sell whatever was traded in and make up the "loss" at that time.

I failed to mention the trade in policy. It was amazing, some of the sets, that they took in trade!
Some people traded an old set that didn't work, or one with a real weak CRT.
Other's traded a Three or four year old, Zenith, RCA or Admiral, B/W set.
They just had to have color!

[ChrisW6ATV]

Do you remember the policy: Was it "bring in any TV and you will get that one $298 set we have", or was there a dollar value as you would expect now, such as when you see car ads saying "2014 Mustang $17,999 (after $1000 dealer discount and $8000 value of your trade-in)" or similar?

[David Roper]

What a steal! $298 will get you an outdated TV, a chintzy phonograph and a terrible radio all together in one tacky, garish package!