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  #1  
Old 03-04-2018, 02:47 PM
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Chromacolor II

So, I have been fortunate enough to score this '78 Chromacolor II 19" locally. It has seen moderate use but the CRT is quite strong with perfect focus still. Didn't even need the usual set-up done either, since convergence and purity are A-OK.

Luckily the original owner saved the manuals, and the hangtag.

It is a K1908C using the 19KC48Z chassis. I thought these models had a tube type HV rectifier. Must be thinking of the early 70s Z I have somewhere.

This style might be my favorite Zenith color ever made.
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Old 03-04-2018, 03:48 PM
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IIRC Whenever Zenith went SS they stuck with a SS trippler module...Atleast in their color sets (I've had limited exposure to Zenith's late tube/hybrid monochrome sets). The only sets with modules and HV rectifier tubes are the 4 tube hybrids (tube based horizontal system) and the higher tube count hybrids like my 12B13C52 (roughly half tube with a single duramodule for chroma that has a DIP demodulator chip on it).
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Old 03-04-2018, 04:06 PM
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Yes, memory can be a funny thing. The 4-tube hybrid is neck-and-neck to be my favorite to the CCII. Still have a 19CC19 with the tube horiz and damper. 6FL6? I believe. That one probably has a better picture than this one but the CCII has much better HV regulation and may be brighter overall.
Meanwhile, my early system-3 stuff (9-160 based sets and the 'Z' line from '83-'84) still makes a fantastic color picture but when you take them apart, they are
so much cheaper of a build. Really plasticy and thin boards.
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Old 03-04-2018, 04:34 PM
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All Zenith color solid state sets used a tripler. Early SS colors
from RCA, Sony, Motorola & others used a tube rectifier.

Now a few IIRC's
The first SS B&W Zenith used a tube. A rare set.
The first SS 19" Zenith, 100% hand wired also did. Also rare set !
The next generation ( hand wired with duramodules) used a stick
HV rectifier.

Your set is a K-line. K-line also introduced the first gen System 3 chassis
on TOTL 19 & 25" sets. Next year, L-line the last CC2 sets were built out
as a low priced set. About a 6+ year run for CC2's. Not bad !

73 Zeno
LFOD !
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Old 03-04-2018, 04:54 PM
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Nice set! Great find.
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Old 03-04-2018, 05:35 PM
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Question

Thanks! It does have impressive color and has gotten better after running for a few hours. Owner bought it and ran it til 1990 then it was a spare set and rarely used.
I'm trying to recall which were the problem areas on these chassis...
It will see semi-hard use, since I just stashed away my 19" RCA CTC-97 from 1980 (inline gun CRT, single mainboard with electronic pushbutton tuner and ultrasonic remote), which was my daily watcher for the past few years.
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Old 03-05-2018, 08:29 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zenith2134 View Post
Thanks! It does have impressive color and has gotten better after running for a few hours. Owner bought it and ran it til 1990 then it was a spare set and rarely used.
I'm trying to recall which were the problem areas on these chassis...
It will see semi-hard use, since I just stashed away my 19" RCA CTC-97 from 1980 (inline gun CRT, single mainboard with electronic pushbutton tuner and ultrasonic remote), which was my daily watcher for the past few years.
We saw so many of these its hard to give a problem list. You gotta keep in
mind this must be the most built color chassis ever. Every Zenith 17-25" used it
for 3 yrs then when EFL CRT's came out they used a near identical chassis.
But EFL's only came in the TOTL sets. They also stuffed this chassis into
the 13" sets with a few minor changes & kept it serviceable .
Good news is you can still get almost any part for them. Also the design is
so simple we had the young kids working on them to learn.

73 Zeno
LFOD !
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Old 03-05-2018, 05:32 PM
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Well now, it's about time that one of us who rarely finds what he wants got a break!
Quote:
Originally Posted by zeno View Post
All Zenith color solid state sets used a tripler. Early SS colors from RCA, Sony, Motorola & others used a tube rectifier.
My Bradford/GE 19QB set uses a stick rectifier. It's odd-looking setup, first of its kind I've seen.

Last edited by Jon A.; 03-05-2018 at 05:39 PM.
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Old 03-05-2018, 07:40 PM
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Oddly enough, I sent a photo of this to my aunt and she said that my grandparents, who only bought Zenith, had this set new and that it started smoking one night so my grandfather put it at the curb! I asked how she knew it was the same one. Her boyfriend at the time put it in his car, had it repaired, and used it daily when he moved down to Florida. Interesting
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Old 03-05-2018, 07:42 PM
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I never got the whole story on the EFL gun CRT. Did it have more cathode material, or is this the one with the additional focus lense? The sets I have with that designation on their CRT are capable of *blinding* brightness levels
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Old 03-06-2018, 07:13 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zenith2134 View Post
I never got the whole story on the EFL gun CRT. Did it have more cathode material, or is this the one with the additional focus lense? The sets I have with that designation on their CRT are capable of *blinding* brightness levels
From what I remember. 3 focus grids one adjustable, in line & 100 or 110
angle. came out in H line on some 17 & 19" then on some 25" in J-line.
Minor chassis changes from CC2 were separate V outputs, 9-89 board
replaced with a CRT board. Almost the same as the 13". Also some minor
HV changes.
The other jug they came out with was the FTM
https://www.creativeplanetnetwork.co...een-crt-386450
This is the perfectly flat tube everyone used at the end of CRT's. I had
a mid 80's Zenith monitor with it & the pix was spectacular. For years it
was only in highest end monitors & military apps. A 14" TV with it
would have sold for $800 to break even !

73 Zeno
LFOD !
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Old 03-06-2018, 09:44 AM
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The EFL gun spot was extremely sharp. They initially had a problem that wherever the spot was perfectly focused on a highlight, the high current density caused the green and blue phosphors to saturate a bit and turn the white slightly pink. (The rare-earth red phosphor was linear at high currents.) This was very visible on an all-white picture like the Indianhead test pattern, where it would look like a big soft-edged pinkish ring (because when overall focus was best, the absolute best was halfway between the center and edges of the screen.) They worked on reducing the saturation of the phosphors, but I don't believe it could be completely eliminated. I can't recall if they did anything to the gun design to increase spot size a smidge to reduce the problem too.
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  #13  
Old 03-07-2018, 06:37 AM
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When they first came out you could light a room with them !
But they had a real soft red & to me sucked. A fire engine never
looked right. They often had wickid bad moire, so bad we had
to change a few jugs. Took a few months but they did cure them.
Life on them was almost as good as the CC delta sets so lots
of survivors.

73 Zeno
LFOD !


Quote:
Originally Posted by old_tv_nut View Post
The EFL gun spot was extremely sharp. They initially had a problem that wherever the spot was perfectly focused on a highlight, the high current density caused the green and blue phosphors to saturate a bit and turn the white slightly pink. (The rare-earth red phosphor was linear at high currents.) This was very visible on an all-white picture like the Indianhead test pattern, where it would look like a big soft-edged pinkish ring (because when overall focus was best, the absolute best was halfway between the center and edges of the screen.) They worked on reducing the saturation of the phosphors, but I don't believe it could be completely eliminated. I can't recall if they did anything to the gun design to increase spot size a smidge to reduce the problem too.
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Old 03-08-2018, 08:09 PM
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Our family had one of those--lasted FOREVER!
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Old 03-10-2018, 06:52 PM
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That's truly interesting info regarding the EFL sets. I'll have to check mine at high-contrast and see how the tube behaves.

On the CC-II, I discovered a minor issue. Keeping in mind I never even took the back off:
On animated content, and with motion scenes, the color demod acts up. For example, it has the notorious green turning blue in spots, and vice-versa. The horiz freq appears to be fixed, no hold control to adjust.
Also, uniformly red/green/blue/white rasters are perfect, so this is not a purity issue.
I suppose I'll have to scope out the burst and demod circuits but I do NOT want to make this worse.
On my 19CC19 4-tube hybrid, I had a bad case of the rolling color bars which I was able to adjust out. But this one is a different beast.
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