1980 Magnavox 13" color

[zenith2134]

I got this set from a TV collector in L.I. along with some '60s b&w sets.
It's a May, 1980 Magnavox 13" solid state color made in Tennessee USA.
The controls needed cleaning and it has a fantastic picture.
Here it is showing DR Spalding the clown terrorizing some people in The Devil's Rejects
using my macbook camera the exposure is quite high but I didn't want to mess with the TV's contrast and brightness controls since I set it up to look amazing in real life already.
I had a 1984 Magnavox with almost the same cabinet but the back tag stated it was a Philips product. This one doesn't say anything of the sort.

[radiotvnut]

I think that's the one that uses a fold down modular chassis. 13C1, IIRC.

[Sandy G]

The Philips/Magnavox plant is in Greeneville, about 1/2 an hour from here..Knew some people who worked there-They typically had some of the HIGHEST quality ratings WORLDWIDE in the entire Philips organization.

[zenith2134]

Well I haven't had it open yet, but when I do, I'll post some pics. On this set, the customer controls are thumbwheels and I was able to clean the contacts with the cabinet still on. Chassis number=13C201
Been running it all day and it just looks right.

[zeno]

Originally Posted by zenith2134

Well I haven't had it open yet, but when I do, I'll post some pics. On this set, the customer controls are thumbwheels and I was able to clean the contacts with the cabinet still on. Chassis number=13C201
Been running it all day and it just looks right.

Be happy its not a C-3 the worse power supply / hoz design
of anything built.
IIRC these had a Phillips tilt down modular chassis not a child of
maggy or sylvania. But its been a long time.........

73 Zeno

[zenith2134]

So I gather that these are just alright sets?
Must've gotten a good one.
Is the C3 really one of the worst chassis ever built? I had 1 or 2 of em over the years and both worked as found, but, they weren't interesting enough to keep so I chucked em.

[rca2000]

The C3--an the C5 25" versio are the WORST chassis NAP ever produced--IMHO.

The one you have is a modular ,C2 set, I haven't seen one in long time. Never worked on many either. Seems like it was a lot like the T-809, somewhat different layout but REAL different from the C3 or E31 sets.

[Robb]

Very nice !!

[radiotvnut]

It's funny that the 13C1 and 13C2 are nothing like the 19/25C1 or 19/25C2. In fact, I think the 13" chassis is a couple of years older. In 1980, the 19" sets still used the T809 chassis and the 25" sets used the T815 chassis.

[zenith2134]

Hey radiotvnut,
I have no idea about these chassis.. Not familiar with any of the ones you've mentioned. My experience with Magnavox is the T997 which was a 70s 12" b/w chassis, and the U-911 which was a 60s tube color chassis.
Is it accurate to assume that, Magnavox as a company, kept the same TV chassis types after Philips took over? This is a great set, I'm going to open 'er up soon and do my usual maintenance. This includes changing out-of-tolerance resistors, cleaning out the crt neckboard pins and any modular connectors, and reflowing high-heat circuit traces. I usually leave all but the smallest lytics alone in something this age, which is in working shape.

[radiotvnut]

I think NAP bought Magnavox in the mid '70's and they kept a few of the old Magnavox designs around for a brief period. By the early '80's, most everything was NAP designs, for the exception of the Exx series chassis designs that were carry overs from GTE when NAP bought Sylvania/Philco in '81.

[zenith2134]

^Good info, thanks!

In the opinion of the board, how did this era of Magnavox hold up against, say a comparable 13" system 3 or a ctc-97ish RCA? I tend to only show interest in American-made 80s TVs, even though I do collect Panasonics and Sonys from that time.

[radiotvnut]

The Maggies of that era seemed to hold up about as well as any of the rest of them. I don't have much experience with the 13" sets; but, the 19" and 25" sets had a 4-lead safety capacitor in the horizontal circuit that was prone to shorting. The other problem was bad solder joints on the module sockets.

[TVTim]

everything old is new again;

[zenith2134]

I guess that's true TVTim. I don't consider a TV built in '80 to be particularly old, but yeah it is technically vintage since it is coming up on 35 years old!
This Magnavox has such pristine color fidelity and strong contrast, coupled with perfect convergence, so I have decided to keep it running as best I can.
Went ahead and hunted down that capacitor ~200V and found two nasty looking caps with high ESR--one was a 25uF 180V and the other, a 30uF 250V..your memory served you right (thanks). I ordered a pile of new parts to completely rebuild the video output board and also plan on popping ina new NTC degauss thermistor, since it looks spotty.
Will post back soon.