FREE! 60's Admiral color TV's!

[zenithfan1]

Originally Posted by jpdylon

I'd love that 67 Admiral, but you're a little too far away for the shipping cost.

That cabinet style is awesome. Hope someone can find it a home for you.

I found it a good home.....MINE

[Oldstuff78]

Those Admirals are nice. If he ever decides to sell that RCA Roundie console or one of the remote table units, I would gladly give him a fair price.

[zenithfan1]

Picked up the Admiral Sonar remote set on Saturday.I didn't have room to take the '71 but the '67 works great! I just have to iron out some of the usual bad caps and resistors in the vertical section. The color is very bright and correct, the reds are not orangey and the blues and greens are also eye popping, nice flesh tones as well. Looks very nice with a DTV converter hooked up and on analog. The CRT is a RCA Hi-Lite and is very strong. There is a story behind that tube but.... I don't want to get into that. I am just happy the set works. I was also informed that the FBT might be a new Thordarson, I'll have to check and see. The only cosmetic issue is the feet are rotten on the bottom, I knew this beforehand but wanted the set anyways. I will post pics soon.

[wkand]

Anybody know when Admiral quit making TV's? I think about them because a local appliance store is selling Admiral branded washers and dryers. I know those are not really Admiral.

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by wkand

Anybody know when Admiral quit making TV's? I think about them because a local appliance store is selling Admiral branded washers and dryers. I know those are not really Admiral.

I think '79 was it. I've seen a couple of Montgomery Wards 19" sets from '79 that were built by Admiral. Admiral also built some sets for Western Auto (Truetone) in the late '70's. I think I remember reading where Admiral was owned by Rockwell in the late '70's and Rockwell shut down Admiral consumer electronics production because they couldn't compete with foreign TV manufacturers. I also remember AOC (Admiral Overseas Corporation) sets from the '80's and early '90's. These were made in Taiwan and were not the best quality, IMHO. I don't know how, or if, the AOC name tied in to the original US Admiral. I've seen the Admiral name re-surface on some cheap low end TV's in recent years. I believe these are nothing more than Funai made sets.

[matt_s78mn]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

I've seen the Admiral name re-surface on some cheap low end TV's in recent years. I believe these are nothing more than Funai made sets.

Yea one of the big department stores (Montgomery Wards I think) bought the Admiral name a few years ago to put on its store brand electronics and appliances. Its sad though... that a once respectable name is slapped on such cheap junk. Unfortunately Admiral isn't the only name that's happened to.

[bgadow]

Rockwell kept building the appliances for some time, into the 90s I think. I think Raytheon/Amana may have took them over and then Maytag swallowed them both and now Whirlpool owns the whole pile. I think that's how it worked, anyhow. Admiral and Montgomery Ward were really tight; I'm not sure if anyone kept using the name on electronics after M-W went belly up.

I agree 79-80 was the end of the line for the real Admiral electronics line. I have seen some cheap sets from the late 70s but never one of their later high-end consoles. I have an Era II chassis up in the attic-would be interesting to see the top of the line model with digital tuning, etc. I wouldn't expect it to be a great set but they were unique.

[zenithfan1]

Here are the pics, I also included the "OOPS! got into the high voltage" pic of my burnt and very sore thumb! Stupid placement of the Horizontal centering control! Admiral usually has an extender on most of the controls, someone did not replace that when the put in the new FBT. You can see the linearity issues when you look at the girls' squished up faces. But who's lookin' at their faces anyway!





You can see where the voltage went in through the tip and out the knuckle!

[NowhereMan 1966]

Ouch! I bet that hurts! BTW, OT, noticed you caught part of the Stanley Cup game where our Pens won it in overtime.

[zenithfan1]

Yup, sure did! {still does} This broke my 13 year record of never being hit by a FBT I guess it is inevitable to get hit sooner or later.

[1980'slover]

i remember having one of my 80's console tvs and i took it apart to clean and i accidentaly unhooked the red high voltage wire and i touched the end, i didnt know at the time it had juice in it even though the tvs' unplugged, and i got shocked

[N9ZQA]

...

[N9ZQA]

Zenithfan -

I've got the same set as your 1967 but without the remote control and different speaker grilles. I got bit by the horiz. centering control as well - it was the weirdest green spark I'd ever seen and hurt like hell for quite some time afterwards. Really brought home the dangerous part of working on these sets - when it bit me, I heard the horizontal oscillator dip a bit, then return to normal as if I wasn't even there. Fortunately got my hand out without any collateral damage to other parts in the set.

I have the service manual for my set; I think it might cover yours as well. If you want, let me know the chassis number - if it's the same I can scan and email or xerox and snail mail.

-Jim

[drh4683]

Dang, thats a good zap there. Ive gotten my fair share over the years. I hit the 390 volt B+ on a 20CC50 chassis about 5 years ago. I cant remember what I was doing, but i touched a solder cone above the chassis and the other hand was on the metal cabinet. It was way worse than any 25kv shock.

Those horizontal solid state zeniths can be tricky. They put the pincushion control behind the flyback and if you reach around it, you are about 1/4" away from the HV terminal. I got zapped off that so bad, the arc went through my fingernail and had a pinhole. Later on, I read the service manual and it states "adjust pincushion from under the chassis to avoid shock". You think you are careful but every so often something stupid happens and your lucky to be alive!

The admiral looks great. How is the remote? Never tried it.

[zenithfan1]

Originally Posted by drh4683

Dang, thats a good zap there. Ive gotten my fair share over the years. I hit the 390 volt B+ on a 20CC50 chassis about 5 years ago. I cant remember what I was doing, but i touched a solder cone above the chassis and the other hand was on the metal cabinet. It was way worse than any 25kv shock.

Those horizontal solid state zeniths can be tricky. They put the pincushion control behind the flyback and if you reach around it, you are about 1/4" away from the HV terminal. I got zapped off that so bad, the arc went through my fingernail and had a pinhole. Later on, I read the service manual and it states "adjust pincushion from under the chassis to avoid shock". You think you are careful but every so often something stupid happens and your lucky to be alive!

The admiral looks great. How is the remote? Never tried it.

Doug,
The Admiral or the girls on it? I'm going to be extra careful from now on, I've become quite brave sticking my hands into tvs. I AM lucky to be alive, I was home alone at the time this happened, could have been MUCH worse. As far as the remote goes, I haven't tried it yet either. I forgot where you told me to get a battery. I'm thinking of running a 9 volt battery terminal out the hole in the bottom to temporarily hook a modern battery up to see if it works. The remote is clean inside with only a slight amount of corrosion on the negative terminal, no leaking battery damage. Someone used something abrasive to clean the contacts though, I hope they are ok. Oh, and Jim, thanks for the offer, I will look at the chassis number tonight and shoot you a PM. BTW, Your Admiral experience was almost identical to the one I just had, that spark was wierd looking and BRIGHT, oscillator dipped down and the picture went nuts for a second and a half while my thumb was cooking. Burnt flesh smells like burning hair