IOW_--the BEST OF BOTH WORLDS !!

It is no WONDER we all admire them as much as we do...and of course a nearly indestructible tube helps too!! Kinda like the "3800V6" of tv sets !!

And though not color--the "tin can Zeniths" as they are called here--find a special place in my desires too. I have several of them, including I think 3 SC sets and a couple "bug eye" models. Altogether--I think I have 10 or so of them.

Face it...until the mid-1970's..Zenith was in class by ITSELF-- as far as tv's-and for that matter console stereo chassis_ were concerned. Their regular radios are NOT that special though, compared to tv's and stereo chassis...

It may. A LOT of them after the 101 had them and likely nearly ALL of the 131 and after high-end chassis, like the CTC-169 do.

Prone might be a bit harsh. My daily driver sets usually only need tubes replaced every couple of years or more, and usually it's the horizontal output or some other high power tube. Signal tubes seem to be rather long lived.

My 16 inch zenith chromacolor hybrid portable needed two tubes in 20 years of ownership and lots of use - the burst oscillator and the RF amp in the tuner. Tubes have been pretty kind to me.

I cannot TELL you how many old sets I have seen with most of the power tubes (horiz, vert, video HV rect and audio outs) ALL original, particularly BW "tin can Zenith sets". LV rect tubes--(5u4, 3dg4, etc) NOT as often..

For all I know my 12CB12ZX chassis Zenith could have all of its original tubes. I still need to open it to check the connections at the terminal board.

Of the numbers you named..ALL but the 131 are HOT chassis sets-- I did not and DO not like hot sets very well.

And the 131 uses a finicky SMPS supply that WILL whack the Switch out transistor if ANYTHING is off in its ckty. I have a pair of the "cube RCA " table model sets with the 131, both work "somewhat" AFAIK. I do NOT have a dimensia set though and want one.

I KNOW mine did, back in 'the day (1980-81. But that was over 30 years ago too..)

I remember the tech I went to work for when I was in high school had a Motorola/Quasar "Works in the Drawer" console at his house that had very little service on it since he bought it. When he retired in 1991, he was still watching that same TV.

THe odd thing is, he never turned it off. It stayed turned on day and night for years, and just kept on chugging along. It finally quit in the early 2000's, and he had to replace it. When it stopped working one day, he just drug it out to the street for the trash man and bought a new one. He told me he never even took the back off it to try and fix it.

I suppose he figured he got his money's worth out of it.

An RCA Dimensia....now there's a blast from the past. I remember they were great performers, but pure hell to repair. I only had a few come across my bench, but remember pulling out my hair over every single one of them:sigh:

My CTC-121 was a superb performer. It was the type with the drop down door on top and tone controls/stereo sound and on screen display. The CRT shorted however.