That may be your experience but not everyone's. I have a CTC 9 that was ran from 1959 through the mid 90's with all its original parts(excluding CRT's and some tubes), even the original fly. I have not found one replacement cap or resistor in that set and I looked thoroughly.(I still use the set) Sure some RCA's can be more problematic than others(and so can Zeniths). I have a friend that watches his RCA's daily and NO issues so far. He had more issues with his 2 Zenith roundies

For me, it's a conundrum because in this house, if I have no intentions of making it work or it's too far gone to be fixed in some manner, I don't want to own it. I have a total of 21 vintage sets, of which 11 are fully operational and 3 just need some more TLC. Eventually, they'll all work, I figure I can knock off 4 or as much as 6 this winter if I get ambitious enough.

The CTC-25 stares at me quietly from my desk, not knowing its fate. It's made it this long, and I hate to see it go down without a fight. I tend to personify the damn thing and the scene comes to mind where Linus said "it's really not such a bad little tree, Charlie Brown.....all it needs is a little love"

I think that is the right dynamic for the road to a lot of headaches, but I'm prolly gonna take it anyway :D

Just think of Tom's Sylvania hybrid whenever debating what to do with the CTC-25.

Back in the seventies I fixed a nice looking CTC-25 for resale to a cousin and that set lasted another 10+ years. Serviced quite a few and they can look pretty good. Don't give up!

the CTC-9 is supposed to be a good chassis
 

You're right, Staton, the CTC-9 is supposed to be a good chassis. I could of snagged one a long time ago, cost to ship was ridiculous. I guess by then RCA had most of the reliability problems worked out from earlier models.

Most reliable color set I've got is a 1967 Airline(bottom left).
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/...y/DSCN0429.jpg
That set was on the second floor living room of a mom and pop podetrist's(misspelled) office/home. It was used regularly for years, and it actually still worked fine there when I bought it. It is a Muntz made RCA clone. Several tubes are replacements but it otherwise looks like nothing was replaced. I've been running it occasionally as found only with some adjustments since then...Though I really need to fix or replace the bad vertical centering control so I can get good purity and vertical geometry without the bottom 1-4" of the screen not being scanned.

The 1965 Philco next to it would be runner up. It only needed the internal horiz. osc. adjustment tweaked....Though I did replace some caps to improve it and make it safer. It does have more factory original tubes IIRC though...

I've about had it with my CTC-36.

I've watched it for about 20 hours total. In that 20 hours, I've replaced about 15 tubes (went through multiple 5GH8s), blew a 1 kV ceramic cap, replaced the picture tube, and now that I've just installed 7 fresh tubes after getting a really dark raster, I have no raster and a buzz in the audio with no static.

I bet at least 2 of those 20 hours were trying to get some decent convergence on the #$%&@.

If there is anyone that can give me a reason NOT to send this set to the e-recycling station after being picked clean, speak now or forever hold your peace.....

My RCA "Hathaway" CTC-10C console has moved with me since 1976 from NC, to TN, then to GA, before coming back to NC where I am now. Other than an unneeded CRT replacement in 1983, (couldn't turn down a free brand new CRT) the back has not been off the set but once, and that was for a dirty focus rectifier tube socket.

It's only had one of the big filters replaced in all these years, and the two neon lamps under the chassis.

Is this reliable enough?

Ignore me. I'm a ham-fisted retard that had two tubes in the wrong sockets. What a third grade mistake.....I'm pretty pissed at myself :mad:

Set's working again :)

Were those tubes in the wrong sockets for all of those 20 hours?

Less than a minute. Now I have to play with the convergence and purity once again. It was screwed up before the last round of tube replacement.

That sort of thing happens occasionally.
I was never thrilled with the picture on those things. Those low voltage focus CRT's never seem to be that clear, when they age a bit. Other forum members recommended hitting the CRT, with a rejuvenator, set on low.
I have a CTC51 and a CTC53, same thing. Picture's clear enough, but not the way I like them.
They're OK to have in a collection, I guess. :scratch2:

It's probably a good thing I missed that 1966 or '67 RCA console that was for sale recently, even though it's the oldest colour set I had seen around here since my grandmother's '68 French Provincial console was disposed of in the early 90s.

I've got a CTC-53 with a great picture....convergence is about perfect too. This 36 has been nothing but trouble, but I like it :(

Had to cut my losses and dump the CTC-25 though. Lots of color issues, rusted chassis frame, cataracted picture tube, brittle PC board. But it still made a picture, albeit a purple green and white one.....

No sense keeping your worst stuff around anyway, I recently got rid of an XL-100 with a weak CRT, non-op OSD and cosmetic issues, not to mention broken latches on the control panel door.