finally scored a flat chassis
 

after a 15 year search,i have finally scored a flat chassis zenith.its an avanti cabinet,not my favorite but i ll take it.its in decent shape with some restoration work needed.set is a 5 on a 1 to 10 scale.previous owner is a college student who was going to fishtank it.drove 3 hours to get it after some fierce negotiations.has high voltage with full picture and crt looks sharp.the bad news is no color,only weak color bars and no audio at all.that is disappointing!a little fiddling got color to lock in but it was way off frequency.i have no parts for this set at all.needing chroma module 9-29 or 9-37 and 9-37 processor module.also if any has a sams for it?i will post pics later.i finally have one but hope its worth all the hassle

Nice

there were two IIRC one with the VRT trans and the other with a voltage regulator.

I think the 25DC56 was the 1st one without the regulator.

does it have knobs for tuning? pics please :thmbsp:

oh and better check for the replacement safety caps.

has vhs and uhf tuning knobs.safety caps are orange.

Congrats Ron! I'm sure that bringing this set up to snuff won't be that hard.

What about re-seating the IC on the chroma module? It's my understanding that the connections were known to go bad.

i ll keep you posted on progress.at first start up there was no color at all.some light tapping produced the dreaded color bars.a little tweaking on the processor module did lock it color but way off.smurf like images!more tweaking got it very.very close but it wouldnnt lock in.i will reseat all ic in the color section.still need spares as i am going to have this one forever!

Yup
Clean IC sockets, reseat modules, clean normal-align switch.
For audio clean IC socket. Most likely IC bad, outputs went
but crackled loud as a rule.
Also check 330 ohm on 9-57 change to 1 watt film.

73 Zeno:smoke:

I must add that I thought I was the only one here who doesn't prefer the Avante cabinet. Nevertheless, good on you for finally getting a flatty. If only you could get the style known as "The Homer", that would be ideal. :thmbsp:

would anyone here be dismayed or angry if i stripped the cabinet and refinished in a wood tone or possibly painted high gloss black?i really hate white furniture

I certainly wouldn't. Might I suggest moving everything into a different Zenith cabinet, perhaps one with Space Command? Of course if it's only the color that puts you off, a refinish it is. Krylon Fusion is good for plastic.

as an Avanti owner I say go for it, :thmbsp:

i dont mind the actual style at all.i just hate the color.the previous owner said the store also hade the stereo and speakers that matched the avanti.i wouldnt have minded to have all of it.i nice dark wood stain or high gloss black might be nice to look at.its a thought but wanted run it by fellow members.i value all advice and opinions.i have asked a lot and never been steered in a wrong direction

Even better, looking forward to seeing the progress. I never saw an Avante before that isn't white, except if you count those whose finish has yellowed, yuck.

Retro brite solved that for most white plastics.

bleach wite does a good job too.in the late 70s,butyl soap was great for cleaning this up.still havent decided yet.maybe a poll?

Perhaps take care of the electronic issues first to give yourself more time to decide. Ultimately it's up to you. This set is farther removed from furniture than a regular console, and would look hideous in a woodtone finish I think.

They arnt rare sets
so what the hell, its yours & its a free country.
Well used to be......

73 Zeno:smoke:

What is the base material? Chipboard? Plastic? Neither one will look good (IMHO) if finished with a wood stain. A nice hi gloss black could be very nice, but if it were my set (although I dislike most white furniture, as well), I would leave it white, as it enhances that unique "space age/ Jetsons" appearance.

just my 2 cents worth,
jr

Yeah, flattys that are *not* Avantes are fewer and farther between, and same goes for my country. If I got hold of an Avante it would be a parts set. Same goes for just about anything in French Provincial.

I am not a fan of that design, either. It always looked to me like a plastic 9-inch B&W TV set, but blown up to twenty times bigger. :D

But when RCA pioneered the look in 1969 for the 2000 set--it did not look as cheap...

A 180-inch CRT TV set? :yikes: Imagine trying to move that!

Haha couldn't resist. :D

By the way, I wonder why the "Avante" name is often changed to "Avanti" among enthusiasts? :scratch2: Every brochure I've seen spells it with an e. I couldn't help but notice that my spelling was changed in the quote above.

I once saw one of these Zeniths where it still used the white plastic base, but the actual cabinet was different, there were doors that rolled around and covered the front and whole set was shiny finished wood, only the base was white. I like the Avante cabinet, but I thought that version looked even better.

The styling of today's flat panel TVs is nothing to write home about, either; they look rather plain, unless they are installed in an entertainment center or set on a wood stand. IMHO, the Zenith Avanti series' cabinets were a unique design, if unattractive. However, the Avanti cabinet was not 100 percent white; there was at least one version that had simulated rosewood panels on the top and sides.

BTW: For Adam: I like your avatar, with one of your cats sitting atop your Zenith SC300 TV. I like the picture of your antique radio collection, with a cat between two radios, as well. :yes: It seems that you used an old console TV cabinet, with a shelf installed, to display the radios. This seems like as good a solution as any to the problem of cats jumping on shelves and knocking the radios off. I hope none of the radios that were destroyed the last time your cat(s) jumped on the shelves you had were rare sets or high-fidelity Zeniths, such as the C845 (the one in my avatar). Then again, the C845 is heavy enough that it would take much more than a cat jumping on it to move it more than an inch or two.

Are you SURE--that was not the RCA2000 set--because you described it pretty well !!

I had no idea that the RCA 2000's cabinet is wood. I know the type of set Adam spoke of though, see picture. I'll give you all one guess as to who has it.

not sure if that set is a real looker.i can take the wood but that white base!not good.well there goes the woodtone idea.gloss black maybe?

The TV with the wood cabinet and white base is a Zenith, with the SC600X 6-function remote control. I've never seen this set with that base before. Perhaps it was a limited edition, made to compete against RCA's futuristic model G-2000.

Unusual "SC600X" here:

http://videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=251540

jr

SC600X is just the name of the remote system.

Ron, this 1979 System 3 console should give you a good idea of what your Avante wold look like in black. Looks like the base is chrome-plated, very nice.

thats a nice looking set.saw one once.it was in the shop for repairs.very nice set.have to get all the bugs out first before i decide on the cabinet.

I have two Avanti (one flat chassis, one vertical). I also have a flat chassis in ye-olde, medieval-gothic dungeon cabinet.

Personally I like the Avante style, but is has to be in a room full of "modern" furniture. The sides are formed plywood. If it is of good quality (probably) I think it would look nice in a wood-tone. Paint the pedestal semi-gloss black.

That's just an old cabinet with the doors missing, I used to use it to hold books and records, but I thought it would be a good place to keep radios and tvs. I keep the radios down low now. Although on the top (not seen in the picture) I have a bunch of VHS tapes that keep getting knocked down:D

That's one of the very few system-3 era Zeniths I wouldn't mind having. But I've never seen even one. In comparison, I've seen loads of those ones in the silver plastic curved cabinet which I don't think looks nearly as nice.

….


I think the Avante would look nicer with finished wood on the sides and a black base than painted black on the sides with a white base, but then I like them the way they came white with the white base.

reseated all ic s,went through color circuit.no change.it might be an ic.no progress made so far.shiny black is looking pretty good right now!

Put normal-align switch in align ( not the service switch ).
Adj. APC control for least amount of color bars going through
picture. Go back to normal & see if its better. & dont forget
that 330 ohm, it can cause some subtle problems when
just starting to go.

73 Zeno:smoke:

Is that the 330 ohm resistor on the 9-90 board? :scratch2:

Those curved Zenith cabinets are among the ugliest TV cabinet designs in my opinion, but as I always say, ugly sells. A Chromacolor II in a cabinet like that I would try to get for parts, a System 3 I wouldn't touch.

In the flat chassis 9-57 IIRC. Same resistor & function. IIRC
the only difference from 9-57 & 9-90 is the connectors are staggered on the
-57 & in a row on -90 but near identical otherwise.......
Hybrids, flats & uprights are much the same circuit wise.

73 Zeno:smoke:

Must be thinking of the "panorama" set. Built to sit in a corner. Very good seller but if you like modern sets there were better lookers than that
one at the time IMHO.

73 Zeno:smoke: