What is your favorite TV
 

There has been a 1947 Dumont 12" RA-103 “Chatham” Teleset TV on eBay which hasn't sold a couple times around. A little high priced at $499.95 but not unreasonable. It got me thinking that in a 1970s TV collectors guide and price list the Dumont doghouse was rated the number one set on collectors lists. While the Philco 49T-1150 was least popular. I think prewar sets were considered out of reach of most collectors (unobtainable) so they weren't really considered. I think the Farnsworth GV260 may be towards the top of my want list but I still like my Dumont Chatham. Has the Doghouse lost its favour? Why?

621TS is still my fav followed by the 630 and their clones, but then I'm biased to RCA stuff.

I'd go with the 621TS too, for sheer style it can't be beat though the inner workings are completely conventional.

The Videodyne I found recently is high on the list, great style and a chassis that's unlike anything put out by the majors, it all put together with screws and nuts, and not too precisely at that, which gives it the feel of a hand built prototype, the company was only around for a couple years as well.

I love Bakelite sets, the Philco 51-PT1207 is a favorite, it's one of a kind, one year only CRT makes it kind of special.

Portholes, any Porthole is cool but I particularly like the Raytheon 10DX24 with it's funky knobs and deco styling. It's chassis is way off the beaten path as well with an r.f. HV supply, slug tuner and 50B5 sweep circuit.

My favorite set and a tv I've always wanted is the Philco 48-1000. I had a chance to get one when I was in high school, but my family didn't want to stay at the suction it was in...maybe one day I'll find it again. I've also wanted one of the hallicrafters 10" pushbutton sets like the t-67.

The 'toasted mahogany' (blonde) RCA 621TS, and the Teletone Model 250.

Going to be at ETF? I'm selling one :)

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...9&d=1459263319

Aww I wish I could, but my wife's having our baby any day now, so no trips for me. How much are you asking? Maybe a friend of mine could go for me.

$500 or trade. It's an untouched original. Even all but two of the tubes are Philco.

Your 1000 is a double d and I cant say I ever saw one like that before. What do you want to trade for? Btw cant think of a fave at the moment a Motorola 9t1 ?

To the best of my knowledge, this is the only complete double D 48-1000 out there. There was an empty cabinet of a double D 48-1000 sold on ebay a couple years ago, but that's all I know of. This is a later production code 122 chassis, and it's nearly flawless.

Ideally I'd like something along the lines of a 1940s porthole (not Zenith, Raytheon, or Westinghouse....I have those), early color (pre-CTC 9), a restored Predicta, or who knows.....

I must chime in that 48-1000 really is a choice set with that late production "double-D" screen. I had a nice typical one years ago that had frustrating intermittent audio problems that caused me to unfortunately just part with it.
Pre-war sets aside, I agree that the 1946 RCA 621TS is the top early vintage TV. It's a beauty, fairly compact and a great performer. The next one in line is the 1948 Admiral 20X122 bakelite console. It's such a compact little gem with great lines and proportions - and a flawless performer to boot!
PS - Be aware that the Dumont "doghouse" is even bigger and heavier than you might expect! That would probably be the only reason a TV collector would pass on it. I collect vintage TV's, but must pass on the early big 10"/12" sets because of space. The only exception I made was the RCA 630TS because it's such an historical set.

Would have to be my Zenith Porthole, or my RCA 621, which STILL needs to go see Terry. Actually, when you think about it, ALL of us are EXTREMELY lucky to have rather complicated electronic gizmos going on 75-80 yrs old that STILL manage to work..

Ok what is a double D 48-1000?

For decades, my favorite TV/radio brand was Zenith. Still is. I have a Zenith SMS1917SG 19" remote color table set (with the original CRT, which still makes a great picture) in my bedroom and a bunch of '50s-'80s Zenith radios as well. It was a darn shame Zenith left Chicago for Korea in the late 1980s-early '90s. The quality of their TVs went downhill in a hurry once they left the US. :no:

One of my favorite vintage sets HAS to be the Zenith flat-chassis color sets--like the 25DC56 set. Just a masterpiece of engineering--with its heavy metal construction AND modules--VRT power supply, and clean layout !! AND a CRT that is pretty much "indestructible" !!

A good reason why my Gmail is that chassis # !!

Look at the shape of the CRT on the Philco 48-1000 above. Then look at the standard 48-1000 CRT/Mask at http://www.earlytelevision.org/philco_48-1000.html

My fave is the DuMont RA-101. This beastie:

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...1&d=1422253615

I have to admit I enjoy it even more than my CT-100.

I also really like my Andrea T-VK12.

Does that one have line-powered HV with the huge HV tranny---or does it use a HV osc/fly ckt?

Mine has the HV oscillator with RF step-up coil. The 60 Hz supply would make the set even more interesting (as well as more dangerous), but I don't have it in mine.

my favorite tv is my 1948 Tele-King model 210. Mine even has the original owner's manual hiding inside. After recapping and replacing the sand resistors...she can to life! I was shocked that a 70 year old crt held up all these years..yes, it's a 10bp4

I realized in my original post that I left out the Pilot TV-37 3" TV. Although some say the screen is impractically small, when you watch one properly restored you'll be surprised how good it performs. I was fortunate to acquire the deluxe magnifier and it makes viewing quite comfortable. The set is 15lbs and just looks so cool. A must-have model!

I'm partial to my CTC-21 right now, as it performs flawlessly. As far as looks go the Philco Predicta is my favorite (I don't own one). I also dig late 40s 7-9" tabletop TV sets. Looking to add one of those to my collection for sure :thmbsp:

My favorite TV is the Zenith 29JC20, which was their first 21 inch color set. Displayed fabulous color, and a great monochrome pix as well. They were built like tanks.

Here is a photo taken off a date code 1949 RCA 10BP4 (original) from my Canadian built RCA Victor 8T243. The KCS28 chassis employed 4 IF stages as all RCA Victor television did until they went cheap in 1953.

I realigned the tuner and video/audio IF in 2001 and this photo was taken from an analog over the air signal from KAET channel 8 Phoenix in 2005. The video bandwidth is full 4.0MHz and the picture benefits from a live KAET studio source. The camera was a Sony HDC900 HD camera rescaled from 1080i to 480i in the camera CCU. (I used to work at KAET).

Note the crisp detail: from the photo you can make out the hair strands and you can make out vestiges of color dot crawl making its way through due to the wide 4MHz luma channel bandwidth. The photo off the CRT did not do the television justice.

RCA and DuMont I think made the highest quality televisions in the late 40's and the high picture quality from these sets demonstrates that they can still display pictures well so long as the source is up to snuff.

That's incredible, beautiful picture.

From the early days, this little fella (the one with the badge on the speaker), through all that it does have 5 chanels, not 12: http://rw6ase.narod.ru/00/twcb_/rekord_a.html

http://www.wa2ise.com/radios/admiraltv.jpg
One just like this was my grandma's, and later my bedroom TV set when I was a kid.

Having now had three 621TS sets, I feel they're a bit overrated. So I guess I need to update my "favorite set" post a bit.

My favorite set would have to be a tie between my Federal Video 15 incher, as seen in this thread: http://videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=269040

Or my late 1946 7 inch Transvision kit with the three channel tuner. Neither is operational at the moment, but I hope to correct that before Christmas.

The Federal is really unique with a classic early post-war blonde/Chinese motif.
I'm always surprised at the downturn on the 621TS with many collectors. I have a friend who's collected and repaired vintage TV's since the '60's and we still rave about that set to this day. It's got awesome deco lines by Vassos in a compact cabinet with basically a compact ole reliable 630 chassis. A match made in heaven!