Sylvania GT Matic II Console (1976): What Do I Have and Any Interest?
 

Greetings!

I have a "vintage" color TV (Sylvania GT Matic II color television console, manufactured in Batavia, NY, in August 1976, approximately 23 in. screen, wood cabinet; still powers up) that I would like to send to someone who would appreciate it (I don't want it "parted out"). What is the value of the unit, if anything, and how would one appraise this model as far as any significance in the manufacture of older color TVs? FYI - I reside near Rochester NY.

Thank you. :)

It's worth what somebody will pay for it. Slightly less if the CRT is dead.

Assuming it uses a delta-gun CRT if the CRT is a 23V screen size collectors of older rectangular color sets will give ~$100 if the CRT is relatively strong. The complete set you may be lucky to give away (unless the buyer intends to part it out).

That is how it works. Tube and hybrid sets have value, but once you get into Solid State a chassis generation or two, you have to live near that proverbial one guy that actually wants one to have a shot at selling it and it staying whole.

Wait another 5-20 years and it may actually become a set with a collector following.

It's sad, but true.
If it's the Sylvania set I'm thinking of, they were good performing sets.
IIRC, it's the first set that used the count-down chip, that eliminated the hold controls. :thmbsp:

are you sure its a 23v crt?i have a set like that and i would take it if it wasnt so far away.those are very good performers but the weak link was the 25vdmp22 crt.short life span.i have a zenith chromacolor crt in mine.the value for this set is small,under 50.00 if cabinet is nice.thats what i paid for mine with a sharp cabinet and crt was good.it faded a few weeks after though.post pics of it

Moved to a better fitting location :) Carry on...

Thank you for your input. I did realize that the unit had "negligible" value. Maybe I will eventually have to part it out if there is no interest in the complete console. It was a good TV, picture was very good for its time - was connected to an outdoor rotor antenna.

Yes, I remember these. I forget the chassis number but E32 maybe? Had three modules about the same size each. A fantastic picture if you set them up right. Worthy competition for Zenith RCA and Magnavox in those years. Some were branded Philco, who was also owned by GTE since late 1974

Funny how a few glass bulbs change the perceived value of a set. I can hear future generations looking at TV displays and asking "So all we had were round screen RCAs with all those tubes until we got flat screens made in China?"

Those early SS Sylvanias are less common than those tube sets, but generally will go to the trash masher if they can't feed greed.

Dave G the E32 was a inline gun set. The set in ? uses a E40,E41 chassis, 3 big boards and a self regulating power transformer and the 1st generation video chip, good picture when the jug was up to snuf. All the best, Tom.J

IIRC the E32 was a single board set. The one that had bad FBT's,
filter cans & a Zener in the audio that shorted. Otherwise a decent set.
Came in 19" & 25". Maybe 13" to ???

Early GT Matics were all delta jugs 19" & 25". Killer pix with the dark/light
CRT but the the jugs died early. They were 3 module sets.
Next generation had pass regulator. They would blow the FBT, HOT
& pass. If you used OEM parts it was a $200 job inc PUD. Too much $$ !
IIRC all deltas to.

The other chassis from Sylvania in that era was the E08 used in 13" & 19".
Single board & also could give a pix as good as any. The list of common
problems is LONG.

Sylvanias greatest contribution was the count down H/V design that became
the standard for almost all but the cheapest sets.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

I have an E08 chassis 19" set from 1974. It gives an excellent pix - when it works. Had to have the tripler replaced last year, and recently, a wire going to the focus control randomly fell off, so now I have to fix that. The IC for color demodulation is also bad in that thing.

There were also the E20,E21,E23 and E24 single board sets with the Sylvania/GE inline CRTs' sized 13" 15" 17" 19" and 21". When working good gave a great pix. Have a few in my collection. Probs. with them were among others shorted pass transistor which most times took out H.O.T. tripler, yoke and sometimes the jug, later models had trouble with auto color chip and chroma chip. Fix for prob. came out fairly quickly. All the best,Tom.J

all those sylvanias of that era were fine performers and delivered excellent pictures.the 25dmp22 crt would always win the best picture from consumer reports magazine.they died slow deaths and usually would last 3 to 4 years.the lighter faced 25vamp22 would last forever.in there prime,these sets would hold their own against the best zeniths.the zeniths would last 30 years plus,though.the higher end sets with real wood cabinets would last nearly as long but were way too few and far in between.sister has a e 32 chassis bought new in 1984 and still working as a daily driver.excellent picture and never had a repair!i have a 1979 e 48 that has a like new picture and never repaired.i use it sparingly but love the way that crt looks.dont want to kill it as a daily watcher

Mine has a dark-face CRT but it's a 25VFAP22 and is original to the set. It's a high-hour set, CRT passed emissions but didn't do well on the life test at first. It came right back up with auto-restore.

that one will probably fade out after a few days use.when they are good the picture is awesome.we saw 5 to 6 sylvanias for every one other brand.largest sylvania distributor was a few miles away and they were the price leader.a 25 inch gt matic would set you back 299.00.a zenith or rca comparable would be 100 to 150 more.they pushed those sylvanias.the other sets would be adjusted dark and dim while sylvanias would have the contrast maxed out.l,i always liked the crt look of those sets but a really good zenith was just as good and lived a much longer life.my e48 is almost 40 years old and looks like new.this is the exception to the rule.my flat chassis is 44 years old and looks like new.my xl100 is 44 years old as looks like new.it was never used and was on a pallet when i picked it in 2006.since i owned it,its has less than 40 hours on it.this one doesnt really count.

It's just as well. The 25VEDP22 in my Heathkit GR-2000 tested near new and will probably produce a picture just as good if not better once the set is up to snuff, and be far more reliable.

I'm not surprised by the low prices of those Sylvanias. In addition to their self-destructing CRTs and insatiable appetite for triplers mine had the poorest quality cabinet I've seen, even below the plastic Zenith consoles. Little wonder NAP stopped making replacement parts so early.

those cabinets left alot to be desired!triplers went but not as often as any other sets.back then they were cheap easy repair.any good crt will produce a nice picture in this set.we did many swaps and recorded the results back in the shop.zenith crts always looked the best if a sylvania wasnt available.would like to see pictures of this

This thread is missing just one thing - a model number. Speculation and remembrance are great, but what is the OP's actual set?

With all of the service lit right at hand, I find it useless without a model number.......and no directory for service lit works without one.

If one can find the manufacture date, why are they so blind to a model number?:scratch2:

Funny, seems just about every time I read about a tripler replacement it's being done to a Sylvania. Just coincidence I guess.

I was going rebuild my E48's cabinet with real wood, but the more I dug into it the less re-usable material I found, maybe 3% of the entire cabinet. So, I just gutted it, broke it down which proved easier than with most cheap furniture and tossed it along with the vented CRT. Now I'm awaiting a donor cabinet, preferably one that originally housed a B&W set. If it's solid and I like the styling I'll use it. I kept the CRT end cap in case the convergence board sits almost flush with the back of the donor cabinet as it did in the original. Finally, I steamed and carefully peeled off the model sticker.

As for the OP's set, yeah we really could use a model number, and a chassis number while you're at it.

Bear in mind most monochrome sets post 1960 had substantially higher deflection angles than found in most color sets, and thus had shallower cabinets to make the most of the monochrome CRTs being significantly less deep. Unless you find an older cabinet odds are it will not be deep enough to properly protect the color CRT.

I already thought of that and was checking out sample cabinet depths. Antique B&W sets pop up around here more often than early SS color sets.

1976 models could be e-41 or e-45 chassis.some sylvania sets that came in would have build dates of certain years with earlier model chassis.i think sun tv here in columbus would alter those stickers.older sets with new built dates.found stickers placed over stickers in some cases.i have tinkered with thousands of sylvanias and have a soft spot for them.zeniths are the very best with rca and sylvania running neck and neck for second