My new 1961 RCA combo
 

I haven't been on here in years it seems. TV's intimidate me, but I brought home this monster last week.

I have checked the crt and it's good. I got the schematic for the tv, but am struggling to find the amp and the tuner schematics. There are some rvz #'s on those two components. I figured I would get the radio to work first. Maybe by that point, the TV won't intimidate me.

Thanks Travis

nice looking set , bet it weighs a ton though ..

Thank you.

Yes, two strong young men picked it up and moved it. Sadly, I can't scoot it. The owner really loved this set. He kept all the paperwork, including the sales brochure for the entire 1961 lineup.

Beautiful RCA Combination set, congratulations! Looking forward to more pictures and updates, as you progress in future.

A very nice set indeed. Good luck with it.

Hi Travis,
Nice set. The amp and tuner chassis schematics are in Sams folder 522. They are a Servicer pull-out that came with folder 522. The CTC10 chassis should be in folder 517-2.
Ed

Ed,

Thank you very much for the schematic explanation.

I grew up with on of these! The sound from that will be excellent! The changer uses the RCA "butterfly" needle, their first stereo pickup. The radio should have the Multiplex stereo adapter as well. Ours even had a tape input. I don't think ours had UHF.

I got a similar HiFi console and love the things mentioned in the previous thread. The RP-190 changer is a great player. I have heard that as "airplane" needle, AND the voice of music . com has parts for it too.
The hifi stereo amp chassis (RS177?) uses 6CG7 preamps and PP 6BQ5 outputs, tuner has an eye tube and should be every bit as awesome as that TV is! That is a very desirable console IHMO.

Here is one in NJ. Not mine.

https://cnj.craigslist.org/ele/d/196...440939357.html

An RCA Cunningham, or a CTC-40 or 44 combo would be just about the only ones I would risk divorce over! SO happy that this gem has found a good and loving home. Sincere congratulations on a wonderful find! Have a great time restoring and enjoying it. :yes:
Kevin G.

The Cunningham
 

The CunninghamAttachment 196424

Attachment 196425

Not sure why it posted that way...

Noice.

1963-CTC12 Dave, thanks for the temptation, its in range!

Does it use RCA Cunningham Radiotrons in it. :D

Very nice looking combo. Heavy as hell. I was a grunt once that had to help take these out of basements to haul off back to the shop. The first 2 photos I notice even the shag carpet matches probably the year this came out lol.

Very nice looking. One would need a truck to take the money to purchase it and then use said truck to bring it home. One would also need to stop by the local high school and hire the football team to help move it!!!

But I would bet it looked super and sounded great.

I dream of having that model, great score man!

Very nice. Looks like it's in great shape!

When these big heavy sets were new, didn't the dealer actually deliver them, and then perform the convergence and set-up?

Yep, sure did. And I got a bad back to this day for it. :pity::gigglemad

I remember taking one up the a third floor apartment and it took 4 guys because of the weight and size of these beasts.

Back when sophisticated electronics was teamed with designer furniture. Unlike the stuff made today, plastic, MDF, etc. A real work of art, a classic!

That's why those big entertainment center cabinets for flat screens became so popular; some folks, myself included, don't care for the generic design of today's flat screens. (I put mine on an old wood-look utility cart, with my DVD and VCR below it; looks a lot better, IMO, than just the TV sitting by itself on a table.) We may not be able to get new TVs in fine wood cabinets anymore, but I think the EC cabinets make up for that.

As for the quality of the electronics, well...that's another story. I've seen pictures of the innards of today's flat screens, and am amazed. There are usually no more than three PC boards plus the display panel inside most sets these days, so most of the little space in the cabinet is empty, not unlike the last Zenith color consoles of the late '90s and early 21st century. In those sets very nearly the entire TV, except the CRT, speaker and tuner, was on one small PC board. The rest of the cabinet was empty. I remember someone in this forum stating that some console TVs were very light; that person may well have been referring to these last-gasp Zenith consoles. I seriously doubt that the cabinets of those Zeniths were real wood, either; they were probably particle board covered in woodgrain vinyl, not unlike some antique radios which had cabinets covered in what was called "photo finish". Zenith radios were often housed in this type of cabinet, which surprised me since I always knew those early Zeniths, from the now-antique radios to their televisions up to about the '90s, were quality instruments; in those days, Zenith had a slogan, "The quality goes in before the name goes on". These days, since Zenith left Chicago for Korea, it's more like "The quality fell off the boat on the way to Korea." I sincerely believe that, considering the poor quality of today's "Zenith" branded flat-screen televisions made before the company went out of business for good. Good grief, those new sets didn't even deserve to have the Zenith name (or their trademark lightning bolt Z) shown below the display!

Always thought Philco more so than Zenith did the 'photo finish' hoodwinkery on their radios.