Curtis Mathes, You Know Where
 

Yep, another one out there on ebay. This one is in Indianapolis.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...766214023&rd=1

ow! this is getting on the edge of a practical trip to pick it up -- but it would go with my LR furniture, even better than the Maggie I bought from Doug - (thinking......) :headscrat

By the way, anyone know what RCA this might be similar to?

The Curtis Mathes roundies of this time seem to be a cross between the CTC15 and 16. The audio board is set up like a 15... would have the audio output tube on the audio board (unlike the 16 that places this tube on the metal chassis). The high voltage cage is set up like a 16... uses a focus rectifier tube (unlike the 15 that uses a solid state rectifier). At least, that's the way it is on my Curtis Mathes. I think the CM chassis in mine is a C-20.

thanks
 

i can drive down and get it just bid on it 100.00


larry melton

cataract on crt
 

i have an almost new jug to put in it, then i will try the heat gun process to remove the safety glass and clean out the mold

oldtvman is on the case
 

Thanks for the tip my current bid is $50 I hope it holds up, then 148 miles one way to go pick up the beast

Darn :(

My friend's looking for one for his home uptate, but he's in finals now and i'm tied up at work.

*sigh*. Hopefully this summer a good Nimitz-class console will show up...

Uptate? :-) You just reminded me of what the Jerky Boys say "I'm from UPstate!"

Anthony

This is Kissel. You know where I can get a duck cleaned ? Quack, quack, quack....-Sandy G.

I would like to buy some salami, and some boloney, bo-log-nahz.

See here: http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?p=323829

money order was sent out today, will go down to indy to pick up the beast anyone want to help load it ?

Remember the commercials-"Curtis Mathes-The most Expensive Television in America-And Darn Well Worth It !" They had cheek, that's for sure.-Sandy G.

BUTT cheek!

I used to hear people derisively say that CM made some very fine electronic furniture.

Anthony

The last time that I was in Athens, Texas, I drove by the old Curtis Mathis factory. It has been empty for years. I also have heard that there is some ground contamination around it, so it will be hard for anyone else to move in.

The TV shop that I cleaned out was in Athens, so it has some Curtis Mathis items in it.

Is this name still used by anyone as is the RCA name?

Kmart sells Mexican (and/or chinese?) built CM sets these days or at least they used to as the last time I recall seeing them there was perhaps a year ago. Check this out:
http://www.curtismathes.com/aboutus.asp

This link will tell you a little about the old C-M plant, contamination, etc.

http://www.tnrcc.state.tx.us/permitt...nd/harvey.html

So long Curtis-Mathes
 

I don't think K-Mart offers C-M branded tv's or electronics anymore. A Google search showed an internet merchant selling C-M Branded DVD players on a site dated 2003. That was the latest item I could find. The C-M website info is at least 3 years old and is probably not active anymore. I doubt there ever was a C-M branded HD set available. Gone the way of the Dodo I suspect.



-Steve D.

Kmart's site doesn't list CM any longer so I guess they are gone. While I hate to see another American name bite the dust I can't really cry for them as they were nothing more than cheap crap made outside the US......I only buy US made cheap crap! :-)

Anthony

I worked on a Curtis Mathis B&W tube type set that was probably made in the early 1970s or late 1960s. The insides of this set were made in Japan. The electronics in Curtis Mathis sets has been foreign made for years, probably before most other brands.

The pamplet about the contaimination at the old Athens plant confirmed what I had heard. When I was last there, in the late 1990s, the building was empty with the Harvey name on it.

yes.... I am certain Curtes Mathes had been an import item for years. I had a late 70's 9" color set that was NEC. I think NEC also made them in the "Expensive, but darn well worth it" era. My grandpa cussed when that ad campaign came out. He said the price was jacked up to support the long warranty. They did have beautiful cabinets tho, and what a brilliant ad campaign. I still remember that, and Sylvania's "Sylvania beat Sony Again?!?" ad where the sumu guy "went off" in Japanese when handed a report on picture quality.

We used to have a C-M 19" color set from the mid/late 70s. Worked okay, nothing to get excited about. It was made in, IIRC, the British West Indies! Last year a woman tried to give me a 70s solid state C-M console but I don't need a hole in the head, either. Probably still there. I think C-M was big in the rental business, and we all know how much mark up there is in that.

Don't overlook the value of those somewhat ugly 70's CM sets as a parts source...I had one of those huge 70's solid state CM consoles, chassis was not working...used the CRT in a Zenith Chromacolor tube type w/busted CRT and it worked fine. Those delta gun crt's will sub in to many types of sets.

the last cm sets i worked on were made be nec
 

before i got out of the repair biz, i saw a good number of cm's that were made by NEC (Nippon Electric Corp) especially their big screen's

The K-Mathes (and IIRC White-Westinghouse) sets were mostly made by Daewoo. "The least expensive TV in America and darn well not worth it."

the beast has arrived!! went down to indy and loaded up the 300 lb monster. fired it up last night, looks like a wells gardner (RCA clone) crt is good

started working on the beast today, its actually a maggy clone, same color circuits as the maggy with a 6ju8 color killer.

:banana: Yes the good old days of Curtis Mathes are gone.
Check out my web site below:

http://curtismathes.webs.com/

Below is a Authorized Distributor banner from 1961 that was given to me from a closed Curtis Mathes Showroom.
http://a.imageshack.us/img685/2691/3...5342613196.jpg

Below is Karah with the Curtis Mathes Console television, Made October 1981,
Model G552R
http://a.imageshack.us/img405/269/cmksmall.jpg
She works wonderfully. Soon will be thirty years old!
http://a.imageshack.us/img186/750/cmsmallcolor.jpg

I cleaned out a TV shop in Athens. From this, I still have a few Curtis Mathis sets. A couple of Curtis Mathis roundies and a B&W set. The B&W set is in the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum at the moment. All have nice wood cases. The B&W set has been restored electronically. Even though the Sams dated it from 1965, it contained Japanese capacitors.

I did have one of the combo units(I think Glenn has posted a picture of one like it) that had a 21 inch B&W TV, reel to reel tape player, AM/FM stereo, and phono all in one unit. It weighed so much that it took 4 people to move it, so I gave it away. It had a blond finish, unusual for Curtis Mathis.

Here are 3 Curtis Mathes sets I have accumulated. All are NEC sets but still have great pictures, amazing on high use color sets that are greater than a quarter century old.
The older of the consoles did require a new flyback, and now it has lost all audio output :-( , maybe some day I'll get around to having a look see into it - too many other projects going on right now to have time to repair it.

It's funny how pretty girls make anything look good :)

Somewhere in this site I saw a crazy looking(to me) Curtis Mathis combo with the stereo system on top in what looked like a photcopy of wood finish cabinet. Seems like it was huge. Did they ever have any crazy, huge roundie combos?

These beautiful Ladies are popping up everywhere.
And yes she still works. I guess 1961 was a good year at Curtis Mathes.
http://a.imageshack.us/img835/7789/curtismathes.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img833/1637/curtismathess.jpg

http://curtismathes.webs.com.

http://a.imageshack.us/img340/6954/curtismathesss.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img201/3150/curtismathessss.jpg

http://a.imageshack.us/img816/7338/cmtv.jpg