Emerson DuMont
 

Thought I'd share my latest acquisition with you all. I found it through our local Craig's List. Normally I wouldn't give a second look at something this new or this BIG, but the DuMont name tag sort of caught my eye so I decided to take a closer look at it. Even though DuMont was part of the Emerson company by this time, it's not real common to see a color set with the DuMont name tag.

The set was part of an estate that was being liquidated and the seller was anxious to sell it. I'm sure there weren't a lot of people banging on their door to buy this monster. Even though I knew it was an AM/FM/Phono TV combo, I was still kind of shocked at the size (and weight) when I saw it in person.

This was your typical "Grandmother" TV. That is to say it was impeccably cared for and virtually flawless to look at. I removed the back and did a check of the CRT and after a few slow lazy minutes it began to show signs of life. At about five minutes all three guns were riding high in the upper end of the "good" scale. It appears to be the original DuMont Emerson CRT, as do most of the tubes in the set. Looking at the date code on the tubes it must be a 1965 model and is called La Traviata. I guess using a classic opera as the model name lends a certain high class "air" to the unit.

I was kind of surprised to find a Garrard AT60 changer as the turntable. Although it wasn't the top of the Garrard line, it's certainly a better grade of changer than many of them being offered in the combos at that time, although it does not offer a magnetic cartridge, but opted instead for the standard ceramic.

The audio amp is a solid state unit and seems to be in good operating condition. The AM/FM Stereo unit is a hybrid using both tubes and transistors. It utilizes an eye tube as the tuning indicator. The radio seems to work quite well too.

The TV does work, but there are some issues with it. The image on the crt is a bit dim and blurry, and it has the beginnings of a cataract. I've got some work to do with the TV section.

I've attached some pictures of it. I don't think I'll be doing too much with it until next Winter at the earliest.
Bob

WOW! Nice save! Don't see too many dumont or emerson color sets.

Kewl ! Excellent save...An' that 'un looks "pristine"...

In 1965 or 66, when I was vacationing with my parents, I happily found that they had decided to join the color TV world. Given that the first black and white set they had was a DuMont, it was natural that they'd turn to DuMont for the color product. They didn't realize that the real DuMont company was out of business and that Emerson was making the product. No matter.... The set they bought was not the combo, but I'm willing to bet that it had the same TV chassis, etc. that your set has. It put out a really nice picture and they kept it for quite some time. Good luck with it!

As big consoles go that is a nice one! It looks very elegant, I would have grabbed it too.

At first I was wondering how they put speakers in the sliding doors, then I realized those are cut outs so you can use it with the doors open.

That is a beautiful combo. Emerson had a good marketing tool with the DuMont name on their high end sets. Many folks still associated the DuMont name with quality receivers. I recall seeing, in the 70's, a stack of DuMont sets in their shipping cartons with the "First with the Finest" DuMont slogan printed on the cartons. These were all large consoles. This was at a Federated electronics store in L.A.

-Steve D.

Great find! I like these DuMonts and Emersons from the 1960's. I remember my cousin working on sets like this years ago at our old TV shop. Thought you might like to see these pictures from the original DuMont brochure.

Gilbert

Never saw one, nor have I ever heard of one. Cool save! :thmbsp:

Hi Gilbert;
Thanks for posting the brochures...I really enjoyed seeing and reading them.

Bob.

Wow! That is an amazing find! They don't come along that nice everyday. The cabinet style is great too.

A DuMont that is really an Emerson? or an RCA?
The channel indicator looks a lot like the one on the RCA models from about 1963 (CTC-14?)

I find the whole Emerson/DuMont story pretty interesting, and think this set is a neat one. I'm glad you could give it a home.

I had been wondering for awhile about the RCA "clones". For instance, would that chassis have been built by RCA or would it be a CTC-12/15 made under license? Something I read this winter points strongly to the latter. It was an article in one of the "trades" dated from around '74. RCA had just entered into the agreement to make sets for JCPenney. It was said that this was the first time RCA made sets for somebody else since, I think, '63. So I think it's safe to say that Emerson built this in their factory using the RCA blueprint.

Hey Bryan;

Very interesting information there about who actually built the DuMont set. Not having worked on an RCA more modern than a CTC9, I don't know if I'd recognize one of the later CTC chassis. How would I be able to tell who actually made it? Would there be a manufacturer's name stamped on the pc boards somewhere? Or maybe an ID code of some kind?

I haven't looked all that close at the innards yet.....

Thanks.
Bob.

That's going to be a CTC-15 clone chassis...and no, it will not have any RCA markings on it..Clone chassis were used by so many manufacturers I would doubt they were made by RCA..but licensed by others to do so.
The Dumont clone may be a copper colored chassis...they used it in the early 25" models too. (model 55C01.."The Astrid") but added a seperate pincusion chassis/module.
There's also more of an Emerson inspired chassis that has a vertical-horizontal layout but I do not believe that one was used on the roundies.
Show us some more!!

As I'm thinking about this, by the knob layout and the CRT surround it may be earlier than I've originally thought...as early as a CTC-12? Could have been more of an RCA carry over design so as not to look too much the same.. Let us see!!