What set will last the longest?
 

Just a question i was wondering about. If you had to choose a 40s or 50s b&w set to try and keep working as a daily viewer, for the rest of your life, what brand and model would it be?

Ive read alot and some say admirals were simple and rather sturdy, where others seem to say zenith.

What set would you personally choose as the most durable?

Well, I am fond of the early 50s (up to about 55 or so) split chassis Philco TVs. Several reasons:

1) Very simple power supply (no B+ power transformer to worry about, although there is a transformer for the 6.3V tube heaters).
2) Does not use series string tubes.
3) Decent, fairly conservative design.
4) Easy to work on (each chassis is fairly compact and lightweight) CRT stays in the cabinet.
5) One can keep a spare chassis (or more) at hand, easy to swap out.
6) Usually pretty cheap to acquire.

jr

I like Zenith b/w sets from the late 50s through the early 70s (the years they used the horizontally mounted steel chassis, I think 59-74?) I've been using many of those as daily watchers for years, and find them to give me the least trouble of any sets I've owned. I currently have 9 of them. My '66 19" Zenith remote-controlled steel cabinet set is currently my main bedroom set.

I even had one (a 1961 19" in the metal cabinet) that I got after it had been sitting on the floor of a barn for decades, it was full of dirt and cement dust. It powered right up and worked fine, as found, with original parts. I used it, having done no repairs to it except blowing the dirt out, for months on a regular basis, until the crt got too weak. Since then, I've replaced the crt and recapped it.

I'm with you on that, but those stupid things have exactly 1 bazillion capacitors in them so getting it to work in the first place can sometimes cost a little. Once I got mine working, it had the best pictuure of any B&W set I've ever seen. Tack sharp, not a hint of noise in that thing.

! Dang! Even before reading the second post, I was going to suggest the split-chassis Philco. Even with their original seleniums they were extremely durable and long-lived.

I'll go for the 12 inch motorolas with the flyback underneath. I use one every day for news and a movie once and a while. Once I got mine stable it has been a true workhorse.
My Admiral 12X12 has a great picture but I'm still working on the non-linear (horizontal) picture.
I also like the Philco split chassis but I vote for the early one with the power transformer and 5U4's.

RCA sets using the KCS28 thru KCS40 chassis. These sets are built like a tank and will last forever. I have used a KCS28 chassis RCA as a daily viewer since 1969. It has its original picture tube and most of its originl receiving tubes. You do have to replace the 5U4 and 6BG6 every few years and that is about all.

Also, it has all of its original electrolytics and they remain fine.

Terry

Those were the ones we hated the most. There was no such thing as a quickie-fix on those dogs. The little later Philco with the full power transformer and 5U4 was a lot better set. 1955-56 model years.
I always prefered any set that had keyed AGC, four stages of IF and, of course, a power transformer. All major manufacturers made a set of this type, even in a table model.

Hmm.. different strokes, different folks i guess. My experience with them was the diametric opposite, even though Philco was not one of our house brands (thus i had no invested reason to tout them). What sort of problems did you have with them?

First choice? Early Admirals. Secong? Early RCA, around '47-'50. No later than KCS 42.
Third choice? Spartan.
Bill Cahill

Dang! I forgot that the early split chassis sets had a power transformer (my '51 roundie does)... good solid set! My '53s do not... don't know about '52s.

jr

Biggest aggravation with the split chassis Philco was flag waving at the top of the picture. I can't remember everything that needed to be replaced but recaping the sync and horizontal even back then (1960's) was usually in order.
I remember they had good pictures when right.
Most disliked at the shop back then were the "briefcase" Philco TVs. I don't see the Predicta listed here:no:

My 52' split chassis works great with only the doubler caps and diodes replaced (no B+ transformer), and all the papers. The darn thing actually wanted to work with all the original caps, but the deflection circuits were too unstable for a recogniseable picture.

That was the thing that irked me the most on those sets. I couldn't believe that a set newer than 10 years old, needed a total recap. Some of the post 1955 RCA's needed a complete recap early in their lives.

A couple of you guys mentioned RCA no later than KCS 40-42. So what issues started cropping up after that? I have a KCS45 here that I was hoping to restore. Will this set be a disappointment? I see it has DC restoration.