This has been bugging me for awhile.
 

How come so many old TVs, particularly sets from about 60-67, are still working, often with their factory componets, when most radio, hifi, and test equipment from that same era seems to have long since bit it?

Good question...

My guess would be the price. The big three knew u as a buyer were expecting the set to last for 10-20 years. Older members here have informed me that even in the late sixties, combos were going for over a $1000. That was huge money back then.

So i would suspect, the big three knew that if they built a $700 tv, or a $1000+ combo, they had better build it to last a decade or two, or u wouldn't come back as a customer again.

Contrast that with today. With the buy in cost is much lower, but so is the quality and durability

I don't agree that 1960s era valve audio is often found dead/has bitten the dust.. many times I see old EICOs, HKs, Scott and Fishers being used even in unrestored condition. Even the often-ghastly sounding early germanium solid state amps keep functioning halfway decently..
With TV receivers, the kine's cathode emissivity dictates brightness and color tracking ability. But remember that 'up-front', the RF stages in an NTSC receiver can be trickier to align and repair....

I agree with both Technicolor and AVeturri...I still see a lot of radios from the 60's at flea markets, antique malls, and ebay. But, that was a time when the classic table radio and console stereos were going extinct and cheaper stuff was becoming the norm. People then had a tendancy to keep something as long as they could if they paid a lot of money for it. My parents were born in the depression 30's and they never threw anything away. They still have buried in their basement the 1964 Motorola B&W console they got when they were married. They still have the GE fridge my grandfather gave them as part of a complete kitchen too.

Now, people buy a $1000 computer and 5-6 years later scrap it for nothing without a care. My folks can't understand that kind of thinking...it really boggles their mind.

The thing I would add is back then a lot of stuff was made to be fixed. Motorola used to advetise they designed things to make it easier for service. Is there anything advertised like that today? Maybe some commercial equipment, but not a consumer item. Most things are meant to be thrown away and replaced.

I've seen a LOT of 50's and 60's Zeniths work decently on original caps...I can't recall the last one I saw that was not usable as is.

I wonder if life use has something to do with it... Seems to me radios would be something that are now (and may also have been back then) left on for long periods while people listened to music and their favourite broadcasts etc... whereas TVs are something that you really only turn on when you actively sit down to watch so would be used much less...

Perhaps the added wear and tear on the radio's components from this extended use is part of the difference?

My daughter uses a 1958 Scott Type 130 pre-amp in her tube component system, and it's all original, except for the #12 bulbs. Her Dyna ST-70 has been re-capped, though. Maybe the Pre-amp is living on borrowed time, but I have a spare stashed just in case.
Kevin

Some older radios ran hot so that finished their caps off rapidly. I still use a Citation "A" germanium preamp (1962) with Heath W6M amplifiers(1958) in my audio system. The "A" has never had any parts replaced, the heaths have had capacitor failures but still have a number of original parts.
I think wax capacitors were probably a nightmare from the start, not to mention the famous "bumblebees!

I have two Zenith radios, K731 and C845, that still have all original parts, including capacitors and even the original selenium B+ rectifiers. They both work great even now, over 50 years later. I scored last month (on eBay) a Zenith Royal 3000-1 that, I think, still has original capacitors, and is working just fine. The only modifications the former owner made were to install rechargeable batteries, and to replace the incandescent dial lamps with bright white LEDs. The radio works probably every bit as well now as it did when it was new. I would not, however, trust the capacitors in the power supplies of my two tube-type Zenith radios if the sets had power transformers.

My C845 has given me over 20 years of trouble-free use.

Stuff was made quite well then.... Its nice seeing it still working :)

That was the same time they came out with Mylar dielectric coupling and bypass caps. Also improved insulation used in transformers, etc. :thmbsp:

My Pioneer sx-82 uses alot of Mylar's for coupling, probably why it sill "works". it's got alot of those PIOs though, too, so the shelf it remains. :(