Quote:
Originally posted by Chad Hauris
I might have to disagree a little with the fact of the 1970 Magnavox round set being a cheesy product...yes the CRT was old technology (round) but the chassis was the same as on the highest-end Magnavox color set, minus the pincushion circuitry.
I was also looking through Photodact folders and found some real cheap 23" color console designs...some of these were basically a Portacolor series-string chassis with upgraded horizontal output/damper tubes.
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I didn't know that the GE Portacolor chassis were anywhere near powerful enough to drive 23" CRTs. My best guess is that the basic design of the chassis was modified to include beefed-up flybacks and, as you mentioned, H-output and damper circuits. The original chassis could not possibly drive a 23" tube in its unmodified state.
Also, I wonder how a series-string chassis could be powerful enough for CRTs larger than, say, 19 inches. There were many b&w sets of this screen size which used series-wired tubes and voltage-doubler B+ supplies, but I cannot imagine such a chassis in a color set with a 23" tube. I would think any voltage-doubler supply powerful enough for a large-screen color set would be very expensive to produce.
I never considered Magnavox's TVs as being "cheesy" designs, either--at least not until recently (as in since the 1990s); now, I am inclined to agree with the poster who made that statement. Until Magnavox was acquired by Philips, they were very well-built sets which lasted years and gave their owners very little trouble, aside from a tube replacement now and then and possibly a reconvergence every year or so. I saw a pic of one of Magnavox's best 1960s-era consoles in this forum not long ago. Remote, power tuning (VHF and UHF, which was very unusual in most sets having that feature--most sets with power tuning, including Zeniths, only had it on the VHF tuner), and, in Magnavox's fabulous 3-way color theatre consoles, the total remote control system (their deluxe "Phantom" remote, which not only controlled all basic functions of the television, but those of the AM/FM radio and even reject and changer functions of the phonograph as well). These are sets the likes of which we will probably never see again (witness the fact that almost all TVs made today are table models; most folks wanting consoles nowadays simply purchase a nice wooden TV stand or an entertainment center and put the new set, along with perhaps a bookshelf stereo unit and a VCR, in it or on it).
However, as I said, Chad, I am inclined to agree that today's Magnavox-branded TVs and VCRs are made very cheaply, as are most other formerly American makes which were once the top of the line in TV and home entertainment.
The 1970 Maggies were still very good sets. I once knew a man whose mother owned a Magnavox TV that lasted her some 25 years or more, so those early Maggies were built to last. IMO, it was not until the company followed the former RCA and Zenith to Korea that Magnavox's quality started its downward spiral; it's been going downhill ever since. If you want quality in any of these former American makes, I would say look for an older set, say 1960s-70s vintage. Back then, RCA, Zenith, GE, Magnavox, et al. were still American companies manufacturing quality products. The older sets, when properly restored, will likely go trouble free for years, unlike the so-called Zenith, RCA, etc. sets today that typically only last about two years before developing serious problems (for example, the CRTs in today's Gold Star-built "Zeniths" typically short after a couple years, taking much of the video circuitry, not to mention the power supply, etc., with them). I have an RCA-branded set, CTC185 chassis, built in 1999 in Juarez, Mexico that has been trouble-free for the most part (have had it four years as I write this), but I have a feeling that my set is the exception rather than the rule.
The older consoles were much better looking than today's table models, even the RCA-branded sets in their "diamond mist" high-tech silver-color cabinets, but as I said, owners of these plain-looking sets often put them in entertainment-center cabinets or on wooden stands finished to match the decor of the living room or family room, den, etc. This is yet another reason I'd hang on to American-made consoles, if you have the room for them; most TV manufacturers except "RCA" and "Zenith" no longer make consoles. In fact, I have a feeling that the cabinets housing RCA- and Zenith-branded console sets are not as well made as earlier console cabinets (like the TV sets' chassis themselves). Why should a company that cuts corners right and left on the TV chassis make a fuss over the cabinet, unless they subcontract the cabinet work out to a reputable cabinet maker such as the fine furniture manufacturers in North Carolina? I honestly believe that is what RCA and Zenith have done with regard to console cabinets; if this is true, the cabinets, if not the guts, of today's high-end RCA- and Zenith-branded CRT-based TVs are still probably as good as they always were in the '50s until the companies went to Korea. These are also, IMO, sets one need not feel guilty over gutting for the cabinet when the chassis or CRT, or both, eventually go West. The chassis of these modern sets may not last very long, but the cabinets, if made as well as I think they still are, will last years and will be fine furniture pieces to be enjoyed long after the guts have been scrapped.