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Depends on which version. The "System 3" name was applied to Zenith TV's made between 1978 and the early 1990's. The first ones still retained a power transformer and were the best ones. The main problems these gave were issues with the 9-153 HV module and the plastic edge connectors. The second generation sets used the infamous 9-160 series power supply/sweep module and there was no longer a power transformer. These sets were OK; but, had a lot of problems with the 9-160 module and the crappy plastic edge connectors making intermittent contact. The third generation, introduced around 1982, used the 9-181 main board and the 9-186 sweep module. These are not very high on my good list and they can be a pain to troubleshoot. I own a 13" set that uses the 9-181 chassis and even though it has a good picture, I'm not going to invest much time or money in it when it takes a dump. By the mid '80's, there was the "Advanced System 3" that had stereo sound and other features. In the late '80's, there was the "digital system 3" that was a high priced set; but, was a total dog. A have a friend who bought a 31" digital system 3 in the late '80's and he paid around $1600 for it. It gave trouble from day one and he finally got tired of it and gave it to me a few years ago after it had been dead for years and serving as a stand for another TV. I patched it up good enough to give to the starvation army and haven't missed seeing it one bit. By the '90's, the quality had really gone down with bad CRT's and major chassis issues. If a Zenith system 3 was the only TV I could own, I'd stick with either the first version from '78-'79 that uses a power transformer or a 9-160 based one. All system 3's used inline gun CRT's that did not hold up as well as the old delta gun CRT's. The early inline CRT's were the best and it seems like the smaller screen tubes held up better than the 23" and 25" tubes. As time went on, the quality of Zenith CRT's continued to decline.
The best Zenith's were the chromacolor sets of the '70's that used either the horizontal "tube look-alike" chassis and the vertical chassis and used delta gun CRT's. The last chromacolor II portables from '78-'79 used the same inline tube as the first system 3's.
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