[radiotvnut]

Here are my entries for the junkiest and/or most overrated solid state color TVs. Your opinions may differ, and you may want to add some to the list.

1. Just about any GE made prior to the introduction of the "PC" chassis. I especially didn't like the "YM", which was the first chassis to use a large-screen inline jug (that didn't last) and these always ate flyback transformers (they were not cheap). Then, there was the "EC" (19" portables) and the "EM" (25" sets). At least the "EM" had a VRT power supply and was cold (the "EC" was hot), but both were full of griplets and were hard to service because of the way the boards were arranged. The "YA" and "YC" were sort-of OK, but I ran into a lot of bad yokes and bad focus dividers on those. The "AA"/"AB"/"AC" chassis that was used in 10", 13", and 17" sets was somewhat OK, after you fixed the griplets. The "PC", which was one of their last, was a good set that could usually be fixed by replacing a handful of capacitors in the vertical sweep and power supply circuits, but I saw many of those with weak tubes towards the end of me seeing those. It seems like the early "PC" sets with the grey-faced tube held up better than the later ones with the dark-faced tube. I think I saw one "PM" set, which was basically a "PC with a switching power supply. I saw a few "QA"/"JA" sets, as well as one "MA" 25" console, and none of those impressed me, either. Even the "CD"/"C1"/"C2" chassis color hybrids were not that great. I recall seeing one 19" GE hospital set and I think it used a "JA" chassis variant with a delta-gun tube and it wasn't very impressive.

2. Curtis Mathes was the most overrated, overpriced pile of junk TV that was ever made. The tube sets, what few I saw by the time I started fooling with TVs, looked to be a rip-off of an RCA design, using cheap parts. The solid state sets usually had an NEC chassis paired with an RCA or Westinghouse (depending on the age) jug. I'm told that they bought reject jugs from the big tube manufacturers and that could explain why I saw so many bad ones. Even when they worked, I never saw one with a picture that blew me away. I recall one monster TV/stereo combo from 1974 that had an NEC solid state modular chassis that was full of problems, a dead 23V delta-gun jug, cheap stereo components that would make an Electrophonic seem high-end, and a cheaply-made particleboard and plastic cabinet. For what someone paid for that junk heap, they could have bought a nice Zenith combo that likely would still be working.

3. Any solid state Warwick-built set. I've known of no technician that had a good thing to say about them and Sears eventually dumped them as a supplier, because of their declining quality.

4. Samsung/Goldstar/Sampo junk. Those were not usually hard to diagnose, but the diagnosis usually sent them to the junk pile. They were a discount set to begin with and they usually had a decent picture, but when the flyback or jug went, the owners rarely had them fixed because the cost of repair would approach or exceed what they paid for the set.

5. Early Magnavox solid state. I don't remember the chassis number, but it was their first solid state portable chassis that was used in 17" and 19" sets. It used a bonded-yoke inline jug, and these sets would develop bad connections in the sweep circuits, causing a dot to get burned in the center of the screen. The T979 was their first large-screen solid state color chassis and it had a good picture, but I seem to remember it having a lot of under-sized resistors and there were issues with the module contacts. The next one was the T989, which was an improvement. Their best was probably the T995 modular chassis with a 25V delta jug. The T815 was OK, except for the tri-focus inline jug, like what Zenith used, that didn't hold up all that well. The T991 and T809 19" modular sets were OK, as long as you kept spare safety capacitors on hand and re-soldered all of the module connectors (on the modules and on the main board). I did not care for the C3 and C5 sets from the '80s (overly complicated power supplies and they liked to eat flyback transformers).

6. I really should not have an opinion, since I recall only working on two Admiral color sets in my life, but I've heard some not-so-great things about Admiral. The two I worked on was one of those little 12" color hybrid sets from the early '70s and I managed to get a fair picture out of that one. The second one was a 19" Montgomery Ward-badged set from 1979 (the last year for Admiral). That set used a single-board chassis with a 19" RCA inline jug. After replacing a shorted tripler and making the usual adjustments, that one had a nice picture.