Sears Medallist II Hybrid Insta-view?

[Tubejunke]

I have a 19" Sears Medallist II set that I would say is from the early 70s or maybe the late 60s. The set works good, but I have WAY too many TVs! Are these sets of any interest to anyone? I am old enough now that 70s and up stuff really doesn't look old or interesting to me, but you never know what may be fascinating to someone younger. I bought it to use, but simply don't need it anymore and I'm not sure what to do with it. I'm hoping that there is some younger generation of TV nuts out there that see something like this with the fascination that I remember when I was finding 40s-50s sets in the 80s.

Times have certainly changed! I remember older people keeping their old console sets LONG after they had upgraded to color or simply a bigger screen. In the 80s there were a ton of old sets to be found and many were still in use. One thing is, people simply didn't have a TV playing nearly all of the time like many do now, so it took longer to wear one out. If and when it did wear out you could get it fixed. Now I believe that they are engineered to fail within five or so years for and when a TV screws up it gets thrown away with all of the other plastic crap. Why would anyone want to keep any cheap, Chinese, ugly set made in recent decades around if it is broken? Most wouldn't; so a working set from the last of the tube years (70s) may be sort of a rare commodity in 2010, being from the beginning of the throw away/plastic cabinet age. Perhaps virtually all of them got thrown away and I have something cool!!

[radiotvnut]

I think the Medalist line was among the higher end Sears products. Your set was probably made by Wells-Gardner or Warwick (chassis number prefix will tell).

You are right about these old TV's once being in good supply. Starting in the late '80's and continuing into the late '90's, I was finding old tube TV's on a regular basis. The early '90's was when the final round of tube sets were likely taken out of daily service and most of their owners were from an era where it took a lot of hard work to own something like a nice console TV and they didn't throw them out when they stopped working or when something "better" came along. Many of those old sets, especially the solid state sets of the '70's, would last for decades.

Now, we (or, should I say, they) go out and spend $1000 on a Chinese flat panel TV that may die in two years. Then, we (oops, they) find out that the required circuit board to repair it is either NLA or cost as much as a new TV. That's one reason I will not buy a new TV. I can pick up an old TV from the '70's and fix it for next to nothing. It will likely last me for years and I can see just as much on an old TV as I can on a new one.

As far as people from my generation keeping something, such as a TV; well, it's not likely to happen. Heck, the TV wouldn't have to die for most people in my age group to trash it. Just let something "bigger and better" come along and that's all it will take. I wonder how many people are dumping their standard LCD TV's in order to make room for a new 3D set?

[Jeffhs]

I remember the '70s and '80s well, as I grew up in the '70s and remember seeing older console TVs from the '50s-'60s that were still in use. When these sets finally developed serious problems (such as a bad flyback, power transformer, CRT, etc.), they were put out for the trash and replaced with smaller sets, usually 19" portables. The owners usually held on to the older sets for years or decades, even if the TV went bad (they would then use the stereo, which in many cases still worked quite well). The old set was often moved down to the basement, rec room, etc. or used as a stand for the new TV.

Don't forget people who move into smaller houses or apartments and must downsize. These folks may have had large 23-25" color console entertainment centers that still worked perfectly well, but since the owner was moving into a smaller home with much less room, the set had to go; many of these sets may have been given to relatives or friends, but a lot of these consoles wound up on the curb to die a certain death in a landfill. Consider as well (as one VK member in Texas recently mentioned in this forum) that many houses in the southwestern, midwestern and Great Lakes regions of the US are built without basements, so there is very little if any room for anything other than furniture. I had a friend in my old neighborhood who lived, with his family, one street over from us in a house built on a slab, no basement. I can only imagine how crowded it must have been in that house (I never saw much of the inside). They had just one TV that I can recall, a 21" Zenith b&w console in the living room. I also remember them having a pinball machine (the old mechanical type, the forerunner of today's digital video arcade units), but I don't remember anymore where they put it.

[Tubejunke]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

As far as people from my generation keeping something, such as a TV; well, it's not likely to happen. Heck, the TV wouldn't have to die for most people in my age group to trash it. Just let something "bigger and better" come along and that's all it will take. I wonder how many people are dumping their standard LCD TV's in order to make room for a new 3D set?

I think this statement says a lot about the current human condition in American society. I think that this mindset could be looked at in regards to age or "generation," but I honestly believe that we have reached a point in time where the ultimate "generation" (50-70 ish) is getting older and want to remain forever young and hip, so they are almost as quick as a 25 year old to push a perfectly good working device to the "obsolete" bin for whatever popular culture finds is the latest and greatest "must have" item. It was their parents who generally had higher moral standards, patriotism, and a superb work ethic that we have not seen since, and unfortunatly their numbers are growing very thin.

So now it seems that people no longer consider much of anything in terms of the hard work that it may (or may not) have taken to obtain a given item, and nothing made these days is really of any use or built of good quality material for use as something else, as was the case of the old B&W console becoming a stand for the new 19" color portable. What I never get is HOW everyone, no matter how poor, seems to have most of these things.

[veg-o-matic]

We had a Medalist B/W 19" portable that we got in, I'm going to say 1968. We got it after our 1957 RCA console fried its flyback for the last time (and during Dark Shadows, too!)
It was definitely made by Warwick, as that was the return address on the shipping carton.

[Tubejunke]

So, does anyone think that a 1968-ish 19" Medallist in working and cosmetically clean order would be something that might be of interest to anyone up and coming (or perhaps already) in this hobby, or is it junk? I ask this because to me the set is more or less just another TV cluttering my already cluttered house. I like it because our family actually had one similar to this when I was a child. However my intersets are in older sets right now AND having room to work on them.

[bgadow]

I personally think it is worth preserving. Common once, but I haven't seen one like that in person since the 80s.

My wife has been daydreaming about taking a couple days and driving down to Tamarack. This has me daydreaming of meeting up with you somewhere on the road and exchanging a 21" bw Philco table model for a Sears Medalist! But probably just a dream...

[Tubejunke]

Keep dreaming my friend! I have a LOT of stuff here that you may want to take back. My 56 Philco might like a twin! If you have any interest in my very nice 58 Zenith Space Command 24" console at all, please let me know before I am forced to part it out. I just want it to have a good home.

[dieseljeep]

I picked up one of those Sears medalist tv's at an estate sale a few years ago. It was sitting off to the side. They said to take it free, otherwise they were going to throw it into the dumpster. CRT is a little weak , but works pretty decent. Built fairly well and has a voltage doubler power supply.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Tubejunke

I think this statement says a lot about the current human condition in American society. I think that this mindset could be looked at in regards to age or "generation," but I honestly believe that we have reached a point in time where the ultimate "generation" (50-70 ish) is getting older and want to remain forever young and hip, so they are almost as quick as a 25 year old to push a perfectly good working device to the "obsolete" bin for whatever popular culture finds is the latest and greatest "must have" item. It was their parents who generally had higher moral standards, patriotism, and a superb work ethic that we have not seen since, and unfortunatly their numbers are growing very thin.

So now it seems that people no longer consider much of anything in terms of the hard work that it may (or may not) have taken to obtain a given item, and nothing made these days is really of any use or built of good quality material for use as something else, as was the case of the old B&W console becoming a stand for the new 19" color portable. What I never get is HOW everyone, no matter how poor, seems to have most of these things.

I am 54 years old and currently have two CRT televisions in my apartment, a ten-year-old RCA CTC185 in the living room and a 15-year-old Zenith Sentry 2 in the bedroom. I intend to keep both these sets as long as they work as well as they do. I also have an eight-year-old Panasonic VCR and a bunch of VHS tapes of 1950s-80s TV shows and movies, as well as a DVD player and a small but growing DVD collection, also of mostly 1970s TV series.

A recent NBC news broadcast featured a report on the last incandescent light bulb manufacturer in Winchester, Virginia, which closed its doors permanently at midnight that night. The same report mentioned that VCRs are obsolete. I don't entirely agree with the latter statement; the machines may well be obsolete from a technology standpoint, but they still have uses today. As long as people still have tapes they can watch on them (and have little or no interest in recording off the air), as I do, these machines will still be available for some time on the used market, and as one half of combination VHS/DVD players.

I don't want a flat panel TV right now. Many if not most of the off-brand sets (from what I have heard and read) are too unreliable. They are junk after two years, when the video ICs molded into the cable linking the panel to the chassis fail, unless you spring for a premium brand such as Panasonic's Viera line, which is advertised to last twenty years with an average eight hours per day of use. I cannot afford such a set and will not buy a cheap FP made by some no-name, fly-by-night offshore electronics company. I have toyed with the idea of getting a Magnavox (Philips) 15" FP (they show up in the ad flyers in my Sunday paper every now and then), but won't go through with that either as long as my old reliable CRT sets are working so well.

I am not the kind of person who has to have the latest/greatest of anything; it's just as well, since I am on disability and cannot afford much if not most of the lastest whiz-bang technology. Everything in my apartment is at least a decade old; I intend to run all of it "until the wheels fall off", as the expression goes. At the rate my RCA CTC185 19" main-watcher TV is going (ten years old with only one repair, and a fantastic picture), and my Zenith Sentry 2 (which still works amazingly well after 15 years, and has had no repairs to date) currently in line to replace it if and when the RCA set goes belly-up, I won't even be thinking of getting a FP TV for quite some time.

[Tubejunke]

I sometimes wonder just how many of us TV people, or just plain realistic and frugal people like Jeff and myself are married. I sort of hate it that most women aren't exactly turned on by a bachelor with a house full of vintage stuff. THEN there is that needle in a haystack that I meet here and there who love old stuff, maybe not TVs, but a woman that likes ANYTHING old (besides men) is cool with me; then again I am not getting any younger.

I think I would be hard pressed to get ANY woman to watch my first generation Dragnet DVD on my 1950ish RCA TC-127 with me! I know that this is far from my original Sears Medallist II topic. It came to mind as I recently met a younger woman at the college that I am attending while re-inventing myself due to the Free Trade Act. I was sort of worried about what her opinion might be of a man with a single level home that contains around 14 TV sets!?!?! Really IMO, TV and radio collecting is no more strange than any other "collectable." Really collecting ANYTHING other than money is sort of a sign of eccentricity when you think about it. TVs just take a LOT of room and probably seem strange when people see them stacked one on top of the other in desperate attempts to save space.

I would venture to say that this is a hobby that a man might want to take up once he has bagged a "keeper", and a home with a garage AND a basement. I think the ideal match for an old TV guy would be a woman who collects refrigerator magnets or maybe salt shakers...........

[tritwi]

Hi, I read about your Sears Medalist II 19" tv you wish to find a new home to.
I would like to know if the set is color o b/w. Should it be color would you care to pack it in a box and ship it to me here in Italy? I can pay up to 50$ and (of course shipping expenses (if these are reasonably within 200$).I used to receive others tvs from your country.
I collect late 60's early 70's color tv televisions and all those produced in your country are ,useless to say, my favorite by far!
Thank you very much. You can reach directly to my email address: [email protected]
Best regards
Marco

[Dennman6]

[QUOTE=Jeffhs;2984396] "I am 54 years old and currently have two CRT televisions in my apartment, a ten-year-old RCA CTC185 in the living room and a 15-year-old Zenith Sentry 2 in the bedroom. I intend to keep both these sets as long as they work as well as they do...the machines may well be obsolete from a technology standpoint, but they still have uses today. As long as people still have tapes they can watch on them (and have little or no interest in recording off the air), as I do, these machines will still be available for some time on the used market, and as one half of combination VHS/DVD players...I don't want a flat panel TV right now. Many if not most of the off-brand sets (from what I have heard and read) are too unreliable. They are junk after two years, when the video ICs molded into the cable linking the panel to the chassis fail, unless you spring for a premium brand such as Panasonic's Viera line..."

I am 48 years old, & I love using my computers, CD recorders, & other digital equipment to enhance my analog habit & use the stuff in conjunction with my collection of records, vintage phonographs, radios, reel-to-reels, etc. My TVs are all CRT sets in the 25-27" screen size. I have 27" Zenith, Sharp, GE(CTC-177) sets from 1995-all work great. I also have two 25" Sanyo sets, 1994 & 1996-again, working great. The Sanyo's seem to have especially beautiful & luscious film-like color rendition(who made their CRTs?). When I do get a flat panel, it will be as large as possible in the plasma/LCD type-60"! And it will be a premium brand too-I won't fool around with junkers. Too bad Pioneer Kuras are no longer available.

I totally agree with Jeffhs & will never give up the good, old, useful equipment so long as it performs well & is repairable. I routinely listen to selected 78s from my collection on my 1921 Victrola X(in oak) & my 1926 Victrola Credenza. In fact, I am gearing up to tearing down these spring motors & doing a complete cleaning & regreasing to get many more decades use out of them. Nothing wrong at all with combining the best elements of "modern" & vintage! Hail Mechanica!

Dennis Forkel

[Einar72]

Does this TV have Sears' engineering pinnacle - the Chromix control?

[dieseljeep]

Hey fellow cat lover Einar72. I think the set they are refering to is a monochrome set.