how good is this DuMont TV/Stereo?

[radiotvnut]

Nice looking set and it's certainly one that does not turn up often! Since it has a rectangular screen, I'd put it in the '65-'66 line. I doubt any '67 models would still have a tube tuner and amp.

In the '50's, Dumont was a higher end TV brand. IIRC, Dumont was bought by Emerson in '57 and many of their products were branded "Emerson-Dumont". And, the quality went down after the Emerson buyout. They still had models in all price categories; but, the quality was not the same as the original Dumont sets. At some point, Emerson was owned by National Union Electronics and I believe the last "real" Emerson/Dumont sets were built in 1970. After that, the Emerson/Dumont TV's were rebadged Admirals. By the '80's, the Emerson and Dumont brands were used on cheap Goldstar and Orion built junk.

And, I can believe that this unit uses a transformerless amp with 50EH5 output tubes as I have seen several large consoles that you would think would have had a decent power transformer based amp inside. Instead, they had a cheap series string hot chassis amp driving small speakers. Having a massive cabinet was just another way into faking out the customer into buying something that wasn't much better sounding than a 5 tube AM radio.

Still, I think your set is a rare find and I'd restore it, if at all possible.