For those with 10K lying around or who have a muesem..HM 171 .

[tubesrule]

This one also appears to be a bit of a mess. Cabinet drilled for volume control, wrong power transformer that required extra holes be drilled in the chassis, 6F8's rewired to 6SN7's, wrong crt shield and mask and various stuff drilled and added to the chassis.

I did like his comment "It even has the original tuner shield/cover that so many of these sets are missing." Yes, these are always missing since that's not an original piece to these sets!

[decojoe67]

Originally Posted by tubesrule

This one also appears to be a bit of a mess. Cabinet drilled for volume control, wrong power transformer that required extra holes be drilled in the chassis, 6F8's rewired to 6SN7's, wrong crt shield and mask and various stuff drilled and added to the chassis.

I did like his comment "It even has the original tuner shield/cover that so many of these sets are missing." Yes, these are always missing since that's not an original piece to these sets!

It's interesting and informative what you wrote, but I think with a situation like this, much can be forgiven. You're dealing with a rare and historic early television set. This is not a set for the collector who wants "an old TV" to watch The Honeymooners on, but a serious TV collector who respects it's provenance. As a collector who's main interest has been television history, if I had the money, I'd see this set as jewel. It display's beautifully and a few extra holes in the chassis (as well as the other issues), in my personal opinion, don't turn me off to it at all. The seller has the absolute right to say "it could be many years until another one comes on the market", and he would be correct. I must say that the starting bid is high IMO. I would value the set, with the mods, in the $5,000-$7,000 range.

[leadlike]

Was the newer power transformer added to accommodate the extra amps the audio chassis would draw?

[tubesrule]

Originally Posted by leadlike

Was the newer power transformer added to accommodate the extra amps the audio chassis would draw?

Probably not. These power transformers have a habit of frying the HV winding which is usually made of #42 wire. It is not unusually to have a bad transformer however exact replacements are not hard to obtain.

Originally Posted by vts1134

Really??? What do you think would be the motivation to make a shield like that?

It looks like someone was trying to shield the tuner from noise. With all the original crt mounting pieces missing, it may have been due to what was mounted in there at some point. The HM-171, HM-185, HM-225 and HM-226 all use this same basic tuner (3 or 5 channel versions) and none of them ever had a shield from the factory. No shield is mentioned or shown in the original manuals. Also if you notice, the corners of this shield are soldered together, not something GE would have done at the factory.

Originally Posted by decojoe67

The seller has the absolute right to say "it could be many years until another one comes on the market", and he would be correct.

While that may or may not be true, and there certainly is no way of predicting when the next one will come up for sale, the last one sold out of the ETF classifieds less than a year ago.

I'm not trying to tear this set down, just point out that they have come up for sale very regularly over the years, many times in much better condition, many times in worse, so it's up to the buyer to decide if this is the set for them.

[rca2000]

I agree it is pretty well modded, and that somewhat hurts the vintage value--BUT it has NOT been butchered. And it looks pretty good on the front and sides.


For a serious collector who had the means--probably 3500-5K would be more fair. It IS a pre-war set-after all, with a claimed good tube, with line powered HV and a 5" electrostatic tube.

[init4fun]

Originally Posted by rca2000

I agree it is pretty well modded, and that somewhat hurts the vintage value--BUT it has NOT been butchered. And it looks pretty good on the front and sides.


For a serious collector who had the means--probably 3500-5K would be more fair. It IS a pre-war set-after all, with a claimed good tube, with line powered HV and a 5" electrostatic tube.

Not looking to be contrary , but , the ad clearly states the 5BP4 is untested , and that the socket has become detached from it . I do 100% agree on your $5K limit due to the back being a reproduction , the entire CRT mounting being a kludge in from an oscilloscope , and the CRT mask being foreign to the set as well . The 6F8 to 6SN7 changeover had to include rewiring of the tube sockets and I hope the work was done neatly . The GOAT shields are missing their tops , not an impossible thing to find by any means but still a detraction from the top dollar $10K price .

[vts1134]

Originally Posted by tubesrule

I did like his comment "It even has the original tuner shield/cover that so many of these sets are missing." Yes, these are always missing since that's not an original piece to these sets!

Really??? What do you think would be the motivation to make a shield like that?

[init4fun]

Originally Posted by vts1134

Really??? What do you think would be the motivation to make a shield like that?

At first glance I thought the audio amp chassis was attached to it , but a better look proved I was mistaken . The GOAT tube shields sure look wrong with the 6SN7s in place of the 6F8s