How expenisve was a black and white tv set in late '70's and early '80's

[Electronic M]

There were probably a decent number of people that had big screen consoles as second sets. Back then the cabinet style of a console was picked to match the furniture. If a family finished an unfinished basementor garage to turn it into a family room and they had a 10 year old Color TV and furnishings in the living room but also wanted a TV in the basement they might buy a new TV and furniture for the basement family room, or refurnish the living room and move the old TV and furniture to the new basement family room...
There were many styles of furniture that didn't last more than a decade and if you redecorated every 7-15 years you'd probably have to buy a new TV to match. If you didn't trade the old set in and it still worked then a living room color console would probably be moved to a bedroom, family room or rec room... I'm sure many did.