New Muntz TV

[John Folsom]

Chad,
Your point is well taken. But you must admit, 15 tubes (plus CRT), is near the lower limit of cheap design, though by no means a record. A Motorola VT71 uses on 15 tubes, though it was much more common for late 40's vintage sets to 20+ tubes to do the job. I was a bit surprised when reviewing my Muntz tube lineup to see 3 video if tubes. Would have expected 2 (or less).

But I looked at a Muntz set from a mid 1950s Riders, and it STILL had 16 tubes. So maybe the Muntz reputation for cheapness is overstated...?

So.... what TV from the 1950s-60s used the LEAST number of tubes to do the job? (NOT including compactron tube sets). BTW, I don't know the answer.

[Steve McVoy]

Many of Muntz's sets had only two IF stages. Also, he used many fewer bypass capacitors, filters, etc. His total parts count was much lower than the major companies.

[Chad Hauris]

The RCA 8" portable set from the 50's uses I think only 12 tubes (not compactron) plus CRT. It has a power transformer with selenium diodes...uses a lot of 6U8's...it even uses the triode portion of a 6U8 as an audio output stage.

[maxm]

I have a RCA 14" portable from the 50s (see avatar) that only uses 13 tubes (no compactrons)

[veg-o-matic]

I was looking through a 1958 Montgomery Ward catalog and they listed a 21" console with 14 tubes including the picture tube, one diode and 2 selenium rectifiers.

[Eric H]

These 9" GE's use 10 tubes not counting the CRT.
If you are lucky enough to find one with a good CRT it can work really well.

Hey there!! Interesting find. I found this thread searching for Muntz and TV, because I happen to have a fair-good condition, working Muntz projection TV that I would like to sell. I have to confess, I haven't done the research on it yet, so I don't have a clue how collectable it is, or it's value.

It has a tweaked 13" Sony Trinitron (man, those things were great) sitting face-up, with a box on top, that contains a mirror, to a lense that shoots onto another mirror, then the screen.

I purchased it new, about 30 years ago. It is in working order, although I haven't used it for about 20 years. It was serviced just once.

If you or anyone else knows of where/how I could research this, or, is interested in it, please feel free to contact me ([email protected]). I'm in Los Angeles.

[bgadow]

There was an article recently in Autoweek magazine regarding the Muntz Jet, the car Madman built in the early 50s. Not a bad car, really. Anyhow, it's demise was met when the accountants discovered that old Earl was selling the car for $1000 less than his cost to build it-so he really lived up to his commercials!