Nice Westinghouse console at Seattle Goodwill

[radiodayz]

Hi guys, haven't been around in a bit, but had to share this just in case anyone is interested...

At the main Seattle Goodwill store off Dearborn St. tonight, I saw a 1940s (?) Westinghouse console radio/phono of a type I'd never seen before. They are asking $50. for it. Unfortunately I don't own a camera, and my cellphone camera no longer works, but I'll try to describe it as best I can:

When closed up, it resembles a sideboard such as you would see in a 30s or 40s living or dining room. It has a 4-band radio tuner covering AM and FM (88-108) BC, and SW in two bands from 5-22 mHz. Very nice Deco-style radio dial. The radio tuning-dial string is broken or missing. There is a single speaker in its own enclosure which I think is designed to pull out for placement in another part of the room if desired. The speaker (about 7-8" in diameter) is loose inside its enclosure and resting on its side. Pulling out a "drawer" on the right-hand side reveals a (I think) single speed turntable. (I suppose one could replace this with a 3- or 4-speed, right?). The back is open, I got so excited when I saw the thing that I forgot to count the number of tubes, but I think it had about 6 or 7.

I think it would make a great project for someone with the necessary skills to give it both an electronic and cosmetic restoration, and a way to haul it (I have neither). A nice piece of furniture that also plays music--what could be bad? I suspect it's also a pretty rare model. If you are willing to wait until it goes on sale, and assume the risk that someone else grabs it first, you could probably take it home for $25.

[maxhifi]

That thing sounds awesome. If local i would be all over it.
Working in the electrical industry i have always had a lot of respect for westinghouse. I think they are under-rated by collectors.

[Chan Tran]

It wouldn't be working today because it probably is broken and even if not it only has ntsc. Can we mount a new LCD TV in it?

[Buzzsaaw]

Gee wizz.. I'd be all over that too!..

Even if you decide not to work on it.. you could double your money on FreeBay!

Was it clean inside? Original condition? Original Cord?

[Reece]

Dear Chan Tran, this Westinghouse is a radio and thus has nothing to do with television standards. And no, we appreciate the past and don't destroy antique sets to put LCD TVs in them.

[stusnyder]

Originally Posted by Reece

Dear Chan Tran, this Westinghouse is a radio and thus has nothing to do with television standards. And no, we appreciate the past and don't destroy antique sets to put LCD TVs in them.

I think that was a spammer that posted that reese...

[Electronic M]

One can get converters to take a modern digital input signal and out put NTSC. Also there are still cheap sources for the signal NTSC such as analog cable, VHS, DVD, older video game systems, etc. One can also bring old Vacuum tube sets back to life using the original circuitry by changing a few bad components.

You would be surprised how good of a picture a vacuum tube set can produce.
I run a 1964 round screen color set as my daily watcher and prefer the picture it produces over every flatscreen I've had the displeasure of watching. Here is what I watch daily.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

One can get converters to take a modern digital input signal and out put NTSC. Also there are still cheap sources for the signal NTSC such as analog cable, VHS, DVD, older video game systems, etc. One can also bring old Vacuum tube sets back to life using the original circuitry by changing a few bad components.

You would be surprised how good of a picture a vacuum tube set can produce.
I run a 1964 round screen color set as my daily watcher and prefer the picture it produces over every flatscreen I've had the displeasure of watching. Here is what I watch daily.

Your daily watcher Silvertone TV looks almost exactly like the one I had from 1970-1973, the only difference being the volume control knob. Mine had a plastic knob with a brass insert in the center (the AC push-pull switch on the volume control was defective and had been jumpered), but otherwise it could have been a dead ringer for your set -- same black metal cabinet, same plastic insert with the words SILVERTONE|COLOR above the tuner, etc. My Silvertone met its demise some time in 1973 when I tried to replace a defective 6AW8 video output tube. The replacement from my junk box had a bent pin, and when I tried to insert it in the socket, I pressed down on it a teeny-tiny bit too hard, and -- CRUNCH! The tube socket promptly broke out of the board and put the set out of commission for good. I missed that set for quite a while, until I got hold of a 16" Toshiba-built Silvertone table model around 1975-'76, and later got my first new color set, a Zenith L1310C 13" portable (the first of several) in 1979.

I still think of the old Silvertone every now and then when I watch reruns of several old CBS shows on MeTV, as I watched those shows on the old roundie when they were new.

Again, however, that particular Silvertone, which had an RCA CTC-12 chassis (IIRC), was an excellent set and will serve you well, but again I wish to caution you against putting too much pressure on the PC boards. These sets are 47 years old, and the boards are brittle as potato chips (almost literally) by now; the least bit of unnecessary pressure on them will permanently damage them, especially if a tube socket breaks loose.

BTW, I wonder why you said "...every (flatpanel TV) I have had the displeasure of watching"? I think most FP TVs have much better pictures than even the best NTSC CRT sets, especially since all TV signals are now ATSC digital. Aside from the fact that many FPs are extremely short-lived (many of these sets are built to last two years or until the warranty expires, whichever comes first), I think FPs have it all over NTSC-standard CRT TVs. Granted, FPs are more fragile than CRT sets (one fall to even a carpeted floor will smash the screen), but otherwise these new sets run rings, IMHO, around CRTs as far as picture quality is concerned. I was dead-set against getting a flat-panel TV in the beginning, mostly due to the high prices of the first sets, but the day I saw an Insignia 19" FP on sale at Big Lots last August, I finally bit the bullet and got one. I've never regretted it. My two CRT sets now sit in storage in my bedroom, unused, and as well as my FP has been working, it looks like those old sets are going to stay back there a good long time. It was probably a good thing I waited as long as I did before getting my FP, as I've been reading that the sets now in stores are much better, from a quality and performance standpoint, than sets made even five years ago. Even if I had a projection TV such as a Zenith Space Screen 45 (as much as I liked Zenith TVs before they went down the tubes in the late 1980s-nineties), I'd replace it with a FP of the same size as soon as the projection set either quit entirely or developed an expensive service problem. I bet many other people did the same thing the minute their projection sets showed their last program and died.

[Einar72]

Wonder when they close tomorrow...You going, Phil?

[Electronic M]

I dislike plasma sets because most do the following....Stretch the picture (most that do are not mine and I can't adjust the menus to not do that which bugs the heck outa me) display a lousy picture on analog content (many hotels have FPs playing solely analog cable which highlights how lousy they are on analog), pixelaton from bad signal and digital motion artifacts etc form compression that all digital TV signals have (this kills the realism and in some cases the continuity of a show I'm watching and makes me think that the program is computer generated or that I've been sucked into "The Matrix" etc). the color, contrast, focus and convergence of FPs don't feel warm and natrual to me, and those 3D sets look just god awefull without glasses on (never watched one with the glasses so can't comment).

Anything that ain't CRT just don't feel natural to me (and even CRT sets that are displaying bad digital signals seem somewhat synthetic/unreal).

I'm not trying to insult your likeing of FPs or DTV or anything, I just can't see much good in the present state of the art when compared to the bad in it.

If it were up to me all non-internet video would be analog and all sets would still be CRT. I'm a college student and I just don't get my generations obsession with crappy digital convenences. My laptop is new and solid state, but some days I can warm up 4 or more vacuum tube TV sets in sequence between turning on my laptop and it booting up and preforming properly....That just don't meet my expectations of a solid state device at all.

I've been told that my Silvertone is a CTC-15 clone. I found a volume knob for it reciently that matches the set and has a brushed steel metal faceplate. I'll be carefull about the sockets. I recall hearing your story about the socket problem before and will take heed, though if the board breaks I won't trash it...I'll either fix the traces and mount a new socket or have a new circuit board made and transfer the critiacal parts over. My boards seem (from the recaping and tube testing I did) to be fairly sturdy, though half the under side of the video board looks real wierd.

[Reece]

Of course Chan Tran was a spammer but it felt good writing back what I did....

[Einar72]

Maybe Chan Tran is an TV importer
oops, me of all people to forget - they're all imported these days...

[radiodayz]

Well, some modern content looks better on a FP, I guess, but I wouldn't think of watching the "Burns and Allen" show or the "Jack Benny Show" on a modern set

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by maxhifi

That thing sounds awesome. If local i would be all over it.
Working in the electrical industry i have always had a lot of respect for westinghouse. I think they are under-rated by collectors.

Their sets were built fairly decent. They liked to use 6Y6 output tubes with a low B+ power supply. Radio is probably at least a ten tube set. Those wide radio-phono consoles aren't too popular with collectors because they take up too much room.