1940s Emerson

[Farlander]

I'm back with a new tele-vison (yeup Vanilla ice) this time a Emerson and i wanted to know if emersons were considered good tvs in that time, here is the one I found.

[Username1]

Very cool tv ! I am fond of the Emerson brand, I have had very good experiences
with them from the years 1950 and up. I have seen the set you have here a few times,
and on ebay, sometimes going for a good penny... Very nicely styled, and collectible.

Emerson did not have dealers that I recall people talking about, but were sold in local
5 & Dime stores, Western Auto's etc. A less expensive alternative to getting a Zenith
or RCA. They lasted just as long meeting the circumstances that would lead to a long
life just as any other brand.

Good luck restoring the little guy....

.

[jr_tech]

IMHO, one of the best looking 7inch electrostatic sets made... a little cramped due to its very compact size, but a very collectable decent performer. Finding one with all the correct knobs is a real plus, many of us are not that fortunate.

A good find!

jr

[decojoe67]

I had one of them years ago and found it one of the better 7" electrostatic performers. It's also a simple set to cosmetically restore. Once you polish-up the face, redo the black trim, and refill the knobs with gold, it looks like new. Although I didn't do it on mine, refinishing the cube-shaped cabinet is as simple as you can get.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Very nice! I can't tell from the picture, is it the finished wood cabinet, or the luggage linen covered version?

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by decojoe67

I had one of them years ago and found it one of the better 7" electrostatic performers. It's also a simple set to cosmetically restore. Once you polish-up the face, redo the black trim, and refill the knobs with gold, it looks like new. Although I didn't do it on mine, refinishing the cube-shaped cabinet is as simple as you can get.

The Emerson was probably better engineered, because it didn't use a voltage doubler or tripler, as all the others did. It could be operated on DC, 120 volts.
New York still had a lot DC districts.

[Farlander]

Originally Posted by Kevin Kuehn

Very nice! I can't tell from the picture, is it the finished wood cabinet, or the luggage linen covered version?

It's definitely the finished wood variant. And it actually is in good shape as well

[Farlander]

I was confused at first because someone told me emerson wasn't very good and a low quality company. But, this looks like quality to me.

[jr_tech]

The tv history site says that 1973 was the last year of production for Emerson... after that the name was slapped on a variety of inexpensive offshore sourced products of lower quality, mostly sold in places like K-Mart and Wallmart. In other words "mostly cheap junk".

http://www.tvhistory.tv/1946-49-EMERSON.htm

http://www.tvhistory.tv/1950-59-EMERSON.htm

On the other hand, I have an cheap (60$ or so) Chinese made Emerson branded microwave oven that has held up fine for nearly 10 years. It replaced an expensive Panasonic that only lasted 2 years.

jr

[Kevin Kuehn]

With some of their sets from the early 50's, the wiring often resembles a rats nest, with many components buried under other components and wiring.

[Farlander]

I want to ask something though as where is an antenna supposed to plug in? It it somewhere in this area?

[jr_tech]

Should be 2 screw terminals mounted between the two insulators where the broken piece is.

jr

[cwmoser]

I restored an Emerson 639 some time ago.
It produces a nice bright picture and the chassis seems to
really open up once recapped.

The Flyback cover on mine looked like someone took a can opener to it - see photo.

Your Emerson looks to be in exceptional condition.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Here's that antenna terminal. It looks like something generic might fit.

[Farlander]

Anywhere you think I could find this piece?