VINTAGE Zenith Royal "R" Chassis 19R20 TV

I am getting ready to restore this set. It is in really good physical condition, but I haven't checked it out functionally yet. It is missing the knobs found under the flip cover (between the large dials). Anyone know where I might find some? Photo attached... check it out.

Dan

[Chad Hauris]

I might have some (are they like brightness, contrast, horiz. hold, etc...) let me see if I can find them. They would be from a Zenith royal X but should be similar. If I can find them, will send for reimbursement of shipping cost.

[Charles Vesser]

Well I can tell you from experience on that set if your going to restore it and don't want to spend days on it:
Check all tubes, replace any bad ones.
Clean and lube all controls and pots.
Replace all the caps.
Something about those sets is they draw moisture and dust.
Nice little TV's, I have one and went through it several years ago and it still works. I think I replaced every cap in it. I just did not want to take it in and out of the case. Usually the picture tube is good in those sets because the caps went bad so often.

I appreciate the offer on the knobs. There are one or two in there, the rest are missing. You are correct on which ones they are. If a photo would help let me know. I had planned on replacing all the paper caps (plus any bad lytics), checking the tubes, and checking through the resistors, plus cleaning the pots and cleanup in general. In my current work in process, a 1948 Admiral, I found lots of resistors that had climbed far over value. A previous (and for now completed) RCA from 1956 also had several bad. I really enjoy the challenge of TVs, and don't know if simple radios will be all that exciting any more.

Dan

[Charles Vesser]

Hey Dan,
Welcome aboard, your on the same ship I'm on. I enjoy the old TV's more so than the radios. The radios are either to easy to fix or so much is wrong and missing that the effort is not worth while. At least the TV's are usually all there and most have never been messed with. Lots of luck in your quest. I personally am not that good on the early color sets, so I shy away from them.

Hi Dan, that's one classy looking set. Stylish in a minimalist way.

Anthony

[Chad Hauris]

Hey Dan, I have found Fine Tuning, Horizontal Hold, and 2 very small knobs, have not found brightness or contrast yet. If you would e-mail your address I will send the knobs I have--will try to find Brightness and Contrast.

Here is a photo of the missing knobs. Some have a typical shaft. Others are more like a flat blade. Hope you can see this. Thanks for finding some for me.

Dan

[peverett]

Do you have a photograph (from a Sams perhaps) of the knobs that were originally there? I have some simliar to the one that still is in place.

Jody

[Chad Hauris]

Dan, I sent the knobs out that I had yesterday. They may not be all the ones that are needed but may be some help.

[Sandy G]

Dan- Cool TV!! Would love to see a pic when you get it going. -Sandy G.

[Jeffhs]

Dan,

I just saw the pics of your Zenith Royal "R" TV. Great set, from what I've heard (it's a Zenith from when the name meant Zenith, and the company still handwired their sets in Chicago--need I say more?). Hope you don't have too much trouble getting it going.

BTW, I like all things Zenith (the older models, that is--before the company was bought out by Gold Star). Have a couple old Zenith radios (can't collect old TVs anymore since I moved to a small apartment four years ago, so now I'm collecting small radios). However, I used to collect old TVs when I lived in a house in the suburbs. A good number of those sets were Zeniths, and many of them worked or were repairable without much trouble. Had a 1963 Zenith 23" b&w console in the early '70s (trash day find) that I retubed; it worked great and sounded much better than most TVs of that period (it had the 6BN6-6BQ5 audio system, with tone control IIRC, and a 6x9 oval speaker). I'm sorry to say, however, I had to get rid of that set when I moved (the first time), three years after I got it working so well. Nearly broke my heart to do it, especially after all the work and money I put into it but I was moving to a house where I wouldn't have any room for it, so I had no choice.

Those older Zeniths were built to last. Once you get yours working, it should serve you well for many years to come. These older sets are much, much better than the faux "Zeniths" coming off the assembly lines in Korea these days. In fact, I read, in one of the AK television forums recently, that today's Hitachi TV sets are actually built by "Zenith" and sold under the Hitachi brand as well, so these are nothing more than rebranded "Zeniths", with all the problems that brand has today.

I've had a liking for Zenith home-entertainment equipment for years, but since the company's reputation (and their products' reliability) have gone down the drain and are now worth nothing, I wouldn't buy anything with the Zenith name or logo on it today. The company had better shape up or else, IMO, it will find itself out of business in a very short time. People don't stay with companies that do not make reliable products.

[Steve D.]

Jeff,

You could substitute the name RCA for Zenih in your reply and have the exact same message. Does Zenith stil use the slogan "The quality goes in before the name goes on" in their ads

When did RCA start to go down hill? I gave a 1990 RCA 20" Color Trak with a built in FM tuner that absolutely disgraces my 2003 Zenith when it comes to picture quality. The RCA had it's first repair this summer after 13 years of regular use--and it was just a resistor that went in the power supply. I also have a 1988 27" RCA console that was working perfectly until the big blackout this past summer with no repairs on it whatsoever. After the blackout, there appears to be no power to it. I haven't had a chance to do anything with it yet, but I hope it is something really minor like a fuse or something. The picture was still like new until it conked out.

Originally posted by Steve D.
Jeff,

You could substitute the name RCA for Zenih in your reply and have the exact same message. Does Zenith stil use the slogan "The quality goes in before the name goes on" in their ads

That slogan always stuck in my craw. If I'm not mistaken, the use of the word "quality" without an adjective before it makes no sense whatsoever.

Quality must be described in some manner, poor, good, bad, superior, etc.

Regardless, nowadays the name goes on before they're loaded onto the container ship and sent from Korea. Gadzooks.

Anthony