I've been blessed by Royalty... ZENITH Royalty - Page 2 - Videokarma.org TV - Video

Charlie · #16 02-03-2010, 07:04 PM

Finished this yesterday evening just before LOST came on... then let it run for a few hours. New caps opened the pic up all the way and got rid of a few little jitters.

I checked all the caps and lytics with a meter as I pulled them. All the ceramic tubulars and black beauties checked pretty close to what they were supposed to be... even a big black beauty that was cracked wide open. There was one lytic that was a little low... not too bad. Just goes to show how those old caps can cause troubles... they all checked good, but changing them fixed several little issues.

I tried the set with a CRT brightener and without... really couldn't tell any difference (although turning the tester up to 8 volts gets it into the green a little). I will likely take the brightener off since it doesn't help enough for the eye to see. Besides... not really going to watch this set... it's getting moved into a corner for now. The picture is a little better in person that the photo shows... the flourescent lights in the room probably weren't helping.

Don't know that i'll come across another 24" CRT... but if I do, might be worth swapping it out. The set really is in nice condition.

Reece: The tag you mentioned was from Bowen TV on Highland Avenue. I would think that would be over in the South Park area or near the university. It's certainly an older tag... the telephone number is listed as TE 2-1632. I'll be passing thru Beaumont this weekend... I will have to drive by that address and see what's there. I'm sure it hasn't been Bowen TV for a long long time. I used to drive Highland Ave when I was in college in the late-80's... I don't remember any shops like that.

Reece · #17 02-03-2010, 08:11 PM

Bowen TV rings a bell. When did telelphone prefixes go out? That was TErminal in Beaumont. After a while the phone company dropped those and just listed it as 83, but I don't know when that happened. I know when my parents moved to their new house in the west end of Beaumont in 1970 that their new phone number had no prefix so I think it must have been in the sixties that the prefix was dropped. But Bowen could have had a whole bunch of tags printed up and kept them.

Just reverse looked up the number and it still comes up as Bowen TV and Appliance at the Highland address! I went to Google Street View but don't see anything definitive. There's a Mobil station and something that looks like an abandoned church with concrete pipe stacked in front of it? Hmm...

BTW the picture looks great...keeping it in the living room?

*zenithfan1* · #18 02-03-2010, 08:26 PM

Nice job! I like that set a lot, it might be worth rebuilding the tube if you can't find one. Picture looks great as of now though. Love those Zeniths......

DaveWM · #19 02-03-2010, 08:29 PM

What a nice looking set, great job Charlie!

bandersen · #20 02-03-2010, 08:40 PM

Lookin' good Charlie

I missed Lost - is Ellie Mae on the island now

Charlie · #21 02-03-2010, 08:48 PM

Being you found that name doing a reverse number lookup, I am now even more curious and will certainly go check it out. The set (for now) will sit in the corner where the Raytheon was... did some major cleaning over there today.

My Maggie entertainment center uses a 24 inch toob... but it's ten years younger. Wouldn't think it's the same, but will have to investigate just for grins.

The safety glass reflects a lot. In that screen shot, you can easily see the blanket on the couch.

The chassis was really easy to work on... not really a whole lot to change, and there was lots of room to work.

I think you can catch LOST online if you missed out. I think Dish TV is repeating it several times during the week as well (at least that's what they advertised the other day).

Charlie · #22 02-06-2010, 10:57 PM

Reece:

I drove to that address today. The blocks are very small... only room for a few businesses per block. There was an empty lot, the church you mentioned, and a little tire shop where some guy comes out to charge 2 dollars to put air in your tires. Actually, I don't think it was a tire shop... just an air shop! I asked the air guy about Bowen TV, and he told me they had been gone for several years, but were located next door... so it seems the vacant church was indeed the TV shop.

Just for grins, I tried calling that number since you mentioned it still came up listed as Bowen TV and Appliance. Got what sounded like a fax machine. What a shame... that shop could've been a cool find!!

Reece · #23 02-07-2010, 11:03 AM

Oh boy...on street view it looked like there was a large steel building attached to the back of the "church"...who knows what still might be breaking and entering in that build.... oops, I mean, who knows what might still be lurking in that building.

I'll bet they took trade-ins.

Send 'em a fax! Couldn't hurt.