Italian Phonola tube TV - Videokarma.org TV - Video

Kiwick · #1 03-27-2007, 04:42 AM

Hi you all, i'm from Italy and i'm new on this forum,

I enjoy collecting and restoring old electronics, from stereos to tv sets, and i'm doing so since the age of 10

I have fished this nice italian-made Phonola TV set out of a dumpster last sunday, it was made in July 1964

This set uses one of the very first CRTs with the rimband type integral implosion protection, so there's no bonded shield to develop cataracts, the screen is the actual face of the CRT

It's basically working, with excellent reception on both VHF and UHF and great sound (two large oval alnicos) but it takes several minutes for it to come up with a really poor picture with almost no contrast, and both contrast and brightness controls are malfunctioning

The picture gets much brighter when the horizontal sync is lost, so i guess the CRT is still good, i think it will need to replace all paper and electrolytics capacitors...

Francesco

Sandy G · #2 03-27-2007, 06:21 AM

Welcome to AK, pal ! Nice t'have another TeeVee Nut aboard ! I like yr Phonola-hard to believe anyone would toss something as nice as that.. Yeah, I'd say after you get it re-capped, check the resistors, maybe replace a weak tube or 2, you'll have something that could last another 43 years...a LOT longer than the Chinese-made junk they have today will...

Celt · #3 03-27-2007, 06:49 AM

Nice looking set! Welcome to AK!

Kiwick · #4 03-27-2007, 06:58 AM

Right, these beauties will still work when modern plasmas will be deep down in the landfill!

here are a couple of pics, one is the chassis, the other is one of the great sounding alnicos

I have another Phonola TV from 1965 fitted with automatic motorized tuning, a spring reverb and a stereo amp... weird!

jpdylon · #5 03-27-2007, 11:19 AM

A very nice looking set you have Francesco. I wish we had better styling of sets from that ear here. In addition to replacement of electrolytics (most likely you will find no paper caps here) I would also look at the damper, horizontal output, high voltage rectifier and high voltage regulator tubes. Any of these would cause a dim blurry picture. Considering you still have a good black and white pictureI would say the picture tube is in good condition.

The most important thing to do after you re-cap the set and replace any weak tubes is to check the cathode current on the horizontal output tube. Most manufacturers have a disconnect-able lead to attach your meter to. around 200 milliamperes is a good value. Too high and it will damage the high-voltage transformer. The adjustment is usually labeled "Efficiency" or "Hor. Linerity" --just don't adjust it without your meter in circuit

Kiwick · #6 03-27-2007, 12:56 PM

This TV has no HV regulation, as most european B/W sets.

There is a "horizontal linearity" control, but it's a knob on the side of the cabinet and is well accessible by the user as well as the horizontal and vertical hold control.

This Hor. linearity control consists of a magnet which can be rotated between two coils with the knob.

One important point i forgot to mention, the (weak) raster first appears around the screen, the center of the screen remains dark and it takes longer for it to get lit up, but the "dark spot" disappears when everything is warm, is this a problem with the CRT (like a sort of ion burn)?

compucat · #7 03-27-2007, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiwick

One important point i forgot to mention, the (weak) raster first appears around the screen, the center of the screen remains dark and it takes longer for it to get lit up, but the "dark spot" disappears when everything is warm, is this a problem with the CRT (like a sort of ion burn)?

Thanks
Francesco

This sounds like insufficient high voltage. The raster is blooming until the HV gets high enough to pull it into the center of the screen. From what you describe, I doubt this is a crt problem. That is a beautiful set by the way. I hope it restores well.

veg-o-matic · #8 03-27-2007, 03:31 PM

Is that any relation to the "Phabulous Phonola" company?

veg

Kiwick · #9 03-27-2007, 05:34 PM

Phonola was the trademark of the FIMI company, one of the most important all-Italian radio manufacturers since the early 30s

during the 50s and 60s their products were a serious match for Grundig and telefunken (and Philips) in terms of quality, but they costed much less, so they were extremely popular here.

They were also particularly good at making great sounding fullrange speakers, such as the ones in this TV, using big powerful magnets with tight gaps and kurt-mueller cones,

FIMI was bought by Philips in 1969 and abandoned the consumer electronics market in 1974 to concentrate on professional monitors (industrial, medical...) and still exists today as FIMI-Philips

The Phonola brand was then slapped on a line of Philips-made consumer electronics, only for the italian market, until the mid-late 90s when it finally faded into obscurity.

Sandy G · #10 03-27-2007, 06:43 PM

We never saw 'em in the USA...Too bad, yr set is VERY nice looking, there might have been a small market here for them. When did you guys get color ?

Tony V · #11 03-27-2007, 11:04 PM

Hi Francesco,
Welcome to AK and I wanted to say what a nice tv set that you have found. I agree with Jpdylon that i wish the US sets from that era would have had nice styling as your Phonola has. I agree that replacing the capacitors and checking the tubes should take care of most if not all of the problems that your having. The 1965 Phonola tv you have sounds interesting also. Any chance that you might have pictures of that set also?
-Tony

Kiwick · #12 03-28-2007, 02:41 AM

In Italy we got our first experimental color broadcasts in about 1970, with regular color broadcasts starting in time for the 1972 olympic games.

Color TV sets began to sell in respectable numbers in about 1975, but many people (especially in rural areas) stuck with B/W sets until the late 80s or later

By the way, a couple of italian manufacturers (Zanussi and Indesit) continued to make hybrid chassis B/W sets well into the 80s, these sets had remote control and digital tuning but still had a few tubes on their chassis!

Kiwick · #13 03-28-2007, 02:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony V

Hi Francesco,
Welcome to AK and I wanted to say what a nice tv set that you have found. I agree with Jpdylon that i wish the US sets from that era would have had nice styling as your Phonola has.

The 1965 Phonola tv you have sounds interesting also. Any chance that you might have pictures of that set also?
-Tony

Funny, i thought that the styling of this Phonola was very "americanized"

Here's a pic of the 1965 "stereo" Phonola set i have, note the coaxial knob, the inner knob is for the master volume, the outer is for reverb level.

By the way, how do i upload thumbnails?

jpdylon · #14 03-28-2007, 10:01 AM

after typing your post, click "Go Advanced" instead of "post quick reply" scroll down below the message window and click "manage attachments" pictures must not exceed 120kb or 900x900. click upload, and close the window when finished, then click "submit reply"

BTW, I assumed your sets were black and white. I forgot that not everyone had color in 64. Have you ever come across any TV sets with round picture tubes?

bgadow · #15 03-28-2007, 12:59 PM

I would agree that these have an American look to them, but flashier than many of the bw sets we had in the mid-60s. These look like the higher end bw Zeniths or RCAs.

Hybrids in the eighties? Wow! I guess the local market was really propping those companies up. But, there are things that a tube can do well and cheap.