DuMont Royal Sovereign

A working & restored DuMont Royal Sovereign on eBay, but what's with that orange mask color?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...111307894&rd=1

What size is the picture tube?

[Sandy G]

30" That was the biggest they made at the time, 1950-51. It was a 30BP4 & whoever lands that set better not play it too much. Sez here that DuMont "soon encountered cathode life problems because getters could be used only in the neck due to the unaluminised screen." Rotsa ruck tryin' to find one of them babies 55 years down the road. Cripes, we have enuff trouble w/7JP4s-& they were made by the bushel! -Sandy G.

The 30BP4 was discontinued after only a year or so of production, due to the problems mentioned in the previous post. DuMont provided a conversion kit to enable replacement with a 27" rectangular glass tube, as a final solution to the 30BP4 problem.

[Sandy G]

Oops! I left out the other part of my post. Maybe now it'll make more sense. The neck mounted getters in that huge 30BP4 were simply inadequate to maintain a good vacuum w/the huge volume & internal surface area of such a large CRT. DuMont did make a conversion kit to allow replacement w/a 27" rectangular glass CRT. The 30 BP4 was a metal cone, there's a picture of them being made in this book,"The Cathode Ray Tube" I have. Sucker looks like a not-so-small washtub! I'd like to have that big boy, but how the hell would you get it home w/o breakin', I ain't got the money anyhow, & I know it's gonna go bad-irrepairably, I would think, & did I mention I've got a case of the shorts right now ?!? -Sandy G.

[Charlie]

Wow that orange mask is an attention getter, isn't it!

Better yet, they should put a bulb in the mask like on a HaloLight set and watch old spooky movies during Halloween! Wicked!

[Cory]

Would playing this set really be detrimental to the CRT? I mean, if the vacuum has survived this long, isn't it past the critical stage of a weak seal? I'm just wondering because this set is so tempting, but to own it and not fire it up?

[Charlie]

I would think that there were always exceptions, and this CRT lasting this long is probably one of them. I would think it would be okay as long as it's not getting banged around alot. Go for it, Cory!

[Sandy G]

That's a real dilemma- you have a neat old set like this & wanna show it off to yr friends, but do you run the risk of burnibg out the CRT? What do you guys that have CT-100s & other virtually irreplaceable sets do? I'd hazard a guess this bad boy's more rare than a CT-100. My little bakelite Admiral-if it dies, there's a bunch of them out there-altho I definately don't want to lose it. This guy would be a different matter entirely. But hell, you only regret what you didn't do-Go For It. Somewhere I read these guys are VERY, VERY heavy, too- bring you a great big truck when you get it ! -Sandy G.

[Charlie]

If nothing else, you at least know the current condition of the CRT. Apparently, it's pretty good. At least this guy took the time to take photos of it operating.

Just think of how many times we see these auctions with rare sets and have no clue of the cRT or chassis condition... and the seller usually won't have the means to find out. Also, there are many times the seller says 'it worked the last time we turned it on'. When was that? 1977?

[Cory]

So true Charlie, I was just sitting here thinking about that when you posted

But pulling out a tape measure, a 30" CRT + cabinet....this thing must be incredibly huge. I've seen pics before at the ETF, but nothing of any real reference.

[Charlie]

Yeah, space could definately be a problem! Just guessing, i'd say that set is roughly 60" wide. But consider this... you could stack two or three smaller sets on top! That's a plus!

[bgadow]

The seller, Don Patterson (I can pretty well assume, by that seller name) is no amateur, and has been around the hobby for a long time. Published Radio Age for years before selling it to MAARC. I would think he'd be a good one to buy from. (I bought an advertising piece from him in that late 80s, and the transaction went smoothly, for what its worth.)

[Cory]

Wow, $877!

A $300 jump in the last few seconds and still reserve wasn't met. I had been giving this one some very serious thought, but the cabinet styling doesn't do a whole lot for me (but gosh, a 30"crt!). The seller is familliar with these sets and has a blond cabinet model in his collection. That's more my speed! For 900 buckaroos (plus a couple hundred trying to get it home) I figured I could pick up some smaller uncommon sets or even an earlier RCA color console.

Neat to see these are still out there and kickin'

[rca2000]

I played with it a little, turned up and down the volume and brightness, etc, the size is roughly about that of a 46" big screen tv, in width and height. The audio on the set did n NOT seem that good to me, kind of weak. Steve had the "wizard of oz " playing on it, and the other sets, at the time.