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Originally Posted by Kaye-Halbert TV
I need to weigh in on this one; FOR SURE. There is no doubt, whatsoever, that there is ONE TV that is the best ever built. Performance, longevity, function & performance, and workmanship. Although the Sony sets of the early 70s are close runners up, the best TV ever built is the 1972-73 Zenith 25DC56 and 25EC58 chassis. That was their first 100% solid state color set, and it was so grossly overengineered that they created a monster. For those not familiar with that number, that is the last chassis that was flat on the bottom of the cabinet and not upright in back. Zenith lost a lot of future TV buyers with that set, because they are all still working and have not ever prompted their owners to replace with a newer model!
I knew a TV tech in the early 80s who had one. His Mom bought it new, and it had never had any problem except for the 85-1314 on-off switch. He ordered a Sylvania Hyperblack AAA25VDMP22 CRT for it when the set was 10 years old, although the original was still fine. At the same time, he performed the recall on the ceramic safety caps. That TV is still in daily use, after being used day in & day out by 2 generations of rowdy kids.
So I bought a metal table model 25" one when I was in Jr High School from the Salvation Army store. This was in about '81. It was working fine, but I saw the picture on my friend's set with the Sylvania tube and I ordered one too. My 25EC58 became our family daily TV as soon as I got it. Since then, that Zenith has been run daily, and has met many a peril. It has been moved countless times, been burned in a fire, and been left out in the rain. After the fire, I ordered new knobs, and new speaker grille and tuner bezel (all in stock at Andrews). I vacuumed it out, and it worked as new! 6 years later it was thrown on the floor by the Northridge Earthquake. It looked OK, so I heaved it back up onto the stand and plugged it back in when the power was restored a few days later. OH NO; it didn't come on! I took the back off, and the 9-57 Horizontal module had been knocked out of its mount. I put it back in place, and the old battlship came right to life! A little setup adjusting and it was as new. It is still my daily TV, and it just won't quit.
Mine is not the only one that has survived abuse by fire & water... A good customer of mine, also suffered a fire in the 80s. Her set was a 25DC56 in a plastic and wood console. Her apartment caught fire from careless smoking, and she ran out to safety with the Zenith left on. She watched as the fire dept put the flames out, and she was watching as they mopped up and saw that the Zenith was STILL ON AND WORKING, although the cabinet had burned away and melted completely! There it sat... The CRT in a pool of water and melted smoking plastic STILL showing a brilliant Chromacolor picture through the soot. I don't know just how it was that the power was still on, but that is a true testament to the quality of those great Zeniths! I told her she should have shipped the TV back to Zenith for advertising....
Charles
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