CTC-25? Combo on eBay - Videokarma.org TV - Video

jstout66 · #1 03-26-2006, 09:57 PM

Check out this combo. Seller says set let out sparks tho when plugged in. If memory serves this set is a CTC-24 or 25. I hated the tuner design on these sets. RCA only used it for this chassis. To tune, you push in the channel select knob. They were glitchy and you always had to fine tune them when changing stations. I do love the turntable of these era RCA's. I wouldn't mind having one. Just about as good as the Magnavox Micromatic's in my opinion. ANyway... just passing alon for anyone in the California area. http://cgi.ebay.com/RCA-Victor-Telev...QQcmdZViewItem

jpdylon · #2 03-26-2006, 10:45 PM

Quote:

I plugged in and it popped like fireworks!

gulp! that is not what I would want to hear from a seller. Its close to me, but too big for anywhere. If it were a single standalone console I'd go for it.

Chad Hauris · #3 03-26-2006, 11:34 PM

Looks like it has a recent replacement CRT....probably has bad diodes/caps in power supply.

reeferman · #4 03-26-2006, 11:39 PM

Sparks are one thing, but if it ever looses it's Magic Smoke it's worthless. HA!

kx250rider · #5 03-27-2006, 01:26 AM

I eMailed the seller to see where in LA it is... And if it's upstairs

... I will save it if nobody else bids, if AT ALL POSSIBLE.

Charles

Jeffhs · #6 03-27-2006, 03:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstout66

Check out this combo. Seller says set let out sparks tho when plugged in. If memory serves this set is a CTC-24 or 25. I hated the tuner design on these sets. RCA only used it for this chassis. To tune, you push in the channel select knob. They were glitchy and you always had to fine tune them when changing stations.

When I was in junior high in the early '70s, my school had several RCA b&w TVs with the same type of fine-tuning arrangement. I don't recall that these sets ever drifted off channel once fine tuned properly, but then again all this was 36 years ago or so, and the sets were only used on a couple stations (Cleveland only had two UHF stations at that time, and one of those was the NET [now PBS] affiliate--man, the reception was awful, especially in that area which was some 30 miles from the stations, and given the fact that the NET/PBS channel in Cleveland only had a 1-megawatt ERP transmitter at the time). I do remember those were big RCA table models, 21" IIRC, in heavy steel cabinets, on wheeled carts six feet high (more or less).

I don't know what it was, however, about the tuners in the CTC-24/25 chassis that caused them to drift off station as much as you say.

Granted, these were tube-type sets and were given to a bit of drift until the tubes warmed up, but for the tuners to drift so much that the fine tuning had to be reset after every channel change...that sounds like there was something actually wrong with the tuner itself. Didn't that model have AFC? I can't imagine an RCA TV of that vintage not having some form of automatic fine tuning, unless the set we're discussing in this thread is a heck of a lot older than I think it is (I'm guessing late '60s or maybe early '70s; the front panel suggests the latter, to me anyway--I knew someone in my hometown 35 years ago whose family had a big console like that). If it had the push-fine-tune mechanism (which came out, IIRC,in the '70s), I would think it would have had to have some kind of AFC as well.

BTW, I like console TVs, but even if I had the room for it (and even if it were about 2500 miles closer to my home) I personally would steer clear of that RCA CTC24/25 on ebay as it probably has some serious power supply issues, or worse. If the set threw sparks as much as the seller says it did, there probably is some problem with a rather large low-resistance short in the power supply; maybe the transformer is shorted or there are bad filter caps (as Chad mentioned), etc. If there were such a huge short in the chassis it should have kicked out the circuit breaker, long before anything had a chance to throw sparks. I suspect the set's present owner may have bypassed the breaker with a piece of wire. This, as we all know, is a one-way ticket to disaster if the TV has or develops any kind of low-resistance short; the power transformer could burn out or set the chassis on fire, if the house fuses/circuit breakers don't blow or open first.

reeferman · #7 03-28-2006, 12:19 AM

A small spark can look awful big to a person who's holding the plug. I think we ought to name it "Sparky"

southernguy · #8 03-29-2006, 02:34 AM

Too far from me or I would bid on it, Ive been looking for CTC 25 Chassis for sometime, I have CTC 25 console that I had found without the Chassie. The CRT and Tuner was intact. When the set was in the shed I used a spare CTC31 chassis and had planed to wire it up to the CTC 25 tuner but ended up using it for parts to make a complete CTC 31 work again. Of corse I would hate to use that set for parts to make my current CTC 25 cabnet have a spark but then again I would probably just try to fix that one. O well, Hope someone bids on it.

jstout66 · #9 03-30-2006, 02:04 PM

Bruce, That is one NICE cabinet! Hell.... I'd use the chassis from the combo to get that going.

kx250rider · #10 04-04-2006, 01:45 AM

It didn't get any bids on eBay, and now it's on CraigsList for $75. I had eMailed the seller a second time to see what his plans might be, since it didn't sell, but no answer. (he had answered the first one about where the set is located). I said I'd go get it and save it from the dump, but I guess the seller has higher hopes.

So here's the ad:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/clt/147626451.html

Charles

Jeffhs · #11 04-04-2006, 02:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaye-Halbert TV

It didn't get any bids on eBay, and now it's on CraigsList for $75. I had eMailed the seller a second time to see what his plans might be, since it didn't sell, but no answer. (he had answered the first one about where the set is located). I said I'd go get it and save it from the dump, but I guess the seller has higher hopes.

So here's the ad:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/clt/147626451.html

Charles

Seventy-five bucks for a TV that only sparks like mad, the turntable's condition is unknown, and the radio/stereo only hums? If it were me I'd sell the whole thing for about a quarter of that or less as a parts set (as far as the TV chassis goes). The television itself may have been damaged beyond repair if the former owner bypassed the circuit breaker or fuse (this seems likely to me, if the set is sparking as much as the seller says it is) ; the turntable and stereo tuner/amp, however, might be salvageable. If the TV is beyond repair, there is always the option of taking the old chassis out and replacing it with a modern SS big-screen set, as folks used to do quite frequently with big '50s-'70s entertainment centers when the TV went belly-up and was diagnosed with a defective flyback, CRT or other component that would cost $100+ to replace, not to mention the cost of a service call and other expenses.

Making a fish tank out of this set, IMO, would be a mistake; I certainly would not do it. Replace the old TV with a nice flat-screen or even flat-panel set, get the stereo component working, and whomever gets this will have a very nice entertainment unit. But, I will say it again, $75 is much too high an opening bid for a TV in as bad shape as this one seems to be. If the person who was originally trying to sell this on ebay took it off there and relisted it on Craigslist with higher hopes, as you said . . . well, there's just no figuring some people.

The person must want the set out of his/her house in the worst way, whether the TV works or not; he/she may not care about the money--just get the set out and be done with it.