Back in the day

[oldtvman]

One thing that is missing in today's tv technology is that new set smell. For any of you old enough to reemember, was the smell from a freshly delivered tube color set. It rivals the new car smell when you get a new car. Back then deliverring a color set to a customer was really a big deal. We always took the time to give the new owner a crash course in properly setting the controls on their new beauty!!!!!

[N9ZQA]

Oldtvman -

Finally someone else that has the same opinion. Everyone I mention this to looks at me like I'm crazy. It's hard to describe the smell, but it's an unforgettable part of operating a piece of vintage equipment.

Jim

[Big Dave]

How about the smell after soft starting the set in the cabinet and possibly seeing it light up for the first time in many years?

[Chad Hauris]

I think the large amount of heat produced inside the tube type sets liberates a lot more odors from things inside compared to modern sets. I have a RCA CTC-39 that has a smell that seems unique to that chassis, I think it is in the flyback or power transformer.
Too often old TV's/radios seem to have a nicotine and cigarette tar smell...I always associated that smell with old equipment I would find as no one ever smoked at home.

[Sandy G]

Ahh, the smell of an old tube tv...reminds me of being curled up on my Mama's lap, watching "The Huntley-Brinkley Report"...a nice homey, warm smell..Would about give a million bux to smell that & have the feeling again...

[kx250rider]

Does anyone else know the "RCA smell"? That is a very unique smell, which I have only ever smelled on RCA sets from the 50s and early 60s. Not sure what it is... Maybe the coating on the inside of the cabinet? Maybe that greasy coating on the wires? ANyway, I call it the RCA smell..

Charles

[oldtvman]

I think back then it helped enhance the excitement of getting the first color set. Just like getting a new car, with that new car smell

[bgadow]

I have noticed some RCA's have a sweet smell; a Zenith might be described as more sour? In some cases I think we are smelling scents from the homes the sets were in: perfume, deodorizer, tobacco, mold, etc. But some is that original smell. I like to stick my nose up to the back cover vents sometimes and just take in a whiff-pretty weird, huh? But it is all part of the experience of owning one of these old monsters. The best way to get a concentrated "new old electronics smell" is with certain pieces of test equipment or portable radios which have a tightly closed case. Open it up and the odor can be overwhelming.

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by bgadow

I like to stick my nose up to the back cover vents sometimes and just take in a whiff-pretty weird, huh?

NOT weird!

Charles

[Carmine]

Why does my box of old knobs smell like old cheese?

Do your knobs smell like old cheese?

[bgadow]

Well, that is a sort of personal question, now isn't it Carmine?

But, yes, it is true!

[Chad Hauris]

I think that smell is butyric acid, the same substance present in rancid butter. Some types of plastic break down and release this. Xclite nutdrivers also seem to produce this smell.

[DaWoofer]

I use to get the 60' smell from my big E-V cabinets every time I played music. Reminds me of my childhood home.

[El Predicta]

And that same 21" Predicta smell will make you NOT want to smell IT again.

[Geoff Bourquin]

My big box of knobs smells kind of cheesy too