from audio to Television

[totem]

Hi joined a short time ago. just saw a picture of a roundie? Hope the terminoligy is correct, am more framiliar with the audio side of things.Have allways thought these were the coolist looking things around.no pun intended, what general price range would a working version go for? also years of manufacture?

[old_tv_nut]

I'll let the avid collectors/ restorers talk about price, but what I have learned here is, mostly very little as-found - in fact it is a shame, but often it is difficult to find and rescue an old set before it is consigned to the dumpster - some horror stories here about estate sales where people would not wait until the interested party could return with a truck. What a set really costs is hours of recapping and repair, I guess. Once all that work is put into one, my estimate is that they generally go for too little - it's really a labor of love; but I've seen some fine ones and rare early models go for much more than I want to spend on this hobby - fortunately, their stories and pix can be shared on the web.

As to roundie years - 1955 to 1965, then a rapid switchover to rectangular tubes

[bgadow]

There is a WIDE price range. Most of the sets I know of seem to have sold in the $0-50 range. On ebay they can go higher, sometimes in the $200-300 range. For a really nice, working color roundie a few hundred wouldn't be out of line, but I wouldn't pay that much.

Depending on your location, there may be somebody on here who is close enough and has a spare. If you find one available and have questions this group can walk you through all the things you need to know. Lots of us will bring home a set just to save it from destruction, even if space is too tight to really be able to keep it.

The best bets are probably Zenith's, as they are close to bulletproof. Most everything else you will find will either be an RCA or something with an RCA chassis. The ones from the mid-60s are more foolproof than the rare fifties models.

Good luck!