Time Warp Tele (Alba) (Thorn 1500)

[bionicmerlin]

I bought this tv on ebay best part of a year ago in fact i was surprised how little i paid for it. On collection i was greeted by a very nice lady who informed me to be very very careful as it was made of glass and wrapped it up in about 20 layers of bubble wrap as she didnt want me damaging it on the way home. I didnt think she was trying to hide anything so i thanked her and i was on my way.
On unwrapping i thought how good the set looked in general. Then i could not believe what i was seeing the set was infact new and never been used.It had never had a plug top fitted as the wire was still tinned with no screw markings.

Im not sure what i should be doing with it . Im not selling it what ever.
so should i keep it in a unused condition. try it as it is or restore it .The minimum is the tuning buttons wont latch so normal for the age.

If i use it its then not new so im not sure i should do that . Maybe just keep it as it is.
i was looking for your thoughts Andy

[Edward Huggins]

I'd run it up on a variac or lamp limiter, otherwise you'll never know!

If you want to use it give it a go for a few minutes, if not keep it as is. Looks like a 625 line set, a set top box would let it 'see' all the current programmes.

[Welsh Anorak]

Wow! That does look like new, though maybe the PL504 has a few hours on it?
I can see your dilemma. To get it going wouldn't take much, but you'd need to change a few capacitors that always give trouble, and repair the tuning bar and inserts. Then it wouldn't be the nice new set any more, but it would be working.
If you don't actually need it to work I'd be tempted to wrap it up and think about it for a while, though I'd be very interested to hear eveyone else's views. After all, there's not going to be another 1500 in this condition, is there? If you want an everyday 1500 there are plenty about that could give good service. The rarity of this set is its condition.
Glyn

[Colourstar]

Wow indeed!! That is a spectacularly nice T1520, so treat it very carefully indeed.

So much prettier than mine. I was looking for ages and ages for that specific model.

(This pic featured in the recent thread on 1500s but it would be remiss not to include it here )

Steve

[paulsherwin]

Could the PL504 ageing have resulted from factory alignment and testing?

[Oliver35]

Personally, I think I'd keep it exactly as it is- it represents that rare thing, a consumer product in 'this is how it came' condition. There's occasionally a thread that goes down the how-much-is-too-much-restoration thread, some arguing for the correct 'as new' appearance of sets and others for preserving the historic narrative, as it were. Yours is the real thing, and the longer it remains in brand new condition, the more valuable that specific narrative will become. Like the delicate plant, 'Touch it, and the bloom is gone'- the condition it's in now can never be fully replicated today. And, as said above, thre are plenty of 1500s about. Others could be restored to 'as new' using this one as A1 source material, if wished! Imagine finding an HMV 907 in this condition, for example- how much would that be worth, both financially and historically? Maybe in 50 years, the same would apply to this set!

[vinrads]

What a fantastic find! I do remember these back in the day , when they did away with the systems switch of the 1400, I also remember buying a new printed panel for the 1400 and changing all the components over, the old one had a big hole burnt in it and was a write off . But not fitting the system switch ,just linked out the set to work on 625 only . Happy days. Mick.

[Half a Mullard]

Incredible. For what its worth, and if you have the space, I'd be inclined to keep it as it is. A set in that condition must be incredibly rare as others have said. Nice find indeed.

[Philips210]

Hi.

What a lucky find. If it was my set I'd have to see it working and would gently bring it back to life on the variac to help reform the electrolytics. I see the dropper has a date code 7313 and this particular set doesn't seem to have many Callins electrolytics fitted. I can only see one located below the sound output valve. There are some of those Philips electrolytics with the yellow end plug, these rarely give trouble.
I would say the most likely problems will be due to some of the carbon composition resistors drifting high and out of tolerance. The jelly pot LOPTx is almost certainly going to be fine.

Great set!

Regards
Symon.

[AidanLunn]

This reminds me of a Ferguson or Baird 1500 a few years ago that was straight out of the box, as it was discovered when new upon delivery to the dealer that there was something wrong with the line oscillator. This was never diagnosed and it sat in its box until it was sold on eBay a few years ago. IIRC, it reached ~£300.

[bionicmerlin]

I do remember that one on eBay getting over £300 if I sold it I would never get another one so I'm keeping it. Thank you all so far for your thoughts . It's not helping that much so im still thinking. Andy

[thermionic]

A fantastic and extremely lucky find. Until another one of these is known about in the same condition, my vote is to keep it exactly how it is. I should imagine that this set has not seen power since it left the factory in 1973.

I would not even repair the tuner bar. You can genuinely say that this set is exactly how it left the factory with everything original. It even seems a shame to uncoil the mains lead!

Cheers.

SimonT.

[mark_in_manc]

Some of you folks might find this raises a smile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-NgeXl-PPA



Mark

[Heatercathodeshort]

It certainly looks new. The give away is the mains dropper that still retains it's black appearance, particularly the centre heater section.
It seems a shame just to keep it as an ornament. Giving it an hours use every few months will keep it conditioned and drive out any damp.
I have a 'new' Ferguson 1500 3821 with a very low serial number and it gets a fairly regular switch on.
Of course it may have broken down after a few hours service. Later Alba products were often distributed via mail order companies. They may have supplied a replacement but failed to collect the faulty model. Many faulty receivers were not faulty at all, the customer simply unable to tune the push buttons or set it up! This was very common. I bet it works! A nice rare Alba badged 1500. John.

[Peter.N.]

There will be a lovely antique burning dust smell if you turn it on. I wouldn't even uncoil the mains lead, clip a lead with a couple of crock clips onto the end.

Peter

[Hybrid tellies]

You are so lucky, to find anything from this era in as new condition is very rare indeed. I can see the point of keeping it unused but as an ex TV engineer I would have to investigate it further and run it up.
The 1500 chassis should present no problems and there are plenty of us on this forum that are very familiar with this chassis.
If it does work or you get it working then, as has been said before, running it for a few hours every few months will keep it in tip top condition.

[Lloyd 1985]

Another T1520! That's now 3 that I know of, including mine

It's fantastic to see one 'as new', I too would be having the same dilemma as to whether or not to do anything to it or not. I might carefully run it up, the only real problem I'd be worried about would be the mains filter cap, snipping it out of circuit looses the originality, but then if you ran the set up and the cap explodes, that too ruins the originality!

I actually have an 'as new' Ferguson TV cabinet, still in it's box! I think it may have been for either a 1400 or 1500 chassis. Going to have to let that one go at some point..

Regards,
Lloyd.

[PsychMan]

I think it would be a real shame to not see it running, but we all have our different standards when it comes to vintage gear. Myself, I don't see the point having stuff if you can't enjoy it. I would bring up on a variac, probably even reform the power supply electrolytic on a reformer circuit, then run the set sparingly and log how many hours the tube has been used. If you don't remove the electrolytic and get it running successfully it will still be in be same cosmetic condition seeing only an hours use every few months.

Great find, it's the stuff of dreams for folk like us

[neil29]

I agree with people when they say it at least needs to be checked to see if it works ok. and then switched on every so often to keep it going. i've still got my 24" alba set to try and fix eventually but its no where near as nice as your set .


Cheers
Neil.