Extinct or very hard to find sets (625 lines to 1990)

[ben]

Originally Posted by slidertogrid

I bet the Amstrad 22" " superwide" is another a rare set most seem to have been scrapped after a few years it was an absolute pile of junk!

In the mid 80s my late father, who always had an eye for a bargain (!) picked up two of these, I think Asda were selling them cheaply. One replaced our long-in-the tooth Telefunken set with a soft tube and the other was for my gran. Having a fully featured remote control, teletext and two speakers it was quite a revelation! Of course, ours broke down a few times and I recall the tech giving me a handful of blown components after one repair, including a TO3 (BU208?).

I know our set got replaced in 1991 with a 24" Nicam ITT job. In the mid 90s I was in a shared house at uni and we needed a telly. During a visit home I saw that my nan had the Amstrad gathering dust under the stairs, I was told to feel free to take it away! That set had mild frame foldover and very dark pic, turned out the customer pots for the bright/contrast were just dirty (the remote had all those adjustments so they were never turned). I suspect that is why she had replaced it.

After ten minutes work that set gave sterling service and we even saw in the millennium on it, till it finally died of line stage failure mid-2000. One look at that rats nest and cramped chassis and it was down the tip in favour of a K30 (with bad backup battery, easy fix) someone gave me. I later learned that the Amstrads' tubes were used to revive K30 sets, by co-incidence.

I still have the user manual somewhere. Haven't seen one since!

[Focus Diode]

The original version of the Thorn 960 appears a rarity. I don't know anyone other than Dazzlevision and myself owning one.

A few later versions have turned up recently though.

The Defiant 9A61U is another rarity. The one we had on rental into 1971as a child frequently broke down. It was eventually replaced by a Thorn 1500 by the rental company.

Would love to know of an example in existence .

[Heatercathodeshort]

Yes the Invicta 7069, the 'Gay Cavalier'. Rented through Gibard Rentals in huge numbers.
There was one for sale only a few weeks ago. The 7069 had differing tube surrounds, some of which were just plain nasty, even for the 1960's!

Can I add a few axe blows to a 'Digivision'?

The first skips appeared in the UK around 1963 together with public access to council rubbish tips. I have no doubt that this is the reason why dual standard receivers are now very thin on the ground. John.

[slidertogrid]

This thread does make me think that anyone making a film or staging a play in the future may struggle to find props for anything set in the 1980's or 90's.
Last year I supplied some 1960's and 1970's sets for a Netflix company.

The person dealing with obtaining props said that they had no difficulty getting sets from the 1950's but had struggled to get later sets without going to a expensive prop hire company. looking at the way later CRT colour sets have been recycled on a massive industrial scale I wonder if there will be any amount left in a few more years?

I think that peoples attitude towards keeping sets changed, when your 1950's set became old in the 1960's it was kept the owner remembered how expensive it was the set was fairly small so it was put in the spare room or loft. when your 1960's set got old it was the 1970's and the throw away attitude had started.

By the time the 1970's sets got old in the 80's less were saved the sets were bigger, a lot of people had less space and there was no way a big old colour set was going to go in the loft...

Later on a lot of sets were just scrapped at first breakdown especially in the more well off areas

A friend of mine had a second hand shop he got all of his portable sets from a mate who worked at the tip , many were not that old and had never been looked at, some faults were wire off in plug- on off switch- really obvious dry joints the sets had never been to a repair shop !
Fast forward to the flat panel sets and this is the norm anything out of guarantee is scrapped at first breakdown!

[slidertogrid]

Originally Posted by Heatercathodeshort

Yes the Invicta 7069, the 'Gay Cavalier'. Rented through Gibard Rentals in huge numbers.
There was one for sale only a few weeks ago. The 7069 had differing tube surrounds, some of which were just plain nasty, even for the 1960's!

Yes you are right I did see that one for sale recently, I had forgotten that! My set has the patterned tube surround it must have been quite distracting when viewing! that set is under the bench hiding like a Troll under a bridge at the moment!

The 7070U is a much nicer looking set I have owned that set since I was 11 it has pride of place in my dining room but does need an annoying frame fault fixing...

[Richard_FM]

Thanks for the feedback.

I remember in the large B&W sets thread someone mentioned there were a few Eastern European sets on sale in the UK, but the poor quality & parts shortages led to many being thrown out, even sometimes by shop owners who couldn't shift them!

The retro gaming scene seems to have saved some smaller 1990s CRT sets that would otherwise have been thrown away when the analogue signals were turned off. These still turn up on the free recycling sites from time to time.

[Philips210]

Originally Posted by slidertogrid

I haven't seen one since I was an apprentice in 1979, the firm I worked for had a few out I think they had disposed of them by 1981 when I left and got a proper job.

Hi.

The last one I had dealings with was back in 1993 from an elderly lady. I had looked after that set for a number of years and it was reasonably reliable. The last encounter wasn't so good however. The set was located upstairs but I hadn't quite noticed the insecure carpet on the 2nd stair. I brought the sent downstairs and as it was a 26" model you couldn't really see where your feet are treading. I've never had any problems carrying large sets up and downstairs before. Needless to say on this occasion my left foot slipped forward on the loose carpet and I went tumbling with the set. I was more concerned about the set than myself. The set took a slight bash on one corner but was otherwise OK and repairable. I managed to twist my ankle however and was out of action for about five days. Not the best memory of a the Finlux Peacock. I would though like to try and find one now for the collection.

Other rare sets include some continentals such as Luxor and Salora. There was also a Graetz set similar to the ITT CVC5 that used a GY501 EHT rectifier valve as opposed to the tripler in the ITT. The Graetz LOPT was unreliable and very expensive. I expect a lot of those sets were scrapped early in their life.

Regards
Symon

[HamishBoxer]

Yes the 1400 chassis had the inter carrier buzz.

[Maarten]

Originally Posted by ben

The earliest Beko sets I have seen were clones of a Sony 21"(or was it a sanyo?) model, the one with the angled speakers on the side. circa 1990 as they were Nicam. I think the chassis was 10.1 Siesta. I found a picture online!

I think both Sony and Sanyo may have had sets that looked like this. The Siesta chassis looks like partially taken from Thomson application notes, using the TEA2029 (not the TEA2026 that I remebered but similar). I'd like to find out whether their history goes back any further, possibly with license production. Such sets would be quite rare.

[1100 man]

I would have to say that the Sobell 1000 is a pretty much extinct species! This was a dual standard set from about 1964 and I've been after one for some years. I've got a picture of me aged about 6 months with the Sobell 1000 in the background!
It would seem that most dual standard sets exist in single digit numbers.

I have only one confirmed sighting of a Sobell 1000, which was restored by 'Dazzlevision' in 2009 and passed on to another forum member. I also have reason to believe that the Dulwich museum might have one as it appears as the December picture in this years calendar.

So that makes two-: not exactly common!

Cheers
Nick

[AndiiT]

This is an interesting thread, I agree that the Finlux Peacock is most likely extinct - one of my brother - in - laws once owned one and I was always called on to sort it out in the event of any fault developing.....
In fact I'm not sure if any sets with Thyristor line output stages will have survived (thankfully) so that rules out the Doric/Redifussion Mk III and the first colour portables rented by DER of which the original manufacturers name eludes me, this was prior to the TX9 bursting on to the scene.

Also does anyone remember the Autovox models sold by Comet and the Tyne branded sets which were somewhat gargantuan in size and manufactured by a small local outlet in the North East. I doubt that there are any of those left.
The Telpro sets also spring to mind which alledgedly were designed by someone who left Decca after creating the 10 and 30 chassis, the Telpro sets were very, very similar internally to the Decca 10/30 chassis.

Andrew

[neil29]

Would the autovox sets have a 26" tube and a large white cabinet? because if so I had one over 20 years ago now and did manage to get something out of it (dodgy wiring). but like most things it got broken up and thrown away.

Cheers
Neil.

[Studio263]

Originally Posted by Philips210

I think the 110 degree delta gun sets from the mid 1970s must be thin on the ground now.

They can't be that rare, I've got two of them. B&O 3400 and 3500, the 3500 was from a big series with quite a few models in it right up to the 6000 with full remote control. 3400s aren't as rare as you'd think they'd be either, but fully working ones are perhaps a bit more scarce.

GEC 'Starline' sets have always been a bit thin on the ground around here, despite there being no shortage of the C2110 type ones. Odd as they were pretty decent with no major design weaknesses and the cabinets looked good too.

I'm coming to the conclusion that the Sony KV-1820UB / KV-1822UB must be becoming a rare bird too, I've been on the lookout for a decent one for some time now but they just aren't around. KV-1810UBs, no problem, I've had quite a few (and contrary to what people think they aren't that hard to fix either) but the later, supposedly better chassis? Nothing to be had.

Except for 13" Sonys, all early Japanese sets are tricky to find. Perhaps this was because they were reliable and didn't end up being piled up in the back rooms of TV shops. Instead, they just worked and worked until they became outmoded or simply fell apart, a process that could take 20 or 30 years. When did you last see a Mitsubishi CT-200, or a Toshiba C-81, or a big Panasonic earlier than the U1 (20AX) chassis?

[Philips210]

Hi

There were a couple of colour portables from the late 1970s, one from RRI, a Bush BC6004 which was made by Saba.
Another was from Thorn, Ferguson model 3787 made by Nordmende. I think both of these had thyristor line output stages. The Ferguson 3787 just preceded the TX9. Both of these must be scarce now.

Regards,
Symon

[Philips210]

Originally Posted by Studio263

They can't be that rare, I've got two of them. B&O 3400 and 3500, the 3500 was from a big series with quite a few models in it right up to the 6000 with full remote control. 3400s aren't as rare as you'd think they'd be either, but fully working ones are perhaps a bit more scarce.

I guess it's all relative really. In the case of B&O sets these are more likely to be saved as they're in the upmarket class. A run of the mill Thorn or Philips perhaps not.

Regards,
Symon.

[Richard_FM]

There still seems to be a supply of 9" Sonys, probably because they could be stowed away & forgotten about for a long time.

Also 1970s 12 Inch B&W sets by most of the other Japanese brands seem to survive, though some of the more stylish ones are at Hipster prices.

Considering the poor quality of some Eastern European sets, there are a lot of 5 inch Vega & Rigondas surviving, probably because they didn't take up a lot of space & kept until found in a clearout.

[Philips210]

Originally Posted by Richard_FM

Also 1970s 12 Inch B&W sets by most of the other Japanese brands seem to survive, though some of the more stylish ones are at Hipster prices.

I recently picked up a Teleton TW-12BS MkII B&W portable from a car boot sale for £2. It was thick with dust but looks to have never broken down and is all complete. I believe this set has some Mitsubishi influence in the design. I've yet to look at it but I'm hopeful it will work OK.

Regards
Symon.

[Richard_FM]

That's good to hear, IIRC Teleton was a Mitsubishi brand.

They seem to be a few around still.

I'm sure my Aunt & Uncle used to have one in the 1980s, & used by my cousins for their computer. Certainly I remember the atom logo covering where the VHF tuner would have been.

[Philips210]

Originally Posted by ms660

Digivision….or did they all have an axe put through them.....

Hi.

I only came across one ITT Digivision set which had a 22" PIL S4 CRT but can't really comment on their fault patterns. They did seem excessively complicated compared to a conventional set.

I'm interested as to why they were hated by the trade.

Regards,
Symon

[1100 man]

I'm amazed that so many Bush TV22's ( and DAC90's for that matter) seem to have survived. There is rarely a time when there is not a TV22 on Ebay. Is that because so many were sold in the first place or that they had a long production run? Or is it that they were a convenient size & shape to be shoved up into the loft?

They must be by far the most common TV to have survived from all the decades!

Cheers
Nick