I recently picked up a Zenith 17 or 19" Chromacolor II TV out of my neighbor's trash, i took it home and plugged it in and it worked great, i know its old, but i was curious as to how old it was, if anybody knows anyhting about these, that would be cool. I could try and post some pics later or something.

 

Our Zenith that isn't used anymore but still works was the replacement for a Sylvania "Halo-lite". It has tubes but was about the time they were being phased out. If yours has tubes I would guess it's at least 30 years old.

 

i dont know if it has tubes, havent looked inside, but its sure heavy, remember its a 19inch, it feels as heavy as my 1 year old 27inch Sansui

 

Who made "ZENITH" exactly? Could be worth a web search (no - i won't do it for you, even though I AM tempted)

CURTIS MATHIS is actually the top of the line for another more common company that most people buy from.

They offer the best of the product line, the rest are factory seconds but of marketable quality.

(Little known but very true)

 

I have a 20" space command from 1989 in my bedroom works great my mom always had zenith tvs she could always work on them her self and keep um going

 

The old Chromacolor was mid 70's best I can remember. Zenith was originally a radio company started by a couple of guys in Chicago, Was one of the last american made TV's They are mostly owned by LG now

 

I remember the old Zenith "Space Command" remote controls from the early 1960's. My Grandmother had one. This was decades before infrared technology in use today. It had little tuning forks in it and made a different sound for each button pushed, mechanically, no batteries. The tv had an acoustic sensor. Sometimes, if someone dropped a metal pan on the kitchen floor, the tv would change channels!

I also remember the Zenith slogan "The quality goes in before the name goes on". Inside, they were a rats nest of wires because they were the one of the last companies to use printed circuit boards, "hand crafted" they called it.

Jim

 

Zenith made their own sets for years, but as another poster mentioned LG Electronics (Goldstar) owns them now.

As far as Curtis Mathis goes, the sets were built in Athens Texas for years. The chassis were made by NEC (japan). About 20 years ago, Curtis Mathis starting letting anyone build them that would give them the cheapest deal. Most were Magnavox and RCA.

The comment above about Curtis Mathis being the best is crap. Whoever makes them just sticks a Curtis Mathis label on it. There are no factory seconds in televisions. Electronics either works or it doesn't. Curtis Mathis just sticks a 4 year warranty on it and doubles the price.

Thomson makes RCA, GE & ProScan.

As far as the old tv goes, if it heavy it has the steel fold down chassis with the plug in modules. These were made around 1973-75 to my recollection.

Phillips makes Magnavox, Philco, Phillips, and Crosley..

 

I recall Zeneth as one of the last made in America TV's. The first TV I saw (Iwas amazed) was a Muntz, a company owned by a guy called "Mad Man Muntz".
Dono

 

Try sticking the model number into Google. A lot of times something will pop up.

 

My Dad still has a Muntz in his basement.
Dad said that "Mad Man Muntz" would buy up someone else's TV and start taking parts out of it. When the set stopped working, he'd put that part back in, and go to another circuit, 'til it stopped working, then put that part back in.
When the set was as 'stripped' as he could get it, he would manufacture TVs with just the 'necessities' and put his name on it.

Don't know if it's true, but, that's what Dad used to say.
His old Muntz weighs about 10 lbs.! Channels 2-13. No UHF.

As for Magnavox, there used to be a plant in TN, somewhere. Nashville or Knoxville, I think.

 

Magnavox was in Greenville TN.............

 

That's it!!! Heck, I even lived in Greeneville!!!

Thanks!!!!!!!!

 

The Chroma Color models were late 70s and 80s models. Maybe even into the 90s. The two I had were more than a decade apart and worked great even when we gave them away. The last Zenith I bought in 1991 I bought because it was about the only "American" TV I could find, what with RCA being Frenchie owned, so I took the Zenith home and only then saw the sticker "Made in Mexico" It was still a good TV and We still have it for the kids. I don't hink I ever saw one wear out.

Zenith was an all Ameircan brand but I think evnetually got sold to a Korean firm.

A friend of mine who owned aTV shop back in the 80s and 90s swore by Zeniths since they were designed with fairly wide parts tolerances so that when the set aged, the tv still worked fine since it had lots of margin for tolerance. He claimed the Sony's were excellent TVs when new but that as they aged they would go out of tolerance and then he got to make money reapiring them. Don't know how much of that was true, but like I said, I never saw a Zenith wear out. I never had a Sony TV, but I have had many Sony products and in general I felt they were are more expensive than they were worth and they were delicate and prone to damage or "going out of tolerance" and then the parts cost ate you up.

Don't know who I will buy when our current RCA(made in USA even if it is French owned) big screen dies, bought it as a floor model in 1997, I didn't want to go HDTV then because of cost and lack of standards. It blew the high voltage back a couple years ago and I assume it is good for hopefully until the HDTV stuff is standardized and common and cheap, I am cheap.

Jim Henderson

 

We used to have a Muntz console. Had the radio/phonograph on the rightside and the record storage on the leftside, with the pic tube right in the middle.

Before that we had an old Arvin B&W set.

nick11082001, I'd do a google on your TV just for ha ha's.