@@telocho In Australia we had the Crown brand too, but havent ever seen a model like this one. If you search Crown on the Radio Museum website there is a series of models from CTV10 to CTV18 that are similar to the one in this video.
7:55 This is one of those imported TVs made out of the leftover stuff of the major Japanese consumer electronics firms, and designed and assembled by a third-string manufacturer (probably right at the docks) . The internet thinks the set dates from 1970, I agree because it isn't in "earth tones" but more of the basic black and silver you see on late '60s portables. It's no Roberts reel-to-reel that turns out to be an Akai, that's for damn sure.
Same here, I've spent portions of lockdown watching John Wayne movies on mine! By the way, racecar spelled backwards is not actually racecar as many seem to think, it is in fact, backwards...
I like these too, especially the ones that has a cassette recorder as well. I have a JVC: www.radiomuseum.org/r/jvc_radio_tv_cassette_record.html , and an odd one called 'TEC Multiport' from the German market, which turned out to be Sony OEM. I bought it for peanuts in non-working order, it has been fixed with a few dozen operations of the switches (oxidation on the contacts got rubbed away), neither me nor the previous owner had any idea that it's actually completely Sony inside, that involves all major parts, and the PCBs has Sony silkscreen on them. I can't find a picture of it, this Sony is similar, www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sony/fx-412e.shtml the dials and the signal strenght meter are almost identical, but the whole front panel is arranged completely differently, and the piano keys of the tape deck does not extend over the front panel.
FYI: Longines Symphonette Society was a club type affair where members subscribed for their record or tape clubs, and they (the Society) offered premiums such as record players and radios, etc. for purchasing "X" amount of records, tapes, etc. They also had other things for sale, such as this radio-TV combo, and they were all branded "Longines Symphonette", sometimes with the "Society" and sometimes not. I had, as my first very own record player, a Longines Symphonette model with a BSR mini-changer. The products that they offered bore their brand, but the actual items were generally made in Japan, as Japan was the "CHINA" of that era. I'm talking the period between the mid 1960's to about 1978 or so.
The logo you show on the pcb, which looks like a crown, is the original brand (Crown CTV-12, CTV-14 etc) Sold as many other rebranded labels as Quelle Universum and others.
Found a link to a catalog image of a similar, possibly later, set. Link contains in part, " crown-radio-corporation-tokyo-top-of ". Shows CTV-10, CTV-15
I still have 4 track cartridges, remember those? Muntz and Lear I believe. Predecessor of the 8 track, only 2 program channels and no pinch roller built into the cart.
From Wikipedia: The Longines name was once conspicuously displayed above the analog clocks topping many scoreboards in stadiums, baseball parks and arenas, in the days before the time of day was kept digitally. Three notable examples were the clock towards the right top of the main scoreboard at Shea Stadium, which was removed at the end of the 1979 season and replaced with a digital clock, the scoreboard clock at Yankee Stadium before the stadium was remodeled during the early 1970s, and the scoreboard at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio. So nostalgic were Cincinnati fans for the latter, a replica was installed atop the main scoreboard when a new ballpark, Great American Ballpark, was built there to replace Crosley's "cookie cutter" successor, Riverfront Stadium. The Longines logo was given much publicity in a photograph of Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski's 1960 World Series-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth-inning, was hit directly above a Longines sign at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field. While many of these originals have been removed, some still remain, including one at the University of Kansas's Allen Fieldhouse which is in full working order on the west wall above the basketball court.
The only time I noticed the badge tape trick was on an early episode of _The Price Is Right_ . They were offering a Chevy Nova as a prize, and the description was for a straight six model, but the display car was a V8 with a 350 badge on the fender. By the third or fourth episode, they started putting black tape over that 350 badge.
Waiting anxiously for the next part of this repair. I picked up one of these in a yard sale many years ago. Mine is in better shape and it worked when I used it to check my home CATV distribution network, and it would be a fun thing to put on display. Your seat of the pants approach and knowledge are fun to watch and a good refresher for me. I grew up with analog TV sets and spent 50 years in electronics from crystal radios to digital data communications.
Social distancing. The Governor of Missouri keeps calling it Social dissing. So I've been social dissing everyone I see because the Governor said to do it.
This TV set is most probably made by Crown Radio Corporation of Japan, thus the logo on the pcb shown. I have a nearly identical set that was sold in this region (Uruguay), under the Crown label and is designated "CTV-12S" on the back cover. The void space inside is filled with an AC(117-220)V to 12V supply. Maybe there was an optional battery holder that could be fitted instead since the supply just plugs in.
The Longines Symphonette so-called society was a marketing firm in the 60s when I was young, kind of like Muntz and K-Tel. That TV is definitely a re-brand.
My dad had one of these back in the late 60's,early 70's.He gave it to me.I no longer have it.Dont remember what I did with it.But it was really Hi tech cool back then.
My dad bought many a Longines Symponette . They were sold through mail order, Shell gas stations I believe. He got a radio cassette recorder and a cool clock radio with analogue hand clock and this extendable light for reading. Was all good stuff.
I have to say that I really like these Videos and the way you diagnose Electronics. Especially the Videos longer than one hour. And always something to laugh about, not just dry repair and explanations.
Weird for it to have a "Longines" name tacked on - Longines is a semi famous swiss watch maker, the one just below Omega regarding quality and prestige.
Good call on the movie/TV prop use. Longines Symphonette was a weird brand when I was a kid-- all I know is how to pronounce it: start as if you're trying to say "long" then mush into "jeans." That about does it. Mighty fine little screen after all these years.
+WardCo - You are on the right track. I do remember seeing magazine ads for this company offering electronic novelties like this along with its music catalogue in the early '70s. Readers Digest used to do the same thing.
Inflec Yes they did. I used to have plenty of LP’s and boxed sets that were from the Longines Symphonette. The company was in Larchmont, NY which was off of the New England Thruway.
I bought one of these in June 1968. I bought to watch the soccer Euro Cup. I was only 7 years old at the time. I used it for a long time. I had the European version and I modded it later to be able to receive NTSC broadcasts. The one I had was re-branded under the Quelle Universum brand.
I don't think any 5 minute clickbait youtube video compares to the hours of enjoyment I get watching shango fix old tvs and radios while doing beautiful mumble rap covers.
I did a similar thing to a Goldstar black and white tv i bought, turned it off and on over and over again (when the tv was unplugged) and it fixed it the noisy volume control. I didn't have any wd40 or deoxit. The mumble rap station local to me is 97.9 KBFB. The more of those / pop stations are on the higher band.
Longines was a Watch Company according to Wikipedia and there were both a Music Program on CBS and a record label. I remember hearing the name on shows like Let's Make a Deal with Monty Hall in the '60's and I must admit the name sounds prestigious and like something expensive. Apparently it wasn't.
I remember the brand pretty well. We had a couple of their items which were bought mail order through Shell oil as a promo. Not junk like Juliette or the drum store off-brands but not up to the standards of the US brands. Kinda like Readers Digest stuff. My first experience with short wave was with a 15 transistor "world traveler" portable radio that we had for years and years.
I have a tmk 5” tv from 1984. I think it still works. I have to find the power cord to it to test it. My dad bought it back then from a warehouse club and I used it the most when I was growing up.
This is pretty vanilla. Physical spacing Yep. I still like my old 5" Sony Trinitron it would kick that thing to the moon. Keep up the great and educational videos Oh Magnanimous one!
You guys are way behind us in Massachusetts we did all that weeks ago handing out food at schools restaurants are pick up only all bars and clubs closed
We had a Sony somewhat similar, (you may have shown one earlier) wish i knew where it was now. Dr. Shango Cured it's scratchy throat. Picture is Great! Love this little sets.
I totally agree how nice and quiet it is. no noisy boom cars and yelling. where I live in Minneapolis we are having a influx of wild turkeys roaming the streets because of the lack of humans. I'm sad about mom and pop businesses suffering and closing and people getting sick here and there but boy the peace and quiet is great.
you can't always accuse people of loosing knobs, my dog just pulled off a knob of a Carver receiver and chewed it beyond recognition. I'll never find a replacement!
Just yesterday I pulled a long forgotten longines symphonette alarm clock am/fm radio lamp with optional sattelite speaker from basement storage. It was quite the boojie brand way back when.
I found a cute little 85 Emerson PC5A 5' color tv. I love micro tv's. Radio works ok. First tv I ever fixed. Replaced the fuse. It has an antenna port last I remember it had great picture.
I was once in a second hand store and found a small 5 inch flat screen TV. I figured it was still the old uvh/vhf set as it sold for 7 bucks. I took it back to the hotel room where we spent the night, turned it on, and it got the moderrn digital tv that is still on the air across the US. the next day I sat in the WALMART parking lot waiting for my wife and daughter to do their shopping and watched a movie on the little color set. It is great, still around the house somewhere. Sadly it does nothing in our house as we are VERY rural (We just got FM Radio last fall!!)
Thanks for the new video. I've never seen you dealing with a hifi tube amplifier. It would be cool to analyze and test a push pull amp with a good preamp checking voltages and stuff
Makes me long for those old days when I was a simply buck sergeant running my little Radio Teletype rig, dragging a little TV like that into the field around El Paso so we could hide in our classified rig and watch TV without being screwed with by the power that be in the Army. Ah man those were the days, when Hustler and Penthouse were passed from hand to hand, and anyone with a good boom box could add a bit of background music to our practice wars in the deserts of Texas and New Mexico.
I just picked up one of these complete but has battery box damage. has a compressed raster. I have the AC adapter, metal battery box, all knobs. it powers up, radio works. I cleaned the pots and switches but have no use for it. free if you want it. looks a bit different inside.
Looks like a pretty early example, most of the ones I've seen are silicon BPC jobs from the 1980s. Still super cool though, wish i had more than one left.
Those I felt hot and cutting edge with when I took one of those home from the flea market of my childhood days. One of those TVs currently sits on my table. The performance is very bad. I recapped parts of the tuner but performance is still bad. Maybe I should do a full recap to see if it gets better. Your picture is way better than mine btw...
I've got a similar combo unit though it's a wooden cabinet, never got around to fixing it, the TV section is the classic case of nobody home, nice looking unit though. It's a Clock-Radio-TV, 9 inch black and white tube like almost all of them. It is very 1970s looking. I may recap it as everybody says for the one I have and see if I can get it going. I also have a basic portable 9 inch black and white Motorola, it works pretty well but it lets out an ear piercing high pitch squeal whenever it's on. I have no clue what's wrong with it but I'm guessing it's high voltage related.
I social distanced today, drove 125 miles to the nearest City, ordered from a Windy's Drive through then dropped my daughter at the surgical center where they removed her stitches and sent her home, then drove 125 miles back home, stopped for gas at a small farm fuel center, bought a bottle of Coke and drove on home.
I had a Longines Symphonette stereo record player. Traded a junk motorcycle for it in 1977. The speakers were 4 inch in fake wood grain metallic enclosures
Crown Radio Corporation I think, they were quite good in the 1960s and 70s but hit hard times and ended up putting their name to low-grade Chinesium through the 80s, one of the first Japanese manufacturers to do so. I believe they were behind a few other brands like Unisef. They were always low-end anyway so couldn't compete with the Koreans and Hong Kong, although I think the parent company (named Mikosha or similar) were still around in the late 1990s.
Those green tantalum capacitors look like Chiclet bubble gum. I remember as a child, I took one out of a TV and gave it to my brother and told him it was gum and he tried to eat it.
This appears to have been made by Crown. They were suppliers to may store brands in the 60s and early 70s. Best remembered for their "Crowncorder" battery reel-to-reel recorders and a few cassette models. They went into CB in the 70s and Marine radios later on. Still around technically, last I checked.
Crown sometimes known as Asahi Radio, late 60s to early 70s. Not a bad set, CTV-12 will probably get you some info. I liked those orange transistors too until I had to work on a 60s Sansui AM/FM solid state tuner that used them and ended up replacing them all..
Longines is or was a timepiece manufacturer. The use of the name is similar to the co-opting of the Timex name in small 8 bit computers in the 1980s. Sporting events used to feature Longines sponsorship for timing of Olympics and other athletic events.
When are used to collect radios, long Jean sent the net was highly collectible. Most of their stuff was sold in high end jewelry stores. I think also maybe mail order possibly. Probably from about 1967 till about 1976 what is the timeframe
There is a "crown" logo on one of the boards, as well as an "AM-B 212" reference on one of them. I believe this was made by Crown corp. in Japan. I once did some work on a Crowncorder tape recorder, had the same "AM" references all around on motor, speaker and so on. This recorder was a nightmare..