Classic Hifi Care

Magnavox had the "theatre" but RCA had a better TV product than Magnavox, thus named a tad less grandly as "Home Entertainment Center". Magnavox and RCAs like this came into the TV shop for a "conversion", not by themselves, at least three men involved getting it into the "white truck". This involved removing as much of the CRT escutcheon as possible to leave a large enough opening to install a brand spanking new RCA 27" Colortrak 2000, cable ready remote control always sealed the deal. they always pulled out and serviced the receiver and record player, rarely ever replacing caps back then unless it was an RCA "firecracker", usually just a lube-a-trol on the pots and FM alignment touch-up. That was my part of the job which really was a team effort because I always went along to pick them UP

Our local PA-dutchy sounding folks who loved their console stereos and lighter early American furniture were S-O-L when it came to replacing them in the 1980's. No more theatres were made and nobody made a furniture grade cabinet like RCA and others used to

This was done at least a dozen times while I was there after HS in 1981, then 1984-87 while at PSU's branch campus studying physics and electrical engineering. These gut-outs provided me with many projects because I took EVERYTHING left behind, including what was usually a replacement CRT. One of the first conversions the old fella there did was to this very model and I made myself a fantastic color TV using a cabinet from a beautiful teak Scandinavian cabinet vacated by an unfortunate CTC17X chassis which had a cooked flyback no loss, only improvement. That lasted trouble free all summer in my first apartment, then I had to sell it to buy books from the infamous and onerous PSU bookstore. DGMS (dont get me started) I was missing those awesome controls with power tuning and individually lit channel numbers.

More pictures to come later but the good news is that the CRT is almost like new and TV was last serviced in 1984 to replace UHF channel lights. There were only 4 channels and 3 were UHF in this area, so the UHF light was needed to see what channel its on.

I like those big Home Theaters or Stereo Theaters or whatever they want to call them. If you owned something like that in 1966, you "was rich folks" in our part of the woods. Old Doc Hudson had one, but he had more money than Fort Knox. Mr. Wells, the Zenith dealer had a Zenith roundie combo in a modern cabinet. Those things are works of art, the absolute best of American ingenuity. They are big and heavy and I'm grateful I didn't have to lug one up three flights of stairs. They are incredibly over-done and over the top, but they are wonderful devices.

Bill has one like that minus the TV chassis.

Thank you for posting this David. That is my Grandparents RCA Brandywine to a tee. Except, like Greg said, the TV is missing. Is this one in the photos yours? It looks to be in as good a shape as my Grandparents, now mine. It is sitting in the living room looking a fine piece of heirloom furniture. And yes, they are heavy, very heavy. The stereo still works great after all these years. I have the changer on the bench right now. The tone arm was totally froze up. I could not make it move in any direction. PB Blaster to get it free and then turbine oil to keep it free. I also cleaned up the bottom end and applied fresh grease. It works flawlessly except for one tiny thing, It won't drop records. It cycles as smooth as glass, but the needle lands on the platter if you don't catch it. I need to get back at it to figure out the why. I have a thread under Changer that shows some photos.

Bill

Did the Brandywine use the stereo amp and speakers for TV audio? This may have already been discussed, but I don't remember. I'm getting old...

Yes it did! If you had the stereo playing and turned on the TV, as Grandpa often did and not making Grandma happy, the stereo quite. In the selector switch on the tuner there was not a TV choice. AM, FM, FM stereo, phono, and tape where the options. The TV ruled and it's switching was fully automatic.

Bill

Question, Dave. Was the TV chassis in the RCA Brandywine a good chassis?

Bill

I hadn't gotten verification you got it Dave... glad you did!! And it's in my favorite style too - that's a keeper for sure!
I must be like all the Penn Dutch folks, I like that lighter maple wood in EA style! You'll have fun with this one, maybe in your LR when it's done? A bit of cataract - replacement CRT?

Bill, I'm not an expert by any means, but what I have read would indicate that the chassis in your Brandywine is probably as good of a tube color TV chassis as was ever built. The TV guys have lots of respect for Zenith as well. Not so much for "Maggotbox", however. I'd think if you found a TV chassis for your stereo, got it installed correctly and sorted, you'd be well-pleased with the result. Can you imagine watching Lawrence Welk on that old TV like you did with your grandparents when you were a kid?

William wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 12:06 pm Question, Dave. Was the TV chassis in the RCA Brandywine a good chassis?

Bill

Oh yes, the CTC21 is a 4-pcb chassis mostly tube with improvements like AFT and ACC to even-out color intensity with varying video. RCA's first solid state sound IF/detector and output replaces 3 tubes normally on one of those PCBs. I suspect this was done to provide a more appropriate level of TV audio to ALL the speakers, which are normally fed by the HIFI amp's transistor outputs. There are 4 cone tweeters, 2 oval mids, and two large oval low frequency drivers. It would not be too difficult to route the sound via the stereo amp.

There are several options if Bill cant find an RCA CTC21 to match. You will need a good 25AP22 or 23V. CRT , however I have an equally good CTC25 chassis and controls escutcheon from this set which has a bad CRT and non-favorable cabinet style. Find a CRT and I would ship you the chassis, etc.

Dave, the Brandywine has 8 speakers total. At least mine does. Oval woofers, oval midrange, and 2 tweeters per side. I would love to find an CTC21 chassis then it would look factory original just like the one in your photo. Is that one in your photo yours? Is it a recent find?

Bill

Yes, That is the one I just bought and hauled home. The stereo claims 75 peak watts, about 15 per channel? The amp and big oval speakers are just like a later RCA console I have with same advertised power. I'm pretty sure German radios sound good from using oval speakers. The record player may be a problem locating a replacement ceramic cartridge. This repair bill looks like something I would have done back in the day.

Motorola minion wrote: ↑Thu May 12, 2022 3:32 pm The record player may be a problem locating a replacement ceramic cartridge.

Dave,
If you need a replacement cart, Gary has them.
I recently serviced an RP225 and RP235.
Both carts were fine.

https://thevoiceofmusic.com/catalog/par ... ategories=

Again, I'm no expert, but the "picture bulb" looks pretty good on that tester. Dave, that is the same tester I have. What is your opinion of the B&K 445?

That's mine to a tee, Dave. Now I have a question: You showed a photo of what I thought was the amp, but after standing on my head looking up at the bottom side the tuner I'm now thinking that might be the power supply for the tuner? There are four transistors on the bottom side of the tuner, could those be output transistors?

Where did you find yours? Is it something you have been looking for, for sometime?

Bill