circa 1952 Muntz TV conversion
Before
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After
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About the project...
After receiving the set, I had to decide if I wanted to attempt to get it working and restore it to original, or make a new set to serve a more useful purpose. Well, obviously I decided to update and multi-purpose the project.
The entire cabinet was gutted, cleaned, reworked, and somewhat refinished. The original frame and bezel were replaced with a custom wood bezel trimmed out to look similar to the original gold finished metal bezel. The different aspect ratio made this a challenge, as it left a hole below the new frame. This was filled in with 2 pieces of wood spliced in, covered in mahogany veneer, and stained and finished to closely match the original cabinet. The TV is a 23" backlit LED. Below, and hidden behind a cloth panel, is a blue-ray player with wireless internet connection for apps like netflix, pandora, you tube and more. The cloth panel simply pulls out to reveal the player. The Muntz emblem is fitted with a hinge, so it flips down to reveal a 15 wpc power amp which drives (2) 8" 2-way speakers, fitted into a custom cabinet behind the grill cloth. Drivers are pointed upward at a 15 degree angle. While the amplifier needs to manually be powered on and off, the rest of the systems uses the original remote controls. The knobs are nonfunctional. The room is rather small, so the 23" size works just fine. The speakers work very well with the system, but are probably over sized for this application.
The entire cabinet was gutted, cleaned, reworked, and somewhat refinished. The original frame and bezel were replaced with a custom wood bezel trimmed out to look similar to the original gold finished metal bezel. The different aspect ratio made this a challenge, as it left a hole below the new frame. This was filled in with 2 pieces of wood spliced in, covered in mahogany veneer, and stained and finished to closely match the original cabinet. The TV is a 23" backlit LED. Below, and hidden behind a cloth panel, is a blue-ray player with wireless internet connection for apps like netflix, pandora, you tube and more. The cloth panel simply pulls out to reveal the player. The Muntz emblem is fitted with a hinge, so it flips down to reveal a 15 wpc power amp which drives (2) 8" 2-way speakers, fitted into a custom cabinet behind the grill cloth. Drivers are pointed upward at a 15 degree angle. While the amplifier needs to manually be powered on and off, the rest of the systems uses the original remote controls. The knobs are nonfunctional. The room is rather small, so the 23" size works just fine. The speakers work very well with the system, but are probably over sized for this application.
