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Remember Curtis Mathes?

vintage.fan

vintage.fan

Member
I inherited my grandfathers stereo when he passed away some years back, was an entire cm rack system of which the cd, tape and turntable have all died. I do still have the integrated amplifier model aa310 and the seperate digital tuner. He bought it new in 86 I believe and I've always wanted to know more about it. To me it resembles a Technics that I found on ebay awhile back, does anyone happen to have any info on this particular model or brand? Its a pretty stout little amplifier imho, drives my Infinity reference fours no problem and is so loud and clear, id swear Eric Clapton was in the room with me!
 
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i dont know much about the bpc era stuff from the 80s, but if its anything like the older stuff, its top notch! ive had some old c.m. gear over the years and it always impressed me, id love to see some pics!
 
Curtis Mathes was solidly rebadged Panasonic. I worked a convention for them many years ago and all the parts they had laid out for their repairmen to inspect were all Panasonic parts.
 
so I'm guessing I have somewhat of a vintage gem here lol, at least in my eyes. ill have to upload some pics of my modest little setup once I get it all back together from my remodel at home. thanks guys!
 
Hi

re: C-M

The slogan was "The most expensive TV and darn well worth it." they were out of TX as I recall.

Many of theirTVs up until the late 70's are collectible. Not because they were indeed 'the best' electronically, but because they mostly had cabinetry which was overdone and over-the-top---ask any vintage tv collector, they were the heaviest, biggest, and among the most oddball in their designs

Basically, collectors either love em or HATE em.
 
yeah granddad was a curtis mathes loving fool! Every tv in the house (in the 80's and 90's) was a cm. He was a man who liked the "best". What I still cant believe is how much abuse ive thrown at it over the years and it has never blown the fuses or shorted out/ overheated! Its outlasted 3 other stereos ive had in the past, I dont think ill ever give it up! Plus it has way too much sentimental value.
 
i had a c-m console once from the 60s, with a tv-stereo in it.
damn thing sounded great, and the picture on the tv was crystal clear.
it had a really nice cabinet, dark wood that was highly polished with a nice clear-coat finish on it. top notch stuff.
 
From 1957 - 1983, when the company's founder died in an air crash, C-M was the last all-US owned and manufactured TV company. After Mathes' death, the company went downhill fast and became a reseller of rebadged import products.
 
Remember Curtis Mathes Wasn't he on Hollywood Squares-Right next to Paul Lind..:scratch2:......:D And damn well worth it!!!:D
 
By the mid to late eighties, "Curtis Mathes" was just that name sold and slapped on Asian goods just like some other former American brands, like Fisher, for instance.

The original Curtis Mathes stuff was excellent. I worked on some of it in the seventies.

Doug
 
I remember their spokesman: "Curtis Mathis -- the most expensive television in America, and darn well worth it"

Brilliance in marketing -- take a significant negative and turn it into a positive.
 
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Most CM tv sets were built by NEC. Mostly all VHS vcrs were manufactured by Matsushita regardless of brand.
I repaired many CM tv sets in the 70s. Nothing very special compared to Zenith !
 
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Here are some pics of the NEC versions. I believe the NEC label was in Canada and Curtis was sold in the U. S.
 

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I remember the company touting how easy it was to repair one of there TV's. Different sections of the circuit was on a handful of plug in PCB's. Just unplug the bad one and plug a new one in. Then send the old one in to be repaired and resold. I did this with one my mother had. I called the repairman that handled the brand in out town, told him what the problem was and then he told me what board was probably bad. Then he asked if I wanted to have him install it, or did I want to do it myself. I do remember having to open the TV up a few times alao to reseat the boards to get the thing to work. What a heavy beast!
 
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