Gday,

Thanks for the opportunity to ask a question on this forum.

I've been tasked by my father to discover any information that I can regarding a television console which belonged to his father.
(I've sent 4x photos along to Brad via email as requested.)

As you'll note, the console is a 3-in-1, tape recorder/radio, record player, and television unit. Aside from the the brand on the face of the cabinet, there doesn't appear to be any model names or numbers.

I had very few results when researching the St James brand online. All I could determine was that St James was the name of the in-house brand of the David Jones department stores in the 50/60/70's. But that could be a red-herring...

According to my father, this console was purchased in a department store chain called JB Young's in Queanbeyan, NSW in the late 60's. He seems to recall it being purchased for the purpose of watching the moon landing, but he was only young at the time, so he doubts his memory a bit.

Any information regarding this console would be a great help to me. And also any directions toward further reading would be most appreciated also. I've very much enjoyed reading many of the posts on this forum and the other radio forums. I have a background as an avionics technician in the military, and its been a while since I've indulged the interest.

Kind regards,
Pete

St. James is the house brand for David Jones.

David Jones flagship store in Elizabeth St is just across the road from St. James underground station & the historic St. James' church is nearby.

Looking forward to the pics.

Can't see the St James brand being used by any chain other than DJ's, so maybe it was bought in Woden or Canberra.

The only St James I know of is the one I own.

See https://vintage-radio.com.au/default.asp?f=2&th=687 for photos.

Photos uploaded.

There is also St James Court, a nickname for the original building housing the Surpreme Court of NSW. The appeals for murder cases are usually heard in this court rather than in the adjacent law courts building.

The radiogram looks impressive and looks like a high end unit with the addition of the tape recorder. I don't know who made this model but wouldn't be surprised if it was Stromberg Carlson or Kriesler.

Ugh, spelling mistake, should be Supreme.

Thanks for photos, that unit looks much newer than mine. Very high end, and inbuilt tape recorder too.
I've seen that model of tape recorder before, somewhere.

Very impressive!

It was made by A.W. Jacksons (Precedent) for David Jones. The tape recorder is a BSR.

https://www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_hersteller_detail.cfm?company_id=12436

Yes I concur. Definitely a Precedent. It would have been made at the Crescent St. Annandale factory.

If you want to restore this to working order and need a CRT, I have one.

I bet the field technicians loved these.
JJ

Actually JJ they weren't too bad. The TV was a simple but reliable, well-engineered design and the chassis flipped down for easy access. The build quality was fairly neat too.

And they didn't wrap their component leads through the tagstrip holes half a dozen times like other makers did (grrrrr)

Ian, I was more thinking about “while you are here there is a small problem with the auto changer and by the way the tape deck sometimes.............”
Four times the callback chances as well, even if you did not touch the other bits.
The Huge big Astor three in ones I just used to end for end them much to the customers concern.(on carpet).
But then it was easy to remove the bottom metal cover and effect repairs.
JJ

Ah yes, JJ you are so right.

And yes, I was often tempted to do just that with those long Astors.

Pete, that unit could have any one of four TV chassis models fitted.

Any chance of a closeup pic of the TV chassis?
Valve complement? (Don't worry about inside the cage, they were all the same)
Is the vision IF on a small PCB with an edge connector at one end?

I have schematics.

Precedent Clone ! See the badge at the bottom , All the precedents that I have ever seen and owned that were sold under different names for G.Br etc etc all have that Badge in the same shape , That will be a 263 Jackson chassis or the simpler chassis which was prior to the 263 ,but look all almost identical , I know this because I have seen them before .. Do you plan to Restore this Unit ??

Peter
Oh PS I would have the Knob your missing they were a common one