loading
reading
writing
saving
searching
SONY TV XBR 25" CRT 1ST EVER MADE, gamer's wet dream! KV-25XBRB JAPAN - $999
QR Code Link to This Post
Back in the day, Sony made something they called a component television. It was dubbed the Profeel, and it came in 19" and 25" models. It was only a display, you had to buy the tuner separately. The Profeel series was essentially a professional product, packaged for the consumer. And it was supreme in picture quality; there was nothing like it. Until... Until Sony introduced the XBR, The XBR changed EVERYTHING.
It had a new tube design and it sported a true 400+ line horizontal resolution, something never before seen in a consumer television product. And it was STUNNING, both in how it looked and the picture it made. And the sound was superb, due to the APM speakers it came with.
Back then, I was running the Bakersfield Pacific Stereo, over on Ming. I was both the service manager and the store manager. And these were so hot, you couldn't keep them in stock. Employees (not even managers) were NOT allowed to buy them. They came in a color Sony called Plum (which was kinda purple) and Beige. And then... a couple of months after the introduction of the Plum and Beige versions, straight from Japan, came the BLACK version. Oh, my. I wasn't allowed to buy one, but I did anyway. I had to have it. And my district manager almost fired me when he found out! Almost.
This sample was made in Japan and is one of the very first runs of the black model. Later production units came out of Mexico and they weren't as good. The picture is just superb. The set looks as good as a 30-year old TV can look, she's clean and there are almost no cosmetic defects at all - as beautiful as she can be.
I was authorized Sony warranty service for more than 20 years, so she has been well taken care of. I recall that I rebuilt the power supply and rebuilt the IF pack. This set was lightly used and has been put away in her box for quite some time. She was taken out and tested for this ad and then put back in the box. All good.
Sorry about the quality of a couple of the photos, they are from back in the day in my music room. The APM speakers have suffered from foam edge degradation, which happens to all of these. There are a couple of possible solutions for this. One is that they can be refoamed. While rare, apparently there are kits for these (I understand that most come out of the Philippines) and some folks say that there are round drivers you can get that will fit where the square ones go. I don't know about either of these solutions, but they're mentioned here for you as possibilities. The good news is that I have a spare set of other good Sony speakers from a different XBR that will work with the set and I will include those as part of the deal. You can hang the originals on the side of the set and use the spares behind or alongside it, or you can hang the spares in place of the originals. I've included photos of those. The set is in the box now so I can't check, but I recall that the hole spacing on the mounts isn't the same as the originals. But they'll hang on one peg instead of two.
This is the ultimate CRT display for the true and dedicated gamer who wants to own a legend. This set was a historical debut from Sony that was the very first of what became a line of fabled and awesome products. I want this to go to someone who will love her as much as I did. Your friends WILL be jealous!
Don't miss this, as it will not last.
NOTE: THESE PHOTOS ARE ORIGINAL AND ARE MY WORK PRODUCT, they are not taken from any other website. They are copyrighted and are not permitted to be hosted elsewhere. If you see these on some other website, it is because they took them from here. Please let me know if you see them elsewhere and provide a link so that I can request a takedown.