18-11-2016, 02:33 PM
Knowing Thorn I think they made a good decision to make the 980/981 chassis.
They made them at a price that could have easily been absorbed in the cost of a new Colour set. The public like a bargain or a free gift and the 12 inch 980 fitted the bill perfectly, it was portable and could receive the main two channels with ease, being one standard only they were cheap to make and reliable enough. Considering the amount that actually survive as it was literally a throw away set makes me think the production run must have been reasonable.
The 16 inch 981 doesn't fit quite so well in this, OK it was transportable and a very good performer but "if" Thorn did give them away it would have been more costly, I also don't see it as a big seller as there was a Dual standard 16 inch set on the market too.
My 981 16 inch set is quite tatty, the thin mask is cracked, one of the knobs is broken but give it it's due it works extremely well. The tuner with its PC97 RF stage is light years better than any tuner with a PCC84.
They made them at a price that could have easily been absorbed in the cost of a new Colour set. The public like a bargain or a free gift and the 12 inch 980 fitted the bill perfectly, it was portable and could receive the main two channels with ease, being one standard only they were cheap to make and reliable enough. Considering the amount that actually survive as it was literally a throw away set makes me think the production run must have been reasonable.
The 16 inch 981 doesn't fit quite so well in this, OK it was transportable and a very good performer but "if" Thorn did give them away it would have been more costly, I also don't see it as a big seller as there was a Dual standard 16 inch set on the market too.
My 981 16 inch set is quite tatty, the thin mask is cracked, one of the knobs is broken but give it it's due it works extremely well. The tuner with its PC97 RF stage is light years better than any tuner with a PCC84.
