1981 Sony Trinitron KV-3000R: The Most Luxurious Trinitron [video]
35 comments
·August 21, 2025JKCalhoun
ljf
That is excellent! I followed more of the 'just slap speakers in it' method - I have an old 50s record player that I got as a teenager (in the 90s) the bass on it was stunning, so I played it to death until the values blew.
I then emptied out the insides as with the lid it made a nice box to keep stuff in. A few years later I worked a 2.1 computer speaker amp and drivers in there (sadly I'd used the original speakers for a project), and added a Bluetooth receiver, an ipod touch and an additional aux cable - then mounted the whole thing on hair pin legs.
It is now a cute coffee table, chest and basic speaker system - but no where near as polished as yours!
JKCalhoun
I have the advantage of having iterated on these. All told I've made perhaps 7 or 8 of them in various configs. I also got very much into baltic birch (and other high-end multi-ply plywood) construction on earlier projects (MAME machines, furniture, etc.) so I already had down the joinery. (And built a number of "normal" speakers before as well.)
So I already some wood-working experience before starting these. Still though, not a thing anyone else couldn't learn to build.
desperate
Awesome work
pezezin
My dad was a big fan of Trinitrons. Both our first TV bought in the mid '80s, and the second one bought in the early 2000s after the first one died, were Trinitrons, as was our 17” PC monitor.
Last year I got bitten by the retrogaming bug and ended up getting now one, but two 17” Trinitrons, one for a MAME machine in our office's cantine, and one for my retro PC. Even after 25 years those beasts look gorgeous, old games really look great on them.
kraussvonespy
Mid 1980s, I worked at an record store that was also heavy into stereos and other audio / visual equipment. We were fortunate enough to have not only a huge 40" Sony set (which weighed about 300lbs) but also a 36" Fisher console set that I think weighed close to 400lbs. So, so much heavy glass.
There were lots of reasons why you wouldn't want to buy one of these behemoths at the time (cost, weight, heat) but maybe the most significant was how bad NTSC video looked when you spread it across a 40" screen. I recently pulled out an old laserdisc player and connected it to a 65" OLED set and it looks absolutely terrible.
LargoLasskhyfv
One does not do it like that. There needs to be a hardware video signal upscaler in between. Of which many different versions at different capability and price points exist.
Short intro here https://www.retrorgb.com/upscalers.html , be prepared for endless ramblings of what is best why for what in countless other places.
null
justinator
The more things change...
Was working a Samsung exhibit where they were showing off their latest TV, some quarter million dollar beast. Part of the price tag was delivery and installation, as there was just no way a mere mortal could install this.
The problem wasn't that it was heavy -- it wasn't. Just fragile. The TV was made up of an array of much smaller borderless panels.
Think they sold a few to a coupla professional football players.
justinator
The other takeaway was the price of the TV probably was going to be 10x less within 10 years.
deadbabe
It’s not that difficult, you’re just paying for “installation theatre” at that point, good for showing off on social media and getting some clout.
fumeux_fume
I will always remember when my Dad bought a vertically flat, 27in Trinitron back around 1998. I miss those buttery-smooth pans. Probably my biggest gripe with any modern television is how awful panning or tracking shots look. Similarly, I enjoyed this quest to obtain a (the?) 43in Trinitron: https://youtu.be/JfZxOuc9Qwk?si=9XcP5-4lwzrvpvpF
pansa2
> vertically flat, 27in Trinitron
Yes, the cylindrically-curved screen is distinctively Trinitron. It’s easy to spot one at-a-glance, whereas the later fully-flat models look much more like those from other brands.
> I miss those buttery-smooth pans
This motion clarity is a big reason why CRTs are still the best way to play retro side-scrolling games.
reallifepixel
The Sony PVM-4300 was a 43" Trinitron. Super interesting video about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfZxOuc9Qwk
aidenn0
To compare the price to another Japanese import, you could buy two new Toyota Corollas for less than this beast.
zabzonk
I bought a Trinitron tv a little later. It was an amazing display, and the weird thing was that I bought it (at a good discount) from the UK firm "Boots the Chemist" which used to sell all sorts of hardware. Alas, it has gone through a few owners since, and now only sells perfumes and drugs.
kjellsbells
true story, I got my start programming by typing in two-line BASIC programs on the C64 display models in a Boots in South London. My family couldn't afford a computer at home.
10 PRINT "FART!"
20 GOTO 10
Not my finest code, I'll admit.
That was 40 years and a continent away.
antod
I can't spot any obvious bugs in your code.
Although I would suggest adding a space after the exclamation point and a semi colon after the end of the string for a better screen filling UX.
esafak
The "chemists" (drug stores) in the US sell pantry essentials. I can't imagine buying a TV while waiting for your prescription!
TylerE
I never had a trinitron TV, but I had a trinitron monitor in the late 90s. What a beast that was. Think it was like an 18 or 19” with a max res of something kinda weird like 1280x960 or something like that. If my probably faulty memory is accurate, the sweet spot was to run it at 1024x768 because that was that was the highest res it could do at >60hz, which made the crt AC flicker much less annoying.
The monitor shelf on that computer table had about a 2” sag in it after years. Think that think weighed about 80lbs.
747fulloftapes
A late 90s Trinitron would have been 4:3, so 1280x1024. I found it more important to run a trinitron at the native resolution for the shadow mask. Otherwise things got blurry and gross. A bit like using an LCD at its non-native resolution where things get unevenly stretched and squished.
I seem to remember my Sony G220 had a native resolution of 1024x768 and I could run it up around 100Hz. I think the max was 1600x1200@60Hz.
Often my maximum refresh rate was limited by my graphics card's dot clock rather than the CRT specs.
pansa2
> 4:3, so 1280x1024
That’s 5:4. The correct 4:3 resolution is indeed 1280x960.
nsxwolf
I had a Sun workstation at my first real job, and it had the 21” Trinitron. I’d never seen anything like it.
747fulloftapes
I remember those. Absolute monsters. They used a DB13W3 with proper mini coax lines for the RGB signals instead of the VGA HD15.
They weighed a ton, were painful to move and basically consumed the entirety of any desk they were set on.
esseph
Humble brag :)
TylerE
I think the thing people don't appreciate is how good different resolutions looked. Every res was "native". None of that crazy non-integer scaling you get with fixed pixel displays like lcds.
ljf
Stunning machine - was shocked that in 1980 30 inches was the largest CRT - but that makes sense I suppose - we really are spoilt with screen sizes (and costs) now.
chihuahua
The sweet spot for CRTs was 27" - any larger, and one person could no longer lift it without risking injury; any smaller, and you'd feel like you're missing out.
A 27" TV weighed just under 100 pounds (45kg) if I remember correctly.
userbinator
https://crtdatabase.com/crts/sony/sony-kv-27v45
Yes, a little short of 100lbs. The heaviest part of the set is the CRT, but more precisely, the front of the tube. It's very thick glass.
Reason077
The largest ever Trinitron CRT was the 45 inch (!!) KX-45ED1. Here's a fascinating account of an enthusiast uncovering (and recovering) one of these behemoths in Japan:
77pt77
> we really are spoilt with screen sizes (and costs) now.
Also travel. Travel got even cheaper.
Lodging and home ownership on the other hand...
inatreecrown2
look at that "remote commander" at around 6min45, beautiful! I would love to have such a console instead of the current remote control sticks we have with modern tv's. maybe could be a nice project do build...
uberduper
I worked at a company in the late 90s that was developing a thin flat panel "CRT" display. Crazy how long ago the CRT was invented.
stickfigure
Candescent? A friend of mine worked there. The technology looked amazing. I wonder what modern laptops would look like if they had made it to mass production.
I've wanted to bring back the console electronics. To that end I have built a few things along similar lines for myself.
A couple of thinner "speaker tables" with a small subwoofer + plate amplifier built in and a pair of full-range drivers. Not really a full console but does keep the wires to a minimum [1]. Just add an amp and sound source. (Sub is down-firing and underneath — so not visible.)
I built a taller version with storage for albums underneath (now we're getting closer to a console stereo [2]. (Sub is also down-firing.)
Additionally I built one for the TV that has a mid (full range) driver as well. With the integrated sub it's fully 3.1 with no external wires [3]. (Like previous, sub is also down-firing.)
FWIW, the "cavities" allowed for the drivers within the body of the furniture were designed to match the drivers in terms of volume (usually sized for a bass port as well). So there was a little more thought than to just slap speakers on a box.
[1] https://imgur.com/nqTy6Bi
[2] https://imgur.com/RIVRfea
[3] https://imgur.com/a1tbhB1
Tried to find a build photo — this is the taller stereo version being built. Full-range drivers on each end, dual subs left-center, bass port in center, plate amplifier (for sub only) right-center: https://imgur.com/ZZtP2qp