The interesting story of "Madman Muntz" - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2017, 02:36:27 pm
content: "Madman Muntz" was mentioned in a thread on power supplies in the context of BOM reduction.His name is synonymous with the elimination of parts to see if something still works.I remembered seeing his commercials on LA TV in the late 60s and early 70s (when visiting there during the summers, as a little kid). I always remembered his over-the-top commercials, which were parodied by comedians like the Firesign Theatre.So I read his Wikipedia entry.. His life was pretty interesting.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madman_MuntzEarl William "Madman" Muntz(January 3, 1914 – June 21, 1987)was an Americanbusinessmanandengineerwho sold and promoted cars andconsumer electronicsin the United States from the 1930s until his death in 1987. He was a pioneer intelevision commercialswith his oddball "Madman"persona– analter egowho generated publicity with his unusual costumes, stunts, and outrageous claims. Muntz also pioneered car stereosby creating the MuntzStereo-Pak, better known as the 4-track cartridge, a predecessor to the8-track cartridgedeveloped byLear Industries.He invented the practice that came to be known asMuntzing, which involved simplifying otherwise complicated electronic devices. Muntz produced and marketed the first black-and-white television receivers to sell for less than $100, and created one of the earliest functionalwidescreenprojection TVs.He was credited with coining the abbreviation "TV" fortelevision,although the term had earlier been in use in call letters for stations such asWCBS-TV. A high schooldropout,Muntz made fortunes by selling automobiles, TV receivers, and car stereos and tapes.A 1968Los Angeles Timesarticle noted that in one year he sold $72 million worth of cars, that five years later he sold $55 million worth of TV receivers, and that in 1967 he sold $30 million worth of car stereos and tapes.After his success as a used car salesman and withKaiser-Frazerdealerships inLos AngelesandNew York City,Muntz founded theMuntz Car Company, which made the "Muntz Jet", asports carwith jet-like contours. The car was manufactured between 1951 and 1953, although fewer than 400 were produced.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2017, 03:40:31 pm
content: Muntz TV commercial 1952More on Muntz's character from friends relatives and employees

author: Benta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2017, 05:58:45 pm
content: Bob Pease had a nice writeup on "muntzing" (I'm a Bob Pease fan, sad he's not around anymore):http://www.electronicdesign.com/boards/whats-all-muntzing-stuff-anyhow

author: calexanian
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2017, 11:46:44 pm
content: Yes, I am familiar with the term Muntzing. What do you do with your receiver in your TV barley can get local strong signal and ignores weaker ones? Call it a feature and advertise that it filters out undesirable signals. Look up the Muntz Jet car story. Fascinating. I miss business people like that. They made the world more interesting.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2017, 12:23:24 am
content: > Fascinating. I miss business people like that. They made the world more interesting.Nowadays some major corporation would just buy his business, to kill off the competition.

author: CopperCone
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2017, 04:23:15 am
content: just please don't do this to test equipment. its butchery.personally i hate that kind of crap. today it means lets sell a radar jamming transient generator disguised as a power supply....

author: jh15
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2017, 05:45:41 am
content: I have a 4 track cart with commercially recorded music. I actually fixed this stuff.Imagine a luggable wooden "briefcase" with artificially simulated woodgrain wallpaper wrap. had 2 4x6 speakers, a 4 track chassis, I think was a car unit, inside tons of d cells. The luggable boombox is long gone, but I have a commercial music released cart.I hacked into it to play the first release of the Phillips cassette. Mine was a rebadged Wollensak.A roller skating teacher at Canobie Lake Park had one in his car where I worked as a kid, and was amazing the ambiance and imaging.The same was used in radio stations for decades after for spots.I was recently given a cart from a station of a deceased producer, and I'll look for my cart.BTW same as a 4 track 4 channel reel to reel format.

author: aandrew
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2017, 06:46:01 pm
content: Muntzing is fine when you're going after absolutely bottom cost and screw any kind of robustness.Sure, you can clip out the TVSes. Sure you can clip out the filtering. Sure, you can clip out a ton of bypass capacitors. The device will work but only under increasingly optimum conditions.Like everything in engineering, it's about balance. Trade off one thing for something else.

author: fourtytwo42
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2017, 07:35:38 pm
content: Muntzing is what society demands by wanting the cheapest products, but as we have no regulatory framework left it is often allowed to go to far putting the very same people at risk of injury or even death as a result of there meanness maybe there's a moral there like what goes around comes around!

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 04, 2017, 07:39:26 pm
content: I remember the old commercials, I also remember the TV sets were junk...

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 04, 2017, 07:41:44 pm
content: But if more people could afford them.. Because most early TVs really were too expensive for many families.