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"Thirty Years of High Fidelity Leadership"

mhardy6647

mhardy6647

Lunatic Member
Since the subject of Hermon Hosmer Scott comes up here occasionally on both the SS and tube forums, I thought it might be of interest to post the scan of a late 1970's (1979) HH Scott brochure I have. The cover proclaims "Thirty Years of High-Fidelity Leadership". Wish I had a stack like that...
 
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Paraphrasing from the brochure...

1947 Models 121 and 210A. First preamp and amp (respectively) to offer Scott's Dynaural noise suppression. Brochure claims this enabled radio broadcast of recorded music for the first time.

1952 Model 99A. First "flat" (low profile) style amp. Tubes were placed horizontally.

1955 Model 350A. First consumer tuner to offer wideband AM with quality 'virtually indistinguishable' from FM.

1959 Model 299A. First stereo amplifier. Scott had to develop their own phono cartridge (with London Records) 'cause there was none on the market at that time.

1961 Model 350. First FM stereo multiplex tuner. Introduced 30 days after the FCC licensed the multiplex system.

1964 Model 344. First receiver to use transistors in the amplifier section.
 
Seen most all of the others but what the heck is that one with the digital touchpad from 76? I want it! It looks so odd!
 
HH Scott

Had the 299 (A?) and the 330D Tuner.

Really Really Sweet sounding combo, and the most powerful sounding 17 tube wpc that I have heard to date.

Hated to sell, but had to pay the mortgage.

Thanks for the memories!
 
I might have the oldest Scott piece in existence.....

I have come across quite a few Scott pieces lately, all of which still work and sound great.

The one I'm hanging onto is one of the aforementioned 210A integrated amps from 1947.

The serial number is 13. Might be the oldest H.H. Scott piece, and for that matter, one of the oldest pieces of home hi-fi, in existence.

Couldn't bear to part with it. Works great!

Cheers
Lee
 
Lee, the 210A is very cool, esp. Cs/n 13!

As to the rest of the HH Scott stack in the picture:

1966 Model 348A. First receiver to use FET's and IC's (in the tuner, presumably).

1969 Model 499. First commerical quadrophonic amplifier (whoo-hoo!)

1974. Model T33S First digital frequency synthesis tuner. The subject of who had the first truly digital tuner came up on one of these forums recently. This, allegedly, is the correct answer.

1976. Model RD1000. First "computerized digital frequency receiver'. Featured a 10-station programmable memory.

The bottom of the stack is the TOTL 1979 Scott Model 390R. Not the first anything, but hyped as "perhaps the most complete receiver ever made".
 
My HH Scott (SS) short stack

No firsts here except "first two pieces of HH Scott equipment I have ever owned"...

Top, Model 342C; bottom, Model 357. Sorry the picture is so poor. I'll do a natural light photo sometime when I have the time.

Both were dump finds. The 342C was missing its fuses and the power fuse cover and is suspected to be DOA (never tried it yet). The 357 works quite well (though the dial lamps are all burned out). Tuner seems very 'hot' in my fringe-y location.
 
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Has anyone ever seen the 1976 digital receiver? Outside of this ad, I've not seen or red any reference to it. In the review article for my RS STA2250, the writer states the STA2200 was the first digital receiver offered but the 2200 was introduced post '76 and hence if actually offered to the public for sale the Scott looks like it may actually be the first.
 
I think alot of kewl old equipment gets overlooked because everyone wants a Marantz 2600 or a Sansui CA-3000/BA-5000 system or Mac etc. You haven't heard too much about Scott, HK, Sherwood, or a few other brands that weren't quite as popular during that era. I think many of them are like undiscovered treasure waiting to be found (again). I've never owned any Scott equipment but I sure wish I did!!
 
I have never run across the RD1000 in any form other than this ad, I have been searching for a 390R in decent shape for a while and to my knowledge it has never turned up on ebay (usually I do the search for Scott reciever). After seeing that picture though I want one! It looks so darn unique. I would guess that being the first of anything it might have had reliability problems which would result in its obscurity. Anyone check Orion to get a guess if it was released (not that they are accurate all the time).
 
Dunno. I recall that there's discussion of one or two "Phantom" Scott receivers on the Audion site. Perhaps this was one of them? (I am too lazy to look right at this particular time...)
 
Hurrah! :banana: Finally found the type number of the Scott tuner I have been looking for for ages. The 33S. I have seen it in a shop in the late 70s, and was deeply impressed with the sci-fi looks of it, especially the punchcards and the nixie tube display. I didn't remeber exactly how it looked though.
It is very rare, even on the internet.
Found this link: http://www.thevintageknob.org/THEVAULT/T33S/T33S.html
 
That is one darn cool tuner. Nixies for display? How much weirder can you get than that! Its a shame the RD-1000 does not seem to exist, its a darn cool looking receiver.
 
I had the one one the bottom of the stack.I bought it when i was 12 with a lot of grass cutting money. I think it was around 299.00 new at a discount stereo store here locally, but I payed a bit less for the display unit with an intermittent problem. Turned out all it needed was my old man to troubleshoot and find a cold solder joint on one op amp leg. Had it till '85 when I joined the Navy. Had enought oomph to piss mom, dad, and the neighbors off on a regular basis..!!!(turn down the bass...the walls are shaking!!!!) Still worked fine and believe me it was thoroughly abused at high volumes with a set of Ess Heil Tempests!..Man I miss those Tempests......
 
Heathkit had a true digital tuner that also used punched cards to store frequencies. It was introduced in 1972 IIRC.

However, the Scott digital tuner was shown as a prototype as early as 1970 or 71 at audio shows. The Scott used "Nixie" tubes for the digital display.

My guess is that Heathkit's design made it to the market earlier than the Scott but both were developed around 1969-1971.

The Scott is ultra rare BTW....
 
Aage said:
What finally happened to Scott? Were they, too bought by Sanyo? The name, I mean.
Click to expand...

Scott started to have financial problems around 1972 and the company filed for bankrupcy later that same year. Sadly this coincided with the passing of Herman Hosmer Scott.

The company was acquired by an european conglomerate, whose name escapes me. It was probably under this ownership when they ran that 1979 ad.
 
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