Many years ago, I had the pleasure of knowing the Chief Engineer for Sears Silvertone. His background was with RCA and on a wall in their home were many awards he had won over the years. Now, this was back in the tube days, so I don't know when they stopped designing and manufacturing their own equipment but, if this is early enough, he may have designed this unit and Sears may have actually made it themselves.
Way back when, field testing was done in his home and friends of his daughter, myself included, were doing the testing. Just picture a room with 5 or 6 TV sets, all having remote controls (pre IF) and a room full of kids.... Remote wars were a lot of fun :thmbsp:
I was also in am orchestra conducted by his wife and every now and then, I was given a new tape recorder to test. I would record a rehearsal and the we would listen to the results as well as I had to report how well I liked operating the machine. Funny, the ones I liked eventually found their way to Sears shelves.... Gee, I should have gotten paid.... Actually I enjoyed helping out friends and getting to play with new stuff, before anyone else.
In all seriousness, Sears did have some pretty high standards in those days and most Silvertone equipment, while being consumer grade, was actually pretty good stuff.
Clyde
