Scott vs McMurdo Silver

[jonathan dollimore]

A few years back someone in the US vintage radio world posted somewhere that they had been working on a McMurdo Silver 15-17 and rather controversially argued that it performed better than the contemporary Scott sets. Can someone remind me where this article appeared? With thanks…

[David C. Poland]

These late 1930's radios are now about 80 yers old. The condition and especially the quality of the electrical restoration makes a difference. Also, so does the cabinet (each manufacturer offered a selection of exclusive furniture quality consoles, and from my experience, the cabinets affect sound in various ways.

Consumer Reports May 1937 compared the a Scott 23 tube Full Range High Fidelity (aka AW-23) with a McMurdo Silver Masterpiece V.  Both billed them selves as custom set builders. Both were chrome plated. Both leading edge technology.

Consumers Reports rated Scott's model a bit better "in estimated order of merit" as per the Joe Koster's  review of the article, published in the (now dormant) E H Scott Historical Society issue of Scott News of March 1994.

The Scott AW-23 uses a 12 inch Magnavox and a pair of Jensen field coil 5 inch tweeters.

The McMurdo V used was the standard 18 inch Jensen speaker and no tweeter.

(A tweeter with an Jensen 18 inch low frequency speaker was an option.)

Joe liked the sound of his restored AW-23 slightly better than his restored MS-V.

[jonathan dollimore]

Thank you David. The article/post I remember was more recent, and elicited replies from several people taking issue. I just can’t now locate the exchange.

[Scott Seickel]

Norman has some good commentary here:

https://ehscott.ning.com/forum/topics/do-scott-collectorss-want-mcm...

[David Wilson]

In the May 1936 Issue of  "The Scott News," in the story on the Mitchell Quaranta the story mentions the following report: 

"Quaranta" and also in our 23 Tube Model. At a recent impartial reception test by one of the high fidelity stations, our receiver was the only one out of nearly 150 receivers tested which proved itself capable of capturing the complete 40 Tube Quaranta Installed in the John J. Mitchell Home, Santa Barbara, Calif.range this station transmits. A copy of this report will gladly 'be sent to anyone interested."

Does anyone here have a copy of this report mentioned in this issue of "The Scott News" they would be selling to share? 

[jonathan dollimore]

I’ve now found the original article -scroll down to end…

https://www.radiomuseum.org/forum/scott_radi_the_eh_scott_30_tube_p...

[Scott Seickel]

That is a heavily slanted article.  Take it with a grain of salt. 

jonathan dollimore said:

I’ve now found the original article -scroll down to end…

https://www.radiomuseum.org/forum/scott_radi_the_eh_scott_30_tube_p...

[jonathan dollimore]

Hello Scott,

I'm a novice in these matters, and would be interested to hear more from you on this article and the respective merits of Scott and McS