The Fine Things are Always Hand Made

Philharmonic tweeter switching

Hi all,

This is my first post and I'd like to say that I appreciate there being a resource like this for E.H. Scott and other collectors out there. I do have a question for the experts though;

I am fortunate enough to have two Philharmonic FM sets. One came with no tweeters. My newest has the tweeters, crossover and an additional connector on the radio chassis for switching out of the tweeters for A.M. bands. I was able to find the connection diagram to confirm this function. This was unexpected as I believed that much broadcast in the late 30s was wideband as compared to today and that many manufacturers added tweeters to extend the fidelity range accordingly. I also know of Scott radios with tweeters but no such switching. Of course, the question is, "why". Did the advent of FM fortell the demise of the Apex channels and eventual narrowing of A.M. broadcast?

Any info would be welcome. Regards,

Bill

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Permalink Reply by Norman S Braithwaite on December 8, 2011 at 11:46am

The tweeter in the Scott 800B is also switched off for AM reception and phonograph reproduction and possibly also in the Phantom FM equipped with the four unit speaker system. The Apex channels were experimental and were apparently out of favor, at least by EH Scott Radio Laboratories, by 1940 when Scott was offering the FM models. The wide bandwidth required for AM reception of the full range of audio frequencies also invited noise at the higher audio frequencies. I suspect that Scott figured there was no real benefit of including the tweeters for AM reception when they were including an FM reception capability that was truly capable of reproducing the higher audio frequencies without noise. In that regard, FM did indirectly foretell the demise of the Apex channels.

Norman

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Permalink Reply by Bill Liers on December 8, 2011 at 11:19pm

Norman,

Thanks for the info. I've always wondered about the Apex stations that I've seen listed, and the amount that they were actually listened to. I do have a number of radios after '35 which are Apex or Ultra SW capable.

Since the AW-23, Philharmonic AM and some later models had tweeters but no switching, the decision must have come around 1940 sometime to "improve" the design. I wonder if the switching and connector were added by request, by ordering the tweeter option or simply after a certain serial number.

I also notice that my photos added to my recent album are all running on the home page. I guess this is automatic and was not intended.

regards, Bill

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Permalink Reply by Norman S Braithwaite on December 8, 2011 at 11:34pm

Bill:

The tweeter switch would only have been included in those Scott receivers including the optional a four unit speaker system. The Scott receivers having a single full range speaker would obviously not have a tweeter switch.

You can consolidate your photos by creating an album and moving the photos into the album. You will have to explore a little to figure out how to do this. It is reasonably self explanatory and I do it automatically so I cannot even remember the specific process! I create an album for each model receiver that I feature.