UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post

G6Tanuki · 13th Dec 2015, 8:57 pm

I don't see the 'split' heater in "all-american five" radios as at all wrong: given the expected lifetime of valves (and radios) compared with the spending-power of the consumers-of-the-day it made *perfect* sense!

Some people get worryingly bogged-down in issues of designing-for-longevity; I rather focus on "how to bring the best technology to the most people at the lowest cost". The various "AA5" radios from the 1930s through to the 1960s met a market-need in a sensible way. Why design your radio to last ten years if the purchaser wants a new-style one in five?

From memory, in "The Setmakers" someone from the UK whose business was selling extension-loudspeakers who travelled to the US in the 1930s came back saying "there's no market for extension-loudspeakers in the US; they just buy another radio".

And for that I truly commend the US approach!

13th Dec 2015, 8:57 pm	#6
G6Tanuki Dekatron Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Wiltshire, UK. Posts: 14,010	Re: Valve heaters and dial lamps I don't see the 'split' heater in "all-american five" radios as at all wrong: given the expected lifetime of valves (and radios) compared with the spending-power of the consumers-of-the-day it made perfect sense! Some people get worryingly bogged-down in issues of designing-for-longevity; I rather focus on "how to bring the best technology to the most people at the lowest cost". The various "AA5" radios from the 1930s through to the 1960s met a market-need in a sensible way. Why design your radio to last ten years if the purchaser wants a new-style one in five? From memory, in "The Setmakers" someone from the UK whose business was selling extension-loudspeakers who travelled to the US in the 1930s came back saying "there's no market for extension-loudspeakers in the US; they just buy another radio". And for that I truly commend the US approach!