H.H. SCOTT
Inc.
The name of H.H Scott became synonymous with the audio market in the 1950s, the company offered a wide range of amplifiers, preamplifiers, tuners, receivers, loudspeakers, turntables and "proprietary" console kits. In addition to finished products, SCOTT also sold excellent quality assembly kits under the name "Stratakits". The company offered unique designs, such as a powerful stereo amplifier based on EL34 / 6CA7 tubes (only few amplifiers based on these tubes were produced in the USA) and small ELC86 / 6GW8 amplifiers. The line of receivers was called STEREOMASTER and consists of a few models. The first was a very stylish 399 working in a "simulcast" system. There were, however, models of this type available with MPX decoders. For the rest, SCOTT offered an external decoder. The power amplifier was driven by EL84 tubes, and a 5AR4 / GZ34 rectifier tube was used in the power supply. It was a rarity, because the vast majority of both American and Japanese receivers were powered by silicon diodes operating in a voltage doubler system. 399 was a kind of monster and worked with 23 lamps. After the 399 H.H. SCOTT released the 340. It inherited the styling from its predecessor, but already had an MPX decoder on board. 7591 power pentodes were used and therefore it had more power. These two products had a very distinctive "vintage" look and are quite highly valued. Their aluminum fronts were filled with one or two large wave discs, and below and beside them were a series of switches and potentiometers with metal knobs. Model 340 was replaced after a year by versions with the letter "B". In practice, however, it was a very different design. First of all, the external design was changed and the 340B received a look that would become a canon for the next 20 years, a large and long-scale division of the front (made of glass) with a large, bakelite and other knob. Potentiometers and slide switches (unlike the previously used axial ones) below the scale. Electronically, the tube rectifier was abandoned in favor of a silicon Graetz bridge. It meant the high current efficiency of the power supply was preserved. Anyway, it was a characteristic of SCOTTs that they used full-wave rectification while competitors were voltage doublers. Thanks to this, the products of Mr. Hermon Hosmer achieved greater power and sounded more stable with this power. The next two receivers were model 380 (the 340B with AM reception) and an absolute unique model 345, which used compactrons (three-section tubes) introduced into production at the end of the 1950s. As a result, the 345 was the least "lamp" piece of equipment, with only 16 "bubbles" per chassis. All these receivers, with the exception of the 399, used 7591 tubes in the amps, and were driven by the ECF82 / 6U8 / 6GH8. H.H SCOTT produced tube receivers in the years 1960-1965. Later it was the turn of the transistor models, the first versions of which were copies of the 340B. The lamps were replaced with transistors without changing the design.