Alright already: it’s time to get away from the arch-obscuro-mixtapes, the pseudo-clever cultural commentary, and the puff pieces on electronic music ‘mavericks’ and get back to the core values of this website: time-consuming scans of ancient catalogs full of antique sound equipment of interest to 20, maybe 30, cranky retired men somewhere in the U.S.
Download a 25pp excerpt (I’ve omitted the telecommunications equipment) of the 1950 Stromberg Carlson Audio Equipment Catalog:
DOWNLOAD: StrombergCarlson_1950
Products covered, with text, specs, and photos, include: Stromberg-Carlson AU-29, AM-48, AM-49, AR-37, AU-32, AU-42, AU-33, AU-34, AM-43C, AP-25, AU-35, AU-36, AV-44, AV-45 amplifiers; AV-38, AV-39, AV-44, AV-45, and AV-46 preamps; Stromberg Carlson PS-29, PS-32, PS-33, PS-34, PS-37, PS-42 portable sound systems; plus a shit tonne of re-branded dynamic mics, speaker enclosures, drivers, including the RF-71, RC-13, RC-14, RC-15, RC-23, RC-25, RC-55, RC-57; Matching transformers, klaxons, and mic stands.
Above: The Stromberg-Carlson AU-35, the top of their mixing-amp range. Interesting piece: it has two separate 25-watt 6L6 output stages, each driven by the same mix. Also touts ‘resistor board’ construction, which I imagine indicates a turret-board rather than terminal strips; even the RCA PA amps of this period uses terminal strips so this is certainly a notable feature in PA sound equipment of the period.
The AR-37 ‘record amplifier,’ a ten-watt amp with a variety of frequency-compensation features intended to adapt it to the various record response-curves prior to RIAA standardization.
Above: the only Stromberg-Carlson piece that I have spent a (regrettable) span of time with, the AV-38 pre-amplifier. Loaded with shielded RCA input transformers and a very nice Triad (IICRC…) output, it worked fine out-of-the-box and it was certainly worth the $200 that I paid for it. But, despite replacing several of the 6SC7s, recapping, adding a choke, and removing some extraneous crap, I could never get it to be ‘studio-quiet.’ And it probably never was intended to be such. Anyhow…it’s gone to a better place now. The AV-39 lacked the input transformers and the meter; otherwise identical.
Above: the RF-71, SC’s top-end driver of the period. At some point they made some more sophisticated units, including these guys… good god that price!
Stromberg Carlson didn’t manufacture microphones that I am aware of, but you can find a huge variety of SC-branded Shures, EVs, and Turners on eBay to-this-day.
Today on P S Dot Com: a fairly comprehensive survey of television station ID graphics circa 1951. Widespread full-time telecasting did not take place in the US until 1948, so you are seeing the face of a relatively new industry here. I realize that this post has little to do with sound, but television, as it is broadcast, is at least 50% sonic; those of us who work in television are all-too-aware that we design programming for a distracted audience; I.E., programs and adverts are designed to deliver messages to audiences that can hear the set without necessarily seeing the screen. The importance of television broadcasts in creating the sound-environment of the twentieth century is immense. Anyway, here’s a trip back to the earliest days of mass-TV broadcasting in the US, and a fascinating look at how the early TV broadcasters saw themselves, as-it-were. If anyone has a link to an online archive of the sounds that accompanied graphics such as these, please do let us know.
Many, many, many more follow: click the link below to READ ON…
