10-05-2018, 05:43 AM
(09-05-2018, 06:53 PM)Mark Hennessy Wrote: Yes, to me they sound more like a hi-fi than a valve radio. The bass isn't woolly or overblown, and there's real treble as well. It demands (and deserves) to be listened to, rather than being "audio wallpaper" in the background.
I’d guess that that was exactly what Hacker intended – a radio receiver for those who wanted to listen to programme content. Hacker also noted that it could be used as a tuner, feeding a hi-fi system, or in conjunction with a hi-fi speaker. At the time, Wharfedale and probably others were promoting the use of some of their hi-fi speakers for use in conjunction with better quality FM radio receivers. Those additional applications suggested by Hacker tended to preclude the use of equalization to create an initially more impressive – but ultimately probably more fatiguing - sound. Back in the day, a “quick and dirty” test would have been to tune into a relatively uncompressed FM broadcast and wait for a male voice spoken-word item. That would show up any “unnatural” equalization or problems in the bass. (Voices with rounded vowels seem to work better for this test, as does speaking at a not-too-fast speed, say 160 wpm.)
To some extent the Mayflower may have been a continuation of what the Hacker Bros. had been doing in their Dynatron era, before the latter company became but a faint Ekco of its former self. The Dynatron post-WWII integrated radio receivers had been of the console form, running through various iterations of the AM-only Merlin to the final R1712, then to the FM-only Ether Minstrel RV12. This had used the FM2 switched FM tuner, which was adopted by the BBC as the basis for its RC5/1A and RC5/1B rebroadcast and monitoring receivers. It was also used in the BBC HR/17A and HR/18A monitoring receivers.
By the early 1960s, console radio receivers may have been perceived as passé, so a table model was indicated, hence the Mayflower. Its ability to drive even large hi-fi speakers meant that anyone who wanted to recapture what the RV12 could do could get there by adding a suitable external speaker system.
Cheers,
Steve
