| “An all original HH Scott 4312 Stereomaster 4312 FM Stereo Tube Hybrid tuner. This unit is in near MINT cosmetic condition from 1963. It turns on OK and works on both channels. It was able to pick up several distant, strong stations, as we are 70 miles from nearby cities. Other features not tested. Lights worked, dial is smooth, and meter jumped to life on one of the stronger stations. It sounded good on a strong selection -- using a small dipole antenna ---it can do better --- this beauty could use a quality alignment and service, for optimum results -- it would then perform to the highest standards. The Face is gleaming, no nicks or dings to be seen. The top edge has a very slight blemish -- but you cannot really see it at all, even under the brightest lights. Was in a personal collection for years -- one of the power supply caps has been replaced The chassis is spotless -- this was from one owner estate, and has always been climate controlled. This rare tuner was Scotts' top of the line early 1960's FM Stereo receiver. It uses the rarely seen RCA NuVistor in Scott's last flagship tube based RF design! Scott engineer's carefully chose the NuVistor here brilliantly -- out acheveing the designs of early sold state at the time. |
World-class sounding stereo FM tuners are truly something you have to hear at least once to believe. One can never imagine how amazing a FM station can sound using one of the world's top caliber classic tuners. A Marantz 10B once fooled me into thinking I was listening to an LP (dependant on your station's quality of course!)
To see a brief test and operation video of this beautiful unit, go here:
http://vimeo.com/98003525
FM HiFi era tuners in this league are few and far between... The five or so immensely expensive tuners in this class are generally named in one breath starting with the Marantz 10B, and the Sequerra FM 1. Both of these were watershed advancements in FM sound, and can be truly transformative to your HiFi setup. To a lesser known extent, and also outstanding is the very first HiFi FM tuner from REL ... the Precedent is solidly in this league when used with a good multiplexer. World class FM tuners were incredibly expensive and difficult to design in all of the above cases these flagship tuners, of the 50's and 60s... development frequently bankrupted he parent companies. This happened to both REL and very nearly to Marantz on the 10B! NY based Marantz never fully recovered financially -- and was eventually sold to Sony.
Like all of the other USA golden era HiFi companies, HH Scott had their near brush with the sun ... the immnesely over-built and shortly produced 4000 flagship series, the top of the line FM tuner the 4312 -- it's HH Scott's largest chassis of the era -- and build quality is breathtaking. In the rush to produce the very best, latest solid state tuner, Scott's engineer's realized the last generation of tiny tubes (RCA's NuVistor) still outperformed in the first stages of RF, preventing cross modulation -- giving awesome performance -- easily beat out transistor front end designs of the day. The output line level stages were MilSpec Germanium solid state, and the tuner was sold as a Transistor Wideband FM.... luckily for us, collectors and listeners can really hear the tubes too -- the 4312 was likely HH Scott's best sounding and performing FM tuners of all time. Better than most of the earlier all tube models ...and deiniately nicer that all purely transistorized designs that followed. Produced concurrently with their other bread and butter models, like the LT-110 -- they didn't sell many at all -- the price of $500 in 1963 ($3800 in 2014) was far out of reach to even many wealthy audiophiles at the time.
These gourgeous tuners were fully dressed down for the home, and a very few made it there... like this survivor, which is from a one owner HiFi estate. Because they were the best available RF/IF performance to date -- Commercial FM operators snapped them up, for monitoring and re-broadcast purposes, they were the best choice -- and made for excellent studio & commercial uses.
There were other really good tuners too-- all of them quite expensive which would include the Fisher FM 1000, a few runner-ups of the Macintosh MX Series.
This model from HH Scott, the 4312 was a standout --and the full Flagship for several years in the early 1960s -- concurrent with the Marantz 10B in fact.. One of the very few products to ever use RCA's NuVistor ... and you can see how well they did... The chassis is gleaming, made from Scott's signature aluminium -- which was much better for shielding. You can also see the very early Germanium transistors were expensive gold plated aerospace/MilSpec types not used typically in consumer applications. This 4312 for all practical purposes was HH Scott's "10B". That's saying allot, as Scott's foundation was superior FM tuners, in the 50's and 60's.
They also had a few construction qualities that Fisher didn't bother doing ... in general HH Scott products always had a higher fit and finish.
Like the 10B, the 4312 was a handbuilt product -- no circuit boards -- much more massive and quite finely constructed -- in person it's really impressive and you can see way it was so costly.
It's surprising HH Scott flagship tuner didn't make quite as large of a splash. Partly due to its daring use of some of the latest 1950s technology that even Marantz didn't risk trying. Because of the cost, Scott didn't heavily advertise it.
By the 1950s solid-state technology has matured to a quite reliable level. RCA deeply vested in the tube business, did not want to lose their true expertise -- a craft they spent more than half a century perfecting. By the late 1950s, RCA had dumped untold amounts of cash in to the NuVistor, the last real harah of the tube. They performed like real tubes -- and sported longer life -- yet were as small as the first commercial transistors. These final tubes, were wonderful quality minature devices. There were NuVistor's for every conceivable audio use -- including power output stages. They were heavily marketed by RCA and had quite impressive specifications, and do sound terrific in nearly anything they were used in. In the early 1960s they found good places in some of the world's best condenser microphones and other limited applications in stellar sounding audio equipment. By the mid to late 1960s, the NuVistor became entirely forgotten. The super miniature high performance hifi tube -- fought the good fight-- by the late 1960s they were all gone.
Scott used NuVistors in the front-end (see exhibit G) to achieve better seperation, and nearly eliminated cross-modulation. Early Germanium transistors weren't yet up to Scott's high standards here.
A few years before Scott refined their flagship all solid-state tuner -- the 4312 held the title of easily beating all lower end tuners. These are exceedingly rare, andthe large chassis look -- it's extremely impressive. They do also sound as good as they look, and perhaps not quite in the league of a 10B -- they are a true sleeper -- and astonishing value buy -- really cool collector's HiFi piece you can use and enjoy every day. Because of the quality, scarcity and value, (Sequerra's and 10B's both bring over 2k these days) -- this one will sell quickly. Buy Now to avoid a bidders war -- this one will sell quickly!
This rarified flagship FM tuner is nearly 50 years old, and it sounds works on both channels -- reception seemed fair, and will be drastically improved -- with work -- plan short trip to the bench for alignment and checkup...so worth it for this true classic. Guaranteed safe arrival and no DOA, it has no warranty -- so keep in mind, while it looks fresh / new it's quite old. You should use with care and enjoy with common sense.
Will be double boxed, ie factory packing box will go inside another, outer protective carton for guaranteed safe arrival. Shipping weight is 26lbs.
Will be shipped domestically via UPS ground with tracking number, quickly after purchase.
Overseas buyers welcome, shipping may be limited to some countries by dimensions. Will be professionally double-boxed. All tracking #'s and proof of shipment via email. See our 100% feedback on all vintage items.
Buy now to avoid a bidders war. This is a nice tuner and will sell quickly.
See our 100% feedback, to be assured SAFE PACKING & DELIVERY.
Please study photos below. SAFE PURCHASE, 100% - *** Domestic or OVERSEAS OK. FAST SHIPPING, WILL DISPATCH IMMEDIATELY after PAYMENT -- OVERSEAS OK, FULL TRACKING number via email after shipment.
