RAYTHEON valves labeled Baldwin

The beginning of a dream
Raytheon was founded by Laurence Marshall, Vannevar Bush and Charles Smith in 1922 and was originally known as the American Appliance Company. It was formed to develop a refrigerator with no moving parts but the venture was unsuccessful and the founders decided to start producing gas-filled tubes designed for "battery knockouts" that allowed early tube radios to operate without expensive "B" batteries at high voltage. The tube was launched in late 1925 with the slogan "Revolutionizing the B-Eliminator". The company's new direction was celebrated with a new corporate name, Raytheon, and focused essentially on vacuum tubes. In 1928 Laurence Marshall became president of the company and remained in this position until 1948.
Percy Spencer became a key figure thanks to his innovations in tube design and manufacturing. He redesigned the B rectifier which later became the BH and BA allowing for higher operating voltages and introduced a line of transmitter tubes. His innovations in magnetron design and manufacturing created the platform for Raytheon's success in radar during World War II.
In 1938 Percy Spencer also designed a range of miniature tubes intended for portable applications such as hearing aids.
Marshall diversified the company into consumer products, purchased the Belmont Radio Company and the Russell Electric Company which made phonograph parts.
In 1946 the company merged with another major wartime contractor facing dwindling revenues: the Submarine Signal Company specializing in sonar. The architect of the merger, Charles Adams, was invited to join the expanded company's board of directors and replaced Marshall as president two years later. Marshall left the company in 1950.
Military is ingrained in Raytheon's DNA. In 1948 Raytheon began a guided missile program, and in 1950 successfully demonstrated that its Lark missile guidance system could destroy an aircraft in flight. The development of a succession of air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles was accelerated by the Korean War.
Raytheon grew thanks to Laurence Marshall's exceptionally entrepreneurial leadership, the risks he was willing to take, and the opportunities that emerged from World War II, the Korean War, and the Cold War. Its core technology evolved from tubes to magnetrons and radars, then to missile guidance systems.
Raytheon was never a semiconductor company, its histories barely mention it. Radar crystal detectors were an important element in radar development, but Raytheon will be remembered for its ability to mass-produce the magnetron and build battle-ready radars and guided missiles.

Tonally, the RAYTHEONs (12AX7, etc.), are of exemplary refinement, with superb micro-dynamics and exquisite musical detail at all frequencies.IMHO the 12AX7 for example, are noticeably better than the RCA 7025. They enjoy a nice tonal complexity, but still remain soft and sweet sounding. They are generally super quiet and very balanced. If compared for example to honest new production ECC83 JJs, the 12AX7 RAYTHEON flaunts belonging to a superior category. The most substantial difference lies in the mid-high which is more extended and with a greater ability to make smaller or more backward details better heard.As a side note, the Raytheon 12AX7s were considered the quietest of the time. In fact, Daniel R. von Recklinghausen chose them for his phono preamps and they were the first audio tubes to be used in H.H Scott until Telefunken began its push into US markets.

Who was Baldwin:
Baldwin's origins date back to 1857, when Dwight Hamilton Baldwin began teaching piano, organ, and violin in Cincinnati, Ohio.In 1862, Baldwin started a Decker Brothers piano dealership and, in 1866, hired Lucien Wulsin as a clerk.Wulsin became a partner in the dealership, then known as D.H. Baldwin & Company, in 1873, and under his leadership, the Baldwin Company became the largest piano dealer in the Midwest United States by the 1890s.
In 1889-1890, Baldwin vowed to build "the best piano that could be made" and subsequently formed two manufacturing companies: Hamilton Organ, which built reed organs, and the Baldwin Piano Company, which made pianos.The company's first piano, an upright, began selling in 1891. The company introduced its first grand piano in 1895.
Baldwin died in 1899 and left the vast majority of his estate to fund missionary causes.
Wulsin eventually purchased Baldwin's ownership and continued the company's transition from retail to manufacturing.The company won its first major award in 1900, when the Model 112 won the Grand Prix at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, the first American-made piano to win such an award.Pianos produced by Baldwin also won top prizes at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and the 1914 Anglo-American Exposition.
After the war ended, Baldwin resumed selling pianos, and by 1953 the company had doubled production figures from pre-war levels.
In 1946, Baldwin introduced its first electronic organ (developed in 1941), which was so successful that the company changed its name to Baldwin Piano & Organ Company. For the prestige of the brand, he decided to stamp his brand on the valves used in his equipment and commissioned valves labeled Baldwin Pianos - Organs from some of the largest producers of the time (RAYTHEON, SYLVANIA, RCA, Japanese MATSUSHITA, etc... .