RCA valves labeled Baldwin
1919 An icon is born
RCA began as a reorganization of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America (commonly called "Marconi Americana"). Marconi Americana dealt in high-power alternators for transatlantic transmissions and the US Navy, in the interest of national security, wanted an all-American company to own the assets.
In 1919, two naval officers, Admiral HG Bullard and Commander SC Hooper met with General Electric President Owen D. Young and proposed that GE purchase Marconi Americana and use the resources to form its own radio communications subsidiary. Young agreed to this proposal, which, effective November 20, 1919, transformed Marconi Americana into the Radio Corporation of America.
During the golden years of audio, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was was the largest and most powerful electronics company in the world. Centered in Harrison, New Jersey, RCA was the backbone of the receiving tube industry in the United States. It was a very well run company, and was in many ways the cornerstone of valve manufacturing in the world. They developed and standardized most of the basic system. The RCA valves show incredible manufacturing precision.
From a tonal point of view, the double RCA triodes (12AX7, etc..), are warm, bright and pleasantly detailed with a "spatial" imprint that is nothing short of exceptional. Bass, mids and highs are always balanced with each other, with a warm and sometimes sparkling color. A valve that knows how to be loved. A uniform sound overall, nothing pulling one way or the other. Even the power tubes, from the 6L6 to the 845, have this broad tonal balance, with all the natural details and sweetness of the real thing. Unfortunately, the entire RCA receiver tube division was liquidated during a 12-day auction in the fall of 1976, which destroyed the U.S. tube manufacturing industry. (and supporting industries), what we are left with are "unique treasures" of high fidelity.
Who was Baldwin:
The 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 1890.
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 property 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... .