RAYTHEON valves labeled Baldwin
A Dream Begins
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 manufacturing gas-filled tubes designed for "battery eliminators" which allowed early tube radios to operate without expensive "B" batteries high voltage. The tube was launched in late 1925 under 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 through 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 transmitting 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 into consumer products, bought the Belmont Radio Company and the Russell Electric Company which made phonograph parts.
In 1946 the company merged with another major wartime contractor facing to declining revenues: Submarine Signal Company specializing in sonar. The architect of the merger, Charles Adams, was invited to serve on the expanded company's board of directors and replaced Marshall as chairman two years later. Marshall left the company in 1950.
The 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 the exceptionally entrepreneurial leadership of Laurence Marshall, the risks he was willing to take and the opportunities that arose from the World War II, the Korean War and the Cold War. Its core technology evolved from tubes to magnetrons and radars to missile guidance systems.
Raytheon was never a semiconductor company, its histories barely mention it. Radar crystal detectors were an important element in the development of radar, but Raytheon will be remembered for its ability to mass-produce the magnetron and build battle-ready radars and guided missiles.
Tonally, the RAYTHEON (12AX7, etc..), are of exemplary refinement, with superb micro-dynamics and exquisite musical detail at all frequencies. IMHO the 12AX7s for example are considerably better than the RCA 7025s. They have a nice tonal complexity, but still remain soft and sweet sounding. They are generally super quiet and very balanced. If compared, for example, to the honest ECC83 JJ of new production, the 12AX7 RAYTHEONs flaunt belonging to a superior category. The most substantial difference lies in the medium-high which is more extensive and with a greater ability to make smaller or more backward details heard better. As a side note, the Raytheon 12AX7s were considered the quietest at the time. In fact, Daniel R. von Recklinghausen chose them for his phono preamps and they were the first sound tubes to be used in H.H. hi-fi amplifiers.Scott until Telefunken began its push into US markets
Who Baldwin was:
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 piano dealership Decker Brothers and, in 1866, hired Lucien Wulsin as a clerk. Wulsin became a partner in the dealership, then known as DH Baldwin & Company, in 1873, and under his leadership, the Baldwin Company became the largest piano dealer in the Midwestern United States by 1890.
In 1889 -1890, Baldwin vowed to build "the best piano that could be built" and subsequently formed two manufacturing companies: Hamilton Organ, which built reed organs, and the Baldwin Piano Company, which manufactured pianos. The company's first piano, an upright, began shipping 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 bought Baldwin's ownership and continued the company's transition from retail to manufacturing. The company won its first major prize in 1900, when the 112 model won the Grand Prix at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, the first American-made piano to win such an award. Baldwin's pianos 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 compared to 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 imprint his brand on the valves used in his equipment and commissioned some of the greatest manufacturers of the time (RAYTHEON, SYLVANIA, RCA, Japanese MATSUSHITA, etc ...) with valves labeled Baldwin Pianos - Organs .