[Hallicrafters] Communications Receivers - why speakers separate?

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Fri, May 30, 2014 at 9:54 PM, Peter VK6PM <peter_may at optusnet.com.au>
wrote:

> I've been chatting with some younger amateurs on a local net, and the
> question of why communications receivers did not come supplied with
> built-in loudspeakers emerged.
>

Actually, numerous receivers included speakers even back in the 1930s like
the Sky Buddy. Many did not.

There are several other factors as to why:

- More space for other stuff

- Lower cost or the same cost with more utility

- Speakers were considered an accessory, like headphones, CW keys, mics,
etc. Many people preferred to use their own to save a few dollars. Maybe
you preferred using cans to a speaker and didn't want the additional cost.

But I do think that in this case, size really mattered. Older speakers
before the smaller dynamic types were very bulky and took a chunk of space
out of the receiver layout. I don't think stability was an issue in this
case. Numerous receivers did include internal speakers back into the 30s
(the RCA ACR line comes to mind) but they were limited in performance and
still took up space. Others like National and Hallicrafters offered
rack-mountable sets that might not be right where the operator was sitting
or might be used only with 'phones.

Most companies offered speakers separately. The early Super Pros offered
optional Jensen Field Coil speakers as add-ons. They sound far better than
any dinky built-in speaker. And there was an opportunity to make a few
additional bucks, too.

So the answer would seem to be - some did offer built-in speakers, many did
not. It really depended on the buyer's requirements. I'd guess folks had
far fewer $$ to throw at things back then and were happy to plug in an old
Radiola speaker left from a defunct BC set. Once the standard was set, it
remained even into the recent past.

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4