H.H. Scott

USA1947–19854 archived pages

Hermon Hosmer Scott founded his company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1947 and moved it to nearby Maynard in 1957. Scott was an engineer first, and the firm built its early reputation on noise suppression circuits and well-engineered tube amplifiers for mono and then stereo. In 1961 its Model 350 became, according to Wikipedia, the first FM stereo multiplex tuner sold in the United States.

Like Dynaco and Heathkit, Scott sold some equipment as kits, among them the LK-72B, an 80-watt stereo tube integrated amplifier of 1964. The original magazine liked to call Scott the maker of "the Rolls-Royce of tube amps".

Production stopped in October 1972 for lack of capital. SYMA International of Brussels, Scott's European licensee, bought the company in January 1973 and restarted production; Emerson bought the brand in 1985.

From the original manufacturer page

Hermon Hosmer Scott founded H.H. Scott in 1947. The prefix H.H. was to differentiate his fledgling company from E. H. Scott, The Scott Radio Company of Chicago. Although H.H. is different than E.H., it is similar enough to make one wonder if perhaps Scott, always the shrewd businessman, hoped that some of E.H. Scotts’ reputation for quality might, by association, rub off onto his new company.

Mr. Scott invented the RC Oscillator, the selectively tuned RC circuit, various RC filters and the modern sweep circuit. He is perhaps best known for inventing the Dynaural Noise Suppressor, and held more than 100 patents (U.S. and foreign) for original research in the field of electronics. Early in his career, Mr. Scott worked on sound motion pictures and high-quality broadcast systems from 1929 to 1931 at Bell Telephone Laboratories, in New York, NY.

The company remained independent until 1973, when it was acquired by Electro Audio Dynamics of Europe. US operations were later relocated to Woburn, MA, offices. In 1985, the famous hi-fi brand was purchased and today operates as a division of Emerson Electronics. Hermon Hosmer Scott, died April 13,1975, in Lincoln, Massachusetts, after a long illness at the age of 66.

H.H. Scott

H.H. Scott in the archive