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Last Edited:
12-Sep-2004

Hermon Hosmer Scott first built high-fidelity pre-amplifiers with the patented Dynaural Noise Supressor (the Dolby Noise Reduction System of its day) for the commercial broadcast industry.  Early on, H.H. Scott sold (under license) DNS circuits to the then prestigious, E.H. Scott Radio Co., of Chicago, IL. After World War II, H.H. Scott found an emerging consumer market eager to acquire his own amplifiers and began offering them in 1947, from facilities at 385 Putnam Avenue, in Cambridge, Mass.

In 1952, H.H. Scott introduced the first "slim-line" integrated amplifier, the TYPE 99-A.*  This unit featured an innovative design. The packaging consisted of "laid-back," output tubes mounted at a "canted" angle. This permitted the affordable Type 99 (being a completely enclosed integrated amplifier: i.e., combining preamplifier, equalizer, 10-watt power amplifier and power supply), to find popular acceptance in the living rooms and dens across "fifties" America.

Prior to the introduction of the H.H. Scott Type 99, most consumers would not accept the complexities and drawbacks of early Hi-Fi products. Consumers and home decorators simply did not embrace hot, exposed vacuum tubes and transformers in their living rooms!

The innovative H.H. Scott Type 99 packaging set a styling standard for consumer audio components that the rest of the industry follows to this very day. This packaging format (known as the "C" case) was commonly found on other H. H. Scott products in the mid-fifties through mid-sixties, including the Type 210-E/F integrated (mono) DNS-amplifier and the Type 330 AM/FM wide-band tuner.

In 1958, Scott introduced its revolutionary "Stereomaster" family with the TYPE 299 integrated amplifier. The stereo LP-record (1957), reel-to-reel 4-track stereo tapes, AM/FM stereo "simul-casting" and later true stereo (multiplex) FM broadcasting (1961) were increasing the demand for Hi-Fi products. The talented Scott engineers performed their "magic" again. And the then new (in late 1957), H.H. Scott manufacturing facility, (located on Powder Mill Road, in Maynard, Mass.), helped supply the ever-growing demand for Scott products.

The Type 299-family was even more popular than the Type 99-family, and for many of the same reasons: economical cost, easy-on-the-eye styling, compact packaging (using the then-new, miniature, "baby-with-bite," EL84 -- 6BQ5 -- 7189 tube family), and most importantly -- excellent sound, all combined with the famous H.H. Scott reputation for "rock-solid" reliability. In fact, it is safe to claim, that the Scott "Stereomaster" Type 299 (and its siblings) became the most successful, mass produced integrated vacuum tube amplifier, ever.

Modern-day vacuum tube enthusiasts collect and appreciate Scott amplifiers for many of these same reasons.

* Editor's Note: The Type 99 was one of the few products that did not adhere to the H.H. Scott product numbering system. (Apparently the Scott marketing department wanted to hype the original price of "only" $99!) The Type 299 was introduced at $199, yet used the traditional product numbering system.