1951 rca kcs-47

[benman94]

First, monochrome television had reached an incredibly high standard by 1951. Hell, by 1939 even. Anyone who has watched a TRK-9 knows that even some prewar sets were capable of a brilliant, bright, contrasty, B/W picture on par with a postwar standard of excellence: the 630TS.

RCA experimented with some chintzy designs in the 1950 and 1951 model years; ultimately the bean counters run the show. The KCS-47 chassis was all about cost cutting. That said, RCA did have some quality designs in the same period: the RCA 9TC275 had a fine chassis (number escapes me at the moment), and the KCS-66 sets are a veritable gold standard. Monochrome television was a mature technology in 1951; RCA was just trying to move a greater volume of sets at a lower cost. It's simple economics.

Look at the devolution of RCA BC band radios. The Radiola 60 was a fairly high quality radio: RF amplification, extremely sensitive when properly aligned. It can recieve anything right down into the atmospheric noise. It wasn't perfect, it had a low IF frequency thus it had image issues, but it's otherwise a great set.

Now look at the typical AA5, of which RCA built millions. No RF amp, noisy converters, a single stage of IF amplification. The only advantage over the Radiola 60 is the higher IF frequency.

Why the devolution? Cost cutting. Fewer tubes, newer tube types, smaller radios in cheaper cabinets. Follow the almighty dollar...