[jrblasde]

You’re welcome! I was born in 1995, so this is all second-hand information to me from the industry. I did some research this morning to prove it, and it looks like DC service continued in much of the east coast into the 1960’s, simply for legacy elevator, motor, and metro operations in larger cities. However, I read that Manhattan’s electric company offered DC as an option to residents up until 2006!

    But you are right. From what I’ve read, the appeal of the AC/DC design was two-fold. First, make a device that can be used by the largest group of consumers. Second, make it cheaper and more folks will buy it. I’m actually restoring a 46-480 right now, and it is AC only. I was looking at the specifications for the transformer, and I notice in the 1949 parts catalog that the selling price was $9.50. That would have been considerable for that time (my granddad had his first job out of college in 1966, and has told the story of getting a “generous” per diem of $6 per day when he traveled for the first time). I’ve also got a 49-906 set which is AC/DC. Just my opinion, but I feel that the audio quality doesn’t suffer at all from the cheaper circuitry.

    American engineers took a lot of pride in the AC/DC design. It has a likeness to the spirit of the Ford Model T (assembly line production and black paint will hold the price down) and the Volkswagen (I’m thinking more in terms of the literal translation of the “people’s car”; let’s sidetrack the nasty history and politics of it), except it made the radio become affordable to the average person. Particularly after vacuum tube technology caught up to the point when the filaments could drop 110-120 volts without a ballast. Then it became even more affordable!