1962 Decca Debutante TP75
Leather-covered portable
7 5/8 H x 4 7/8 W x 3 D inches / 254 H x 124 W x 76 D mm
2-band MW/LW, five transistors, Superheterodyne circuit
Two 9-volt batteries
Manufactured by Decca, London
This seems to be a real favorite among British collectors, maybe because it was a good receiver? But in terms of cabinet design, I can't help but see the Debutante TP75 as being a bit strange. It's dimensions are outsized, and what could have been a nice coat pocket radio is instead a bulky portable -- there's no reason that Decca couldn't have scaled this set down to a coatpocket-size set: obviously the components and batteries easily would have fit -- see the chassis photo below. This set's bandswitch and volume knobs are maybe the largest I've ever seen on any portable radio, and they look quite odd for it.
Compare this to the 1961 Decca Debonette TP50 (see pic below), my favorite British transistor radio and a really handsome set that incorporates the same tuning dial and speaker grille as the Debutante TP75. The Debonette TP50 is a "lunch box" portable radio, and yet its cabinet's volume is only 80% of the volume of this Debutante TP75.
|
