c.1958 Crown TR-666
Shirt pocket radio, thermoplastic cabinet
4 3/16 x 2 5/8 x 1 3/8 inches / 106 x 67 x 35 mm
Six transistors (Hitachi transistors, 2N215, 2x 2N217, 2N218, 2N219, 2N---, + NEC SD46 diode), superheterodyne circuit
One standard 9-volt battery
Manufactured by Asahi Radio Mfg. Co., Ltd., Tokyo
Distributed by Shriro Trading Corp., New York
An early Crown transistor radio first produced in 1958 or '59, with Crown's characteristic painted speaker grille and superb reverse-painted plastic.
Note that the transistor compliment listed above is for this example only — I've seen two other listings on web pages that differ from this one and from each other. (Nope, I couldn't get the whole number on that last transistor — just too tight in the circuit board.)
This unit was assembled on May 26, 1959, as shown by its production date stamp, 05 26 59, using a mm/dd/yy format that incorporated spacing between the pairs of digits, a scheme that differs from Asahi Radio's later and more commonly used format of dd/mm/yy that didn't use spacing. This mm/dd/yy scheme might be linked to some of the other earlier Crown models that were produced before the dd/mm/yy format had been established — see my Crown production date codes page.
The Crown TR-666 also appeared as the Lafayette FS-200, which made use of the TR-666's same cabinet dimensions, component layout, chassis circuit and Hitachi transistors, as well as Asahi Radio's more commonly used dd/mm/yy production date scheme.
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