McMichael

 The McMichael company was started as early as 1922, and became a public company only ten years later. The company was based in Slough. Started by Leslie McMichael, the company aimed to produce quality receivers, sold through accredited dealers (much like Murphy Radio). For some years in the early 1930's the company even emphasised the quality of their receivers by using the advertising catch-line of "Costs a little more - so much the better". This approach was subsequently dropped though as customers seldom want to be informed that they are paying above the "market price"! 

The receiver shown on this page is the "Twin Supervox" or RV8 from 1933. This was a 4 valve plus metal rectifer TRF, that (as already mentioned) was quite expensive at £18.18.0. The set is housed in a large walnut cabinet that is just over 2 foot long. The tuning scale is a thermometer type vertical column, calibrated in metres but with no stations marked. The two fretwork grilles protect the speaker cloths, and this particular fret design was used on many McMichael receivers of the period. Looking into the rear of the set one can see the size of the primary and secondary R.F. band-pass coils, looking impressive in their copper cans. The whole receiver is very heavy, as might be expected from a set using premium quality components. Servicing was made slightly easier than usual since the chassis could be removed complete with tuning scale and loudspeakers as one unit, though this did entail the removal of ten under-cabinet screws. Also notable are the twin loudspeakers in the receiver (connected in parallel), which was a fairly novel feature in 1933. The set operated on either MW or LW, the band being selected by the lever at the base of the tuning scale. The other knobs are the volume and tuning controls. Valve line up was MS4B, MS4B, MH4, MPT4 and metal rectifier by Westinghouse D31.

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