First Intercarrier and Last Split-Sound

[Penthode]

I was looking through Riders 1 recently and pretty well all the sets listed are split sound. That is, the sound take off point is before the second video detector. This means that fine tuning is critical and must be optimized for best sound quality. Note that the 4.5 MHz intercarrier audio IF of US, Canada and Japan TV's are present in intercarrier sets only.

The RCA 630TS sound take off point is immediately after the tuner. Starting wih I believe the RCA KCS28 chassis, the sound take off was after the second video IF stage. RCA kept with the split sound design up to about 1952 when pretty well everyone else had moved to the intercarrier design. Is anyone aware of any of any manufacturer brand sets of this or later vintage which remained split sound?

The earliest intercarrier set I have seen I think may have been a 1947 or 1948 Belmont. Most of the GE's from about 1948 appear to be intercarrier. What is the earliest intercarrier set that you know of?

Note that all TV's after the early fifties were intercarrier except for the UK and France. The UK 405 line and French 441, 819 and most recently 625 employ AM sound and hence are inherently split sound since they cannot use the intercarrier process.

Incidently, the United States television listed on ebay right now I believe is split sound. Does anyone have details?