[Arran]

A separate mixer and oscillator is always the way to go, Canadian RCA/G.E liked to do that on their middle to higher end models and it really makes a difference. Hallicrafters definitely had some good engineers working for them, they managed to create some very good performing sets at a budget price, something that their main competitor National had a hard time keeping up with. National had some excellent sets, but the bang for your buck was not as good as it was with a Halllicrafters.
Regards
Arran