February 2017 – Luxuryradios

Loewe Opta Venus 822W – en

21st February 201731st May 2018
by giovanni

The Loewe Opta Venus 822W, Loewe’s the top model after the Hellas, has a most beautiful casing.
One of the characteristics of Loewe-Opta radios that I have always appreciated is their commitment and beauty from an aesthetic point of view. The wooden surfaces are all convex with the front of the device which supports the keyboard by ogive arch sections. Frames in authentic lapped brass. Folded edges in the brass leaf. The keyboard itself has rounded and edged buttons in an ivory tint. The grain of the wood is finely coupled with perpendicular intersections.
All of these precious features come together to achieve a vibrant, balanced, and very pleasant cabinet.
Back in the day, carpenters knew the difference between a piece of wood and a furniture.
Obviously what is stunning about this device is the original illuminated section that reproduces a gracious abat jour effect. Such valuableness is not found is any other device of any other brand. The lighting feature can be activated by gently pulling a small cord on the top left side of the *case/cabinet/chassis and can be turned on or off independently from the radio itself.
The listening experience, after the necessary warm-up time, is naturally very pleasing, full-bodied but also ringing and clear.
The Venus 822W is equipped with a hearty front speaker with a rounded wide-band produced by Isophon. This transducer has the curvature of a cone-shaped hyperbole typical of multioctave/multiple-eighths speakers.
The two lateral tweeters induce a 3D-effect and allow a homogeneous musical response from whichever angle the device is listened from.

Tuning is stable and reception, particularly in FM, is very clean.
The device, once turned on, is ready to use after a few swconds of warm-up time, but as for all tube-device the optimal sound is achieved after at least 15 minutes of use. All the components need to reach the operative temperature to become stable.

LOUDSPEAKERS

Three impressive loudspeakers. A big wideband on the front and two eliptical mid-tweeters on the left and right side.

SPEAKER LIGHTING

You can use this radio as nice beside lamp.

BLUETOOTH

Bluetooth receiver embed

MULTI PLATFORM CONNECTION

Each radio is equipped with a cable for connection to any digital device.

- Bluetooth receiver embed - The unit is equipped with a BLUETOOTH receiver powered directly by the receiver power supply. This makes it possible to control the amplifier from any external digital device as an IPAD, a Smartphone, or a sophisticated multimedia station. So you can hear your preferred web station or your lossesless file without cables on the room. Wireless Receiver can be equipped upon requests.
- Multi Platform Connection - A customized adaptation cable to connect any digital device as Iphone, Smartphone, Laptop, CD Player etc. will be provided with this radio. This special cable suits the different impedances between the modern equipment and the receiver. Furthermore the two stereo channels flow into one without increasing the load to the input unit.

1923 Foundation of the radio frequency GmbH by brothers Siegmund and David Ludwig Loewe, and others.

1926 The first success come, the Loewe OE333 radio.

1929 The founding of Loewe Television AG

1931 World's first TV based on the cathode ray tube

1933 Because Hitler the political against the Jews forces Ludwig Loewe to emigrate.

1938 Loewe produce the first home audiovisual entertainment centre with integrated radio, television and record player.

1939 Introduction of the standard TV receiver "E1"

1940 Loewe becomes a war factory and change name to Löwe Radio and Co.

1942 Löwe Radio forced to change its name to Opta and Co.

1945 Civil production continues in Berlin, Leipzig and Kronach

1946 The establishment of a branch factory in Düsseldorf where were built the best Loewe radios

1949 The firm is changed in Loewe Opta and Co

1950 The world's first home tape recorder

1958 Radio production continued only in Berlin and Düsseldorf. Kronach factory produces only TV

1961 Germany's first device for home recording, the Optacord 500

1964 Founding of Loewe Opta GmbH

1965 From now on radio production was carried on only in Berlin

1979 Loewe revolutionizes the construction of TV sets with the inroduction of the fully integrated platina chassis.

1981 The sensation: Loewe presents to the press the first European stereo TV

1983 Loewe introduces the first series production of the BTX decoder for the new CEPT standard.

1994 Loewe bring the first fully digital TV with 100 Hz Technology onto the market

1997 With the Loewe Xelos @ media the age of the union of television,computers and telecommunications is introduced.

Inside the cabinet there is a dipole for FM reception and a ferrite rotating aerial for AM reception.
Ferrite aerial can be rotated from the outside to achieve a perfect tuning of the device in the AM.
In this picture see the rotation mechanism and the position indicator of the aerial.
The reception sensitivity with internal aerials is very good. This unit was in fact produced in a period when there were not many radio stations and those available fairly apart from each others.
Using an external aerial sensitivity is further increased.

There are three loudspeakers.
The large wide-band loudspeaker in die-cast aluminum delivers a warm, deep bass, very present medium tones and a smooth, silky treble.
The two elliptical Mid-Tweeters, when inserted, reconstruct the scene with a brilliant treble sound that is never squeaky or annoying, that typical of paper tweeters.
The Mid-Tweeters are isolated from the rest of the chassis being that each is collected in a designated shell that also has the function of conveying the sounds in the double side exits.

On the left side you can see the volume control knob (with incorporated loudness).
Pulling on the volume knob activates the narrow tuning for the mid-wave band.
From the upper side the FM, the Short, medium and Long Waves.
Finally, the movement of the tuning knob is very pleasant being supported by a large flywheel.
Axially to the tuning knob the command of the ferrite antenna rotation.
From left, there are, in order of appearance, the bass control with its indicator, the 3D buttons, the "Voice" equalization, FA-Ferrite Antenna, OFF buttons, record player, keys for tuning Long, Short and Medium Waves, FM, and the knob for the treble control with its own indicator.

2083 - en

AEG 2083 – en

18th February 20177th July 2018
by giovanni

It is important to underline that Telefunken is a joint venture between AEG and Siemens. It was created in order to produce professional and consumer radio devices.
As you can see in the previous gallery, but for its front logo, there is no difference compared to the Orchestra 53.
In 1953 it was Telefunken's top quality model. The brand was one of the most prestigious german companies.
This device is characterized by a great number of remarkable features.
An example is the FM oscillator stage for which an expensive ECC81 tube with high gain was employed.

An extra medium frequency stage was added in all bands in order to obtain a better sensitivity and selectivity than other excellent german devices.An aerial amplifier stage for AM bands was added in order to further improve the sensitivity in these bands that were extensively employed at that time.
Equally refined solutions were used on the Output stage
Pure A class with a powerful EL12 tube was used on the output stage.
Usually the outupt transformer distorts the sound. The bigger the output transformer the less the sound is distorted. This device has a very big transformer.
Moreover, to balance the frequency response a feedback system was used.

Professional louspeakers were used, the same that were employed in some theater loudspeakers. Clearly a greater number of the latter was used in theaters.
Due to its high quality the woofer is usually traded on ebay for USD 180.
With this business card to introduce it, this device cannot but save some great surprises for us.
With its stable tuning and relaxing sound the Orchestra 53 can be easily played in spacious rooms.

For those who want to start a collection with a great piece.

Back to my Telefunken Concertino TS’s review where I argued that the peculiar tuning lever and its fly-wheel reminded me of Fellini.
With this device I would update my argument saying that it reminds me of “The Great Beauty” where Fellini is undoubtedly still a strong presence.

BLUETOOTH

Bluetooth receiver embed

MULTI PLATFORM CONNECTION

Each radio is equipped with a cable for connection to any digital device.

– Multi Platform Connection – A customized adaptation cable to connect any digital device as Iphone, Smartphone, Laptop, CD Player etc. will be provided with this radio. This special cable suits the different impedances between the modern equipment and the receiver. Furthermore the two stereo channels flow into one without increasing the load to the input unit.

braun - en

Braun Atelier 3 Enhanced – en

15th February 201727th February 2019
by giovanni

The best Tube receiver built by BRAUN

This is a really special review. In fact, the device under test is not only one of the best tube stereo receivers built in Germany in the 60's. Not only is the device that has a shocking design, modern and rational than the other equipment of the time. But this device it has been improved by us in its essential points. The result is spectacular.

But let's start from the beginning. The receiver section represents the utmost of Braun tube production. It belongs to the class of biggest German receivers such as Telefunken Opus 2550, Nordmende 3004, Graetz Stereo Unit 250, the Saba Studio I etc.

Main feauture of this device is the simplification of electric circuits (today is pretty self-explanatory, but in 1961 it was considered a remarkable feature). Differently from other devices the Braun’s Negative Feedback is reduced to a single resistance (highlighted in red) aiming at a low distorsion and an excellent musical transparency.

The sounds control circuit is canonical: a very efficient and balanced Baxandall circuit (highlighted in yellow). It allows the sound control without changing the signal’s phase according to potentiometers.

The Loudness circuit (highlighted in green) is extremely simple and studies for a correct emphasis of low frequencies. Sound quality is as good as Telefunken’s, Nordmende’s, grundig's and Graetz’s of the same level, more refinement maybe.. You will definitely need high-efficiency loudspeakers. This enhanced device is valuable for its breathtaking design and for its performance both.

FM FREQUENCY RANGE

FM frequency range widened from 88 up to 108 MHz

MORE SUITABLE TURNTABLE

New vintage turntable with anti-skating and cartridge weight regulation

IMPROVED AMPLIFIERS

Amplifiers with new noiseless capacitors and resistors

STEREO DECODER

Ultra noiseless MPX decoder embed

BLUETOOTH

Bluetooth receiver embed

- FM frequency range widened from to 88 up to 104 MHz - The tube radios produced in Germany in the years 50/60 are famous worldwide for their excellent sound quality, the beauty of their furniture, their strength and for their construction standards without compromise. Unfortunately the FM band extending from 87.5 to 100 MHz for which are scarcely usable in most cases. After careful study and a lot of tests we were able to obtain a frequency range by some units from 88 to 104 MHz. We have also reconstructed a display exactly identical to the original, made with the same materials and the same techniques, but with the new frequency range. The result is perfect. An original device, but with the ability to listen most stations in any country.

- New vintage turntable with anti-skating and cartridge weight regulation - The turntable originally installed on this beautiful machine is really inadequate. In 1962 you could find much better. But for reasons of space, aesthetics, and I think, also economics, it was installed a BRAUN PC4 model.
The new turntable mounted was produced by Dual and is a very particular model. It has a series of characteristics that have allowed, and made affordable, transplantation.
Compatibility Features:
- Only a few years newer than the Braun
- Quite similar in size to the original turntable.
- Piezo cartridge. So it works perfectly with the Braun preamplifier stage
Improvement features:
- Cartridge weight adjustment
- Antiskating adjustment
It 'been necessary a significant top panel adjustment work, but the result is perfect. It seems born that way.

- Improved amplifier - New high quality Metal Film resistors take a place of the noisy old carbon composite resistors. The old capacitors are completely renewed with very low parasitic losses (ESR). Great attention in the direction of assembly of the components has been used. All the improvements are substantial.

- Ultra noiseless MPX decoder - A MPX decoder was introduced between RF and BF stages. Usually it lack. It's a decoder developed specifically for this unit by a German engineer I work with. The noise level introduced is very low. Crosstalk is perfectly calibrated. With correct receiving conditions the result is an accurate reconstruction of the sound stage.

- Walter Gropius, The new architecture and the Bauhaus, Cambridge, M.I.T. Press, 1968, ©1965.
- Gropius - Marston Fitch, Walter Gropius, New York, G. Braziller, (The masters of world architecture series), 1960.
- Magdalena Droste; Angelika Taschen, Bauhaus 1919 - 1933, Ko?ln Taschen 2002,
- Reissinger; Robinson; Siebenbrodt, Bauhaus Weimar - designs for the future, Ostfildern-Ruit : Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2000.
- Jaeggi-Schwaiger, Fagus: industrial culture from Werkbund to Bauhaus, New York , Princeton Architectural Press, 2000.
- Hans-Joachim Braun, The German economy in the twentieth century (The German Reich and the Federal Republic), Routledge, New York 1990.
- Jonathan M Woodham, Twentieth century design, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1997.
- Nigel Whiteley, Design for society, London, Reaktion Books, 1998.

Web:
- http://www.bauhaus.de/
- http://designmuseum.org/design/dieter-rams
- http://gizmodo.com/5411868/dieter-rams-gallery/gallery/10
- http://www.formguide.de/en/designers/overview/peter-keler/

The 1961 is one of those "crossroads" years of the History of Twentieth Century. That year's events will leave a deep mark - for better or for worse - in Europe. The international context has deeply changed form the post-war years. The Nations that allied to defeat the Nazi Germany are by now opposed militarily and ideologically. From the beginning of the year the Cold War influences the whole World. The threat of a new Global War appears at this point inevitable, and the assumptions are all there. In this gloomy climate, a series of crucial events for mankind comes in succession.

In Germany, in particular, 1961 is recalled as "The year of the wall". In few days the Authorities of the German Democratic Republic ordered the construction of a double layered wall and an armed surveillance system to divide East Berlin form the western sectors. Berlin Wall becomes the symbol of a contrast between East and West that gradually involves the whole World, shortly afterwords bringing it to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe with the Cuban crisis two years later.

The contrasting two superpowers involves all sectors of the economic and political life. Scientific research paves the way to the conquest of Space, opening another contest front between USA and USSR to reach the Space. On April 12th, 1961 Yuri Gagarin with the Vostok 1 is the first human being to travel into Space and orbit around the Earth. the United States of America have to acknowledge the huge leap ahead of the technological development of Soviet Union.

It's the intellectuals turn to build bridges between the counter posed parts. 1961 is sure enough an extraordinary year also for Culture: Ivo Andric is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature; the debate between Positivism and Dialectical materialism divides the Frankfurt School. Karl Popper and Theodor Adorno discuss on the Scientific Research Methodology and give birth to the "Positivismusstreit", namely the clash between Positivism and Dialectical materialism that will influence the future Epistemological debate. The philosophical debate is as such originated by the different ideological visions of Marxism and Positivism. Hemingway commits suicide and Primo Levi writes "La tregua/The Truce", an account of a return to the world of the Living after the hell of Lagers.

The 1961 is moreover the Economic Boom year and the re-construction of the Europe that had been destroyed during the Second World War -that went on during the '50s - forms the paving ground of an unprecedented economic growth period. The welfare society arises, and Germany is in the front line.

German culture rediscovers Weimar. and the representatives of the artistic and theatrical avantgarde, such as Brecht. Walter Gropius, founder in 1919 of the revolutionary tendency of Bauhaus Architecture, establishes in Darmstad the Bauhaus Archive. The Bauhaus, created in 1919, and permanently snapped off with the coming to power of Hitler, is rediscovered in the early '60s by the new generation grown in the harsh postwar period. The rediscovering of the essential lines of the concept of the great German architect is, for the architects of the '60s an Epiphany. The hose and the furniture become the final product of a mental, planning and practical process that combines together technique, ergonomics, simplicity in an totally innovative stylistic merger.

New building techniques concepts enter into the big firms trough by hiring designers, new profession that starts influencing the production lines. With thins new approach the product-objects that are sold are to be seen in a “total” product vision, that is a synthesis of technique and concept.The modern idea of Design as we currently mean it is born.

Braun is one of the first Firms that decides to invest in Design. The best designer was Dieter Rams, who was on apprentice with Otto Apel (Apel was for ten years the assistant of Albert Speer, Hitler's architect, and following that became the Ministry for Armaments and War Production of the Reich. After the war he was hired by the Americans to modernize the construction industry techniques in the USA). Rams started a stylistic research work that brought him to develop the concept of “ergonomic essentiality”, summarized in his aphorism "Weniger, aber besser", that is “Less, but better” or in a wider sense “Less, as long as better”.The influences of the Bauhaus are clear in his works, particularly Peter Keler works, from which he took the concepts of “spatiality” and “linearity” of works as "Wiege (Cradle)", 1922 translating the into simple and elegant lines.

Carlo Giacchin

Good Design is Innovative - The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted.
Good Design Makes a Product Useful - A product is bought to be used. Good design emphasises the usefulness of a product.
Good Design is Aesthetic - The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products are used every day and have an effect on people and their well-being.
Good Design Makes a Product Understandable - It clarifies the product’s structure.
Good Design is Unobtrusive Products - fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art.
Good Design is Honest - It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.
Good Design is Long-lasting - It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated.
Good Design Is Thorough Down to the Last Detail - Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
Good Design is Environmentally Friendly - Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment.
Good Design is as Little Design as Possible - Less, but better. Back to purity, back to simplicity.

The volume control is on the left (with built-in loudness) and axially.
The next control you meet on the left is the Treble. Then you can see the Bass control knob.
Above you see the Magic Eye (Tuning Indicator)
On the left you meet the band spread dial with the FM, Short, Medium, and Long Wave bands.
Below you see the control buttons. Respectively: Off, Voice, AFC, Stereo/Mono, Turntable, LW, Internal AM Antenna, MW, SW, FM.
On the right the big tuning knob.
Below you see the Volume Control II (Deactivated), the Balance control and the ferrite aerial orientation knob.

Output Power Board before restoration
Before and after
Both the boards restored
The MPX decoder
The underside
The power suppy with new rectifier and capacitors
Matched power tubes NOS
The FM oscillator modified to reach 104 MHz
The calibration of the FM converter
The tuning of the Medium Frequency Transformers
Close the oscilloscope
FM detector tuning
Perfect! At 10,7 MHz the current is Zero in the detector
And this is the correct ratio curve
Now the Braun NAKED is playing
The modified wood case before the reassembling
Close the wood case
More close, to see the perfection
New turntable assembling
New turntable almost ready
Turntable first test
New Dialglass. You can see the different transparency zones as the original

german radios - en

Telefunken concertino steuergerät 2380 – en

11th February 201716th May 2023
by giovanni

Around the early 1960s, the biggest German manufacturers put what we now call "receivers" on the market. They called them Steuergerät, which means Electronic Control Unit. The Telefunken Concertino Steuergerät 2380 is one such device.
The Telefunken produced two lines of Steuergerät, one with output stage in A class and the other in AB class. The Concertino 2380 had its output stage in A class, while the Opus 2430, and then the Opus 2550, had their output stage in AB class.
The Concertino has the same sizes, the same cabinet than Opus 2550. The Opus models are more powerful, with 7 W per channel, while the Concertino has 4 W per channel, but 4 W in A class makes the difference.
Another big difference between the Opus and the Concertino is that the Opus was designed with an embedded stereo decoder, while in the Concertino the decoder was optional. All our Concertinos are equipped with a stereo decoder.
The final tube in the Concertino is the famous ECL86. This dual tube consists of a triode, used as a preamplifier, and a pentode, used as a power output. We can often find this tube in refined amplifiers such as the Bang & Olufsen 608 or Scott Stereomaster 200B. The Concertino 2380 is equipped with oversized output transformers to prevent the air-gap reaches saturation. Furthermore, the huge power supply is oversized, as you can see in the pictures.
The circuit also provides a negative feedback that guarantees its linearity. The preamplifier stage has a physiological control of volume and tone controls separated for treble and bass. There are also two removable equalizers, further emphasizing the bass and treble. They’re very useful when the device is coupled to speakers whose frequency response is not entirely linear.
Finally, the sound is very round and balanced, as you'd expect. You can perceive the spaces between the notes. This tube device produces a warm sound, as expected, but can even be edgy with speakers with supertweeters.
The phenomenal sound quality is really unthinkable for this type of device. Since the device has built-in Bluetooth, it’s especially suitable for listening to streaming music. This, in my opinion, is putting it to its best use.

SEPARATE LOUDSPEAKERS

It is possible to connect any speaker, preferably with high efficiency.

DETAILS >

STEREO DECODER

The device is equipped with the rare Stereo Decoder, allowing you to listen to a multitude of FM Stereo broadcasts in stereo

DETAILS >

BLUETOOTH

Built-in Bluetooth receiver

DETAILS >

MULTI PLATFORM CONNNECTION

Each radio is equipped with a special cable that connects with any digital source.

DETAILS >

- Separate loudspeakers - Using separate loudspeakers is an important option for stereo receivers. This allows you to couple the receiver to speakers best suited to particular space, design or acoustic performance requirements. The most suitable loudspeakers are analysed later, under loudspeakers.

- Stereo Decoder - The device has an integrated Stereo Decoder. This allows you to listen to stations that use this transmissions system in stereo. Many stereo receivers are not equipped with a Multiplexer so they work in stereo only when you select the record player’s /Recorder/Aux input . Such receivers, in listening to the radio, send the same signal to both channels, so listening is monaural. This is not the case with the Concertino 2380, which is totally beyond stereo.

- Built-in Bluetooth receiver - This unit can be equipped with a BLUETOOTH receiver powered directly from the device. That makes it possible to use the amplifier from any digital device, IPAD, Smartphone, or sophisticated multimedia station. You can listen to your wireless Web Stations or favorite music around the room. On request, we can also mount a Wireless Receiver.

- Multi Platform connections - Along with the device, we can also provides you an impedance adapter cable to connect any digital source, such as iphone, smartphone, computer, CD player, etc. This purpose-built cable adapts different impedances of modern digital equipment. Also the two stereo channels are collected into a single flow without increasing the load input unit.

1903 To prevent the English Marconi Company from having a monopoly on wireless transmissions,,Kaiser Wilhelm II orders the company AEG and Siemens to set up a joint venture to develop wireless telegraphy in Germany. It was established under the name of Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegrafen mbH.

1923 The company name is changed to Firmierung in Telefunken, Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegrafen mbH. Abbreviated as Telefunken, where Tele means Telegraph and Funken means "Lightning" in the sense of being fast and immediate.

1930 Production gradually moves from military and Government equipment to the production of consumer appliances. During this period, Telefunken enters the market of radio-television, recorders and etching of records.

1930 As radio transmissions are now needed not only to transmit telegraph messages, but also true music and speech broadcasts, it becomes necessary to introduce the concept of sound compression, to avoid continual volume level changes of the radio. Telefunken designs and produces the U3, the first compressor for transmitting stations in the world,. TheU73b, as seen in the picture, represents the evolution of previous models—it allows you to change the compression level, the release times and the attack times.

1941 All Telefunken’s actions are transferred to AEG, which effectively becomes the sole owner of the trademark Telefunken, its factories and patents.

1948 Germany is not invited to the Copenhagen Conference, where the division of Medium and Short Wave radio frequencies of Central Europe is decided. The war has just ended, and officially Germany isn't considered as a technologically important nation. Because of this, Germany decides to develop FM broadcasts even if the quality of the transmissions is considerably higher than those in the AM. At this time, Telefunken develops the V72 microphone/amplification system and its evolutions, intended to be used in all German broadcasters and most European ones too, as well as at the most important recording studios, such as EMI, Decca, Telefunken, etc.

1955 The company becomes Telefunken GmbH.

1967 Telefunken is joined with AEG and the company becomes ‘’AEG-Telefunken’’.

1970 Poor management causes the company to lose market shares. AEG begins to outsource entire business segments and make constant rearrangements.

1985 Daimler-Benz AG buys what remains of AEG-Telefunken.

1996 The name Telefunken is cleared and all activities related to audio products stop.

Today The company name has been renewed in Telefunken Holding AG. Telefunken and its use worldwide are responsible for the name. In United States Telefunken USA buys the rights to build and market worldwide original microphones and some audio equipment under the brand Telefunken Elektroakustik.
The original company that helped spread the music throughout the world doesn’t exist anymore.

As with each Hi-Fi amplifier from this time period, the Concertino 2380 has separate bass and treble control. An interesting feature is that the high-tone control also changes its efficiency with the volume variance, because of its association with the loudness circuit.

There is also a system of correction for the frequency response, consisting of two buttons that insert preset equalization curves. The BASS button emphasizes the low frequencies while the Jazz button emphasizes the high frequencies.

Inside the Cabinet there is a dipole to receive FM bands and Shortwaves. A ferrite rotating antenna is for long and medium waves reception. The ferrite antenna can be rotated from the outside to collect the maximum possible signal while receiving two AM bands.

In the picture you can see the entire mechanism of the antenna’s rotation. Using the internal antennas, the sensitivity is very good. Of course, under some conditions, using an external antenna further increases the receiver’s sensitivity.