3 月 2017 – Luxuryradios

Nordmende…

27th 3 月 201720th 5 月 2017
by giovanni

Produced in 1956, the Carmen belongs to the Nordmende middle class tube radios. But what makes this Carmen 56 stick out from the other middle class radios is its beauty.

Nordmende was carefully naming its radios and even in this case the name Carmen suits this product perfectly.
This Carmen 56 model is flashier than the general Nordmende production, typically much more austere. No doubt though that the balance of the forms and the quality of the materials represent Nordmende at its top. A massive use of high quality wood and brass inserts, a wise balance of dark and bright colours and the special touch given by the transparent and bright insert around the knobs of the equalizer: here stands the secret of such a beauty.

Our professional restoration process further enhanced this feature, giving new life to a classical handmade object that is now ready to work for many more decades.
We have been trying to place this radio in different locations: in the end we realized that this Carmen fits perfectly with a classical and refined ambience but that also a more modern environment can put a special spotlight on this beautiful radio that will definitely catch the attention.

Carmen 56 sound is nice, deep and refined. The separate tone controls, the A Class final stage, the triode preamp, the efficient feedback system that linearizes the response are all elements that make the sound of this radio a very warm and pleasant listening experience.

In fact, accordingly to its name, this Carmen is really a delicious crush.

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.

In 1923 Otto Hermann Mende founded Radio H. Mende & Co. in Dresden. After the bombing of the factory in 1945, Martin Mende (son of the founder) created a new company in Bremen, the "North German Mende Broadcast GmbH" whose name was later changed into NORDMENDE.

In the 50s and 60s it became one of the most prestigious German TV and radios manufacturer.

In the 70s the televisions by NORDMENDE became famous for their frames, cards and for the rigorous testing and quality controls carried out on their finished products. Unfortunately, the high cost involved in such detailed quality determined a competitive disadvantage when the price of color television began to fall.

In 1977 the majority of the shares was sold to the French Thomson. The following year, the family sold the remaining shares. In 1980, the factories of Bremen was closed, NORDMENDE becoming purely a trademark of Thomson.

The frequency response correction system is made of 5 keys that insert preset equalization curves operating on the feedback circuit (they are not passive filters).

This solution was adopted only on the upper class models.
The Bass key emphasizes the bass.
The Sprache key emphasizes the mids for a cleaner listening to broadcasts spoken.
The Orchester key puts in the flat passband.
The Solo key slightly accentuates the mids to encourage listening to individual instruments.
The Jazz key emphasizes the very low and high tones to encourage listening to this kind of music.

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.

german radios - cn

Grundig S…

25th 3 月 20172nd 10 月 2017
by giovanni

The following model, the Stereomeister 300 has a transistor FM converter, whereas in the immediately following models the FM valve converter stage has been reinserted.
This device is therefore remarkable both for its wonderful aesthetics designed by Grundig in those years and for the extremely modern features only to be found in later models.

The final stage is a class AB Push-Pull with a feedback circuit for response linearization and distortion decrease.
The response is indeed generally balanced and with a powerful push on bass regardless its small output transformers.
By employing efficient diffusers the power is more than appropriate even if you want to play the in big spaces.

I personally recommed to play this device at 3/5 of its maximum volume.
The response curve changes according to the position of the potentiometer that controls and corrects the volume.
The shift from the section with volume correction to the one with no correction is fairly audible, that is the reason why it is preferable to maintain the volume under the said limit.
No need to say that if you want to take full advantage of the power of this device ... you can turn the volume knob as much as you want.

Following Grundig’s tradition, the radio section is extremely stable, sensitive and free from ground noises.
Even the final stage is silent and buzzless.

Sound high quality, the stereo decoder and the absence of inner loudspeaker (giving the device a rather modern shape) make of this device a great collector’s piece.

After the Stereomeister series Grundig as well as other big german brands started to save on and “optimize” their projects and unfortunately their quality began to decrease and “more modern” quality criteria started to take over.

蓝牙

内置蓝牙接收器

详细介绍 >

多平台的连接

每台收音机都配有一条特殊的音频线以连接任何数位音源。

详细介绍 >

- 蓝牙接收器加装-该单位配备了一个蓝牙接收器，直接由收音机供应电源。这使得有可能控制放大器从任何外部数字设备作为一个iPad，智能手机，或一个复杂的多媒体站。所以你能无线听到您喜欢的网站或你的无损档案。无线接收器可根据要求选配。

– 多平台连接-一个定制的适应电缆连接任何数字设备，如iPhone，智能手机，笔记本电脑，CD播放器等将提供这台收音机。这种特殊的电缆适合现代设备和接收机之间的不同阻抗。此外，两个立体声信道流入一个不增加负载的输入单元。

1930 - At 22 years old Max Grundig begin a radio repair business.

1939 - The II world War start. Grundig works primarily for the Wehrmacht and repair of telecommunication equipment.

1945 - Immediately after the war, the demand for repair work was very great. Max Grundig built the first two Grundig appliances: the Tubatest tube tester and the Novatest testing device.

1947 - Start the sale of a kit radio, the Heinzelmann. The unit is the basis of success, sold more than 15,000 pieces.

1950 - Very high frequency (VHF) is introduced to Germany and places new demands on the industry. Grundig launches the 380 W on the market.

1952 - The first television channel starts up in Germany. After intensive research, Grundig launches the FS 080 onto the market. In the same year the first portable tape recorder Reporter 500 L is created.

1956 - After a lot of radio produced with progrssively high performances was produced the Concert Radio 5080 equipped with an equaliser, which has five controls and a visual display.

1965 - A new factory is established in Braga, Portugal. The Satellit 205 is one of many appliances in the Satellit series. This product marks the beginning of Grundig production of high-quality global receivers.

1970 - The Audiorama 7000 Hi-fi was produced, it has twelve dynamic speaker systems in one speaker.

1976 - The Reel Tape Recorder TS 1000 is equipped for semi-professional use.

1980 - The slim-line Hi-fi Tuner ST 6000 and the Monolith Hi-fi Dynamic Flat Top Antenna, which has 22 speaker systems, are two particularly popular appliances in the new hi-fi range.

1984 - After severe drop in sales Philips increased its stake in Grundig 31.6 percent and takes over the corporate management.

1997 - Philips pulls out of its involvement with Grundig.

2003 - The company files for bankruptcy.

2008 - Turkey's Koç Holding took full ownership of Grundig Multimedia B.V., the parent company of Grundig Intermedia GmbH in Nuremberg.

Courtesy of: Grundig

Inside the black line ... we find the bass control under the magic eye (tuning indicator), the treble control and the volume control with loudness built-in and coaxially the balance control.
Continuing we find the record player button, the Mono/Stereo switch, LW, MW, SW and FM knobs.
On the right side the power switch.
The stereo indicator is on the left.
Under the magic eye that indicates the perfect tuning of each station.
To the right there is the AM main display for Long Wave Medium and Court bands, and the FM display.
Finally, there is the tuning knob.
The movement of the tuning knob is very pleasant being supported by a large flywheel.

german radios - cn

Grundig S…

25th 3 月 201716th 3 月 2023
by giovanni

Despite the look futuristic, for that time, the Stereomeister 15 use only tube circuits.
In this device the original decoder has been replaced with a modern decoder specifically designed. This decoder has a better separation and a lower noise rate than the original one.

The most interesting feature of this model is that the output transformers are bigger than in later models.
I think that also the German industry progressively saved money in their projects.
Transformers larger means less possibility of saturation, deeper bass and lower distortion.
Like others Stereomeister the final stage is a class AB Push-Pull with a feedback circuit for response linearization and distortion decrease.
By employing efficient diffusers the power is more than appropriate even if you want to play the in big spaces.

The response curve changes according to the position of the potentiometer that controls and corrects the volume.
The shift from the section with volume correction to the one with no correction is fairly audible, that is the reason why it is preferable to maintain the volume at a certain level.

The unit is equipped with variable control of the Hall effect.
This refinement has been implemented in order to obtain a depth similar to what you have listening music in a very large room, such as a cathedral.
It's achieved by delaying the sound than the original and remix both.
I discourages the use of the Hall feature. The effect can be pleasant but it is a distortion of the original informations.

Following Grundig’s tradition, the radio section is extremely stable, sensitive and free from ground noises.
Even the final stage is silent and buzzless.

Sound high quality, the stereo decoder and the absence of inner loudspeaker (giving the device a rather modern shape) make of this device a great collector’s piece.