Design classics.

[chebby]

Has the design and domestic appeal of hi-fi really progressed that much in 55 years since this?...

BrAun SK5 from 1956.

It's very compact too (especially by the standards of the time when battleship sized, mock Georgian radiograms-come-drinks cabinets were all the rage here in Britain!)

At 580 x 240 x 290mm it would take up roughly as much volume/area as just two thirds of one of my (very) compact Rega R3 floorstanders laid flat. (The BrAun has the speakers built in.) It only needs a mains connection so no cable 'nests'.

I can't see one unecessary line/switch/control on it. Popped into a smart, 1950s designer wall-unit it would virtually disappear.

Do you have any favourite old (or new) radio/stereo/hifi design classics?

 

[CnoEvil]

Avid Acutus Turntable.(If I knew how to put up a picture I would. )

 

[Anonymous]

 

[AL13N]

A classic that has brought the joys of music to so many across the world:

 

[AL13N]

Avid Acutus Turntable.(If I knew how to put up a picture I would. )

 

[plastic penguin]

Going back further than Chebby's radio gram, the 'Phonograph' designed by Edison was the roots to modern day hi-fi.

 

[the record spot]

The Braun piece featured in a Hi Fi World article some months ago and still sounds decent for what it is. The trend back to smaller kit centred in the one box and away from the issues that separates bring in their wake is a welcome one IMO.

 

[matthewpiano]

The Denon DM30. The unit that revolutionised quality compact hi-fi.

 

[CnoEvil]

Avid Acutus Turntable.(If I knew how to put up a picture I would. )

Thank you AL13N...you're a gent.

Now my olde worlde bit of kit: Technics ST9600....

 

[marou]

Guys, guys, we're talking design here, this is brutalism. Hardly any hifi products qualify although the Braun does as do the Quad 33 and 34 pre-amps and a rather beautiful concave Nakamichi cassette deck, can't remember its name

 

[The_Lhc]

Guys, guys, we're talking design here, this is brutalism. Hardly any hifi products qualify although the Braun does as do the Quad 33 and 34 pre-amps and a rather beautiful concave Nakamichi cassette deck, can't remember its name

Yes I was just thinking that myself, haven't seen that many missed points since I last played darts...

 

[AL13N]

You guys do realise that there are many approaches to design outside the Bauhaus school of thought?

I have to agree though, that BrAun SK5 and the Quad 34 are great looking and timeless designs (not so sure about the Quad 33).

Quad 34:

Quad 33:

 

[AL13N]

Of course, as mentioned above, there are other types of (classic) design:

 

[marou]

Many different approaches I agree, but if 'form follows function' you wonder what the designer of the Avid Acutus Turntable had in mind

 

[idc]

 

[The_Lhc]

You guys do realise that there are many approaches to design outside the Bauhaus school of thought?

There might well be but some of these things eg:

don't appear to have been designed at all...

I have to agree though, that BrAun SK5 and the Quad 34 are great looking and timeless designs (not so sure about the Quad 33).

Quad 34:

Quad 33:

I think I'd rather have the 33 to be honest...

 

[AL13N]

Maybe the Sonos S5 could be considered a modern equivalent to the Braun SK5.

A compact all-in-one system to playback your digital files and internet radio (as apposed to vinyl and FM/AM radio). The design is also very clean and simple.

 

[chebby]

 

[chebby]

 

[Anonymous]

Have a look at B&O, the AR turntable and especially the Braun electrostatics - sorry, couldn't find a copyright free picture of them. They are true classics, the rest is dross in my opinion. Well, Sonus Faber are OK, I suppose. Oh, and the Nautilus, though it's not to my taste.

 

[AL13N]

Very nice chebby. You just need to add a pair of Harbeth P3ESR speakers to complete the picture.

 

[chebby]

 

[marou]

Sorry, Chebby, those are just a couple of black boxes.

 

[Anonymous]

What a disaster! What were they thinking? I take it sales were in single digits...

 

[chebby]

What a disaster! What were they thinking? I take it sales were in single digits...

You'd have to ask messrs Boothroyd and Stuart what happened to their company Meridian.

I recall they sold a few bits and bobs over the years.