"Made in Germany" - another chapter closed
 

The famous German producer of audio and video

LOEWE


is bankrupt. Please google "Spiegel online Loewe Insolvenz" For sure in Geman but look at the very impressive pictures showing finest LOEWE products of the last century.

It was one of the last famous audio/video brands of the 20th century of Germany, like Telefunken, Grundig, SABA, Dual, Nordmende...

At last they did produce nothing else than expensive but extremly high quality television gear. That was a blind alley. People in Germany buy LG and Samsung and such stuff, probably of acceptable quality as well but not the legendary "Made in Germany" standard.

If somebody of you would ask me: "So did you buy such a TV in order to support this brand?" I would answer: "I wish I could have done so, but - much too expensive."

It is always the same. There is one thing that is astonishing to me: why did this factory survive so much longer than the other brands mentioned above, they all went to hell, killed by Asia, in the eighties and nineties.

How the asians did it was that they initially assigned markets to one company. That company was subsidized by the Government such that they could undersell the local companies. Then when all the locals were gone they could charge whatever they pleased.

I had a very interesting chat over a couple of beers with a Japanese trade official waiting for my flight in the San Francisco airport.

Many of those sets were indeed works of art.

So do you remember the days of TV repairmen? Durable goods meant durable goods, and something was worth enough to pay someone to fix it.

Regards,

D-Ray

Yep, and now we live in a throwaway world.

I sit here, listening to an amplifier first built in the early 1960s. My television I bought two years ago for $1200. Technically, it's already obsolete and something tells me it won't last but a few more years.

Dave

1926 Loewe receiver

That is a sweet looking tube! I bet it looks awesome all lit up.

Way cool! :)


Carl

Wow! Those two coils? receiving antenna? are neat-o! :)

I've seen some AKers who recap the boards on the new TVs when they crap out, instead of tossing them. Maybe not all is lost? I know there are some of us anachronisms who get a kick out of resurrecting old 'Maggotbox' tube amps.:)

Resurect old stereos? Wouldn't even think of it.

I'd rather have a new, hi res TV than the best built old monster of decades past. Come to think of it, I prefer new audio gear too!

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

:D;):cool: or reel to reel decks.

Well Erik I prefer my

1958 Harman Kardon Stereo Festival 20 valves receiver,

I prefer it so much that I got two of them, although in Europe they are as rare as the Blue Mauritius stamps. Five of them are known in Europe, two of them are mine.

Buy mine, have 3. :)
http://www.audiokarma.org/gallery/sh...500&ppuser=272

Carl

Hoarder!:D

Nice one! These are mine. The green is darker in reality, I painted the enclosure in the green that was usual in the fifties.

"Now we live in a throwaway world." Yes Dave. Planned obsolescense rules the market everywhere.

But there are only three, the Teac X-1000R, Teac 1230 and Pioneer 707

Yamaha CR 3020?

Yes, I restored it and refinished the case, the Turntable is a Yamaha PX-2 linear and cassette deck below is a Yamaha K-1000.

The pictures on the walls represent four generations from our grandparents to our granddaughters. They continue right around the playroom, we have maybe 12 linear feet of blank wall left.

Nice pictures, nice looking people, nice Rob. :)

Danke, the first one is Florence at 16, then an oil portrait someone made when she was 20, then both of us 30 years ago when we got married, then me at 27.

We are leaving the house to our granddaughters and leaving all the pictures as a sort of genealogical record. Fortunately I have a wide format printer/plotter and was able to get some 24" wide photo weight paper. I was able to enlarge this one of our Son and his two girls to 16" x 20" and print it.

Is that you as Santa? :)

Pete

No that was taken in Ottawa where they were living, just to show us the dresses we sent them for Christmas.

One of the things I like most in this forum is that threads get quite often totally off topic and nobody curses at it. It is different on AK. PC is very relaxed with regard to off topic. This is cool! :cool:

Oops Sorry Chris

I disagree.

I'm gone for 2 whole days and there's only 21 updated threads, but pages and pages of posts :D

I don't mind :)

Pete

Speaking of "Made in Germany";

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=326734

This is my favorite German product. (Scroll to bottom.)

The whine is the cheap camera.

Dave

We started another web site where we just talk about YOU! :D

Do not misunderstand me, please. I do not vote for anarchy and issue-chaos in this forum. But the fact that it is possible to roam somewhere else for some posts and then returning to the topic is something that creates a smooth familiar atmosphere. I think that should be accepted in such a small forum, it would not work on AudioKarma, of course.

Nur meine 2 cents.

Back to "Made in Germany!"

Not yet HK! :D

I'm speshal

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E3yo0tM3Hv.../short+bus.jpg

Pete

This is my favourite product "Made in Germany"

Your son?

Mom's and Dad's son. HK.

How old were you then Chris?

I was four years old, the picture was shot six months after a nearly lethal accident - I fell into a door made of glass then and was extremely seriously wounded, so this picture means a lot to me. I still remember a lot of details of this horrible incident although I was just three and a half years old.

Glad you survived it, I did something similar as a kid, tried to climb up the old wringer washing machine to see the works inside. Trouble was it was three legged an I pulled it over on top of me. Still have the scar under one eye.

Traffic level makes a huge difference in how 'tightly' a place has to be moderated. Around here, looks to me like it's easy enough for users to adapt to a bit of topic drift without losing track of everything. And it's what conversations naturally want to do....

What created their excellence still lives, and will find other opportunities to emerge. It's easy enough to see that everything passes, but everything is reborn too.