SETRON (WELTRON) 2005 SPACE ODYSSEY STEREO SYSTEM
Super-rare and sought after, this space age stereo unit was launched in 1973 by U.S. electronics company Weltron. Model 2005 was part of a range entitled “The New Shape of Sound”, inspired by the moon landings and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Housed in a flying-saucer shaped white ABS plastic casing, the unit comprises:
- 45/33/78 rpm auto record-changing BSR turntable in good working order
- FM/AM radio in good working order with green and blue psychedelic circular console light
- 8-track cassette player (untested)
- Internal stereo speakers in good working order
White ABS plastic casing in excellent condition. Top section lifts off for display or play without lid. Original smoked plastic hinged lid in good condition considering these are usually broken or missing. There is a single crack close to the hinge, as pictured. Hinge is not sprung.
Original four castor ball feet all present, enabling the unit to be pushed round tabletop or floor with ease, plus push in rod which releases a rubber stopper to stabilise.
Weltron was based in Durham, North Carolina. In other countries they re-badged their products and distributed through well-known brands for that region. In Singapore under the Setron brand, the UK under the Prinzsound brand, in Canada the Fleetwood brand, and in Australia the GEC brand.
Unit measures approx 23”/58cm in diameter and 10”/23cm in height. Weight approx 13kg
Clairtone Project G
The Clairtone Project G stereo was produced by
Clairtone from 1964-67. Costing 2000$ new (approximately the equivalent of $20,000 today) the high price kept it from becoming a huge success. Despite it sounding and looking incredible, fewer than 400 Project G's were made. It was promoted by Frank Sinatra, Hugh Hefner, Oscar Peterson and other celebrities and found a niche within Hollywood and other trendsetters popping up on the sets of such movies as
The Graduate, The Party and Zabriskie Point. Clairtone's co-founder,
Peter Munk once quipped that,
"The prime minister had one and if the local truck driver didn't have one, he wanted one."
It has gone on to become a Canadian design icon.
Brionvega RR126 (1966)
This radiogram is a musical pet, or at least that’s how it was described when it appeared in Italy in 1966, the product of the imaginations of the Castiglioni brothers, Achille (1918-2002) and Pier Giacomo (1913-1968).
The Brionvega RR126 is an icon of Pop design. It was conceived as an anthropomorphic ‘musical pet’, with speakers for ears and control dials for its face. It could be moved around easily on its castors, allowing it to operate in concert with other informal 1960s furniture (for example, inflatable furniture such as the Blow Chair). It is made from plywood covered with a white plastic laminate. The stand is cast aluminium, painted black except on the leading edges, and its wheels are rubber. The turntable was made by Garrard.
The system’s elements could be arranged in three different ways: speakers on top; speakers hooked to the sides; speakers separated from the main unit. The ability of the RR126 to be rearranged at will provided a fashionable, witty, Pop-inspired piece of furniture, but it also allowed its user a degree of control over the device’s audio output. When the speakers were stacked on top, it meant that only the radio could be used and that stereophonic sound was less effective. In this configuration, the turntable was concealed, fitting into recesses on the underside of the speakers. When they were attached to the sides, the record player was then accessible, and the stereophonic output more obviously effective at greater distance from the unit. The final configuration placed the speakers away from the main body, achieving optimal stereo sound quality. This attention to sound quality is characteristic of the period in which the RR126 was designed. In the mid-1960s, pop music pioneers such as the Beatles and the Beach Boys began to experiment seriously with complex layered song arrangements, which demanded playing on high-quality audio equipment to appreciate the complexity and richness of sound production.
Brionvega TS502 (1963)
From the late 1950s, several noteworthy Italian designers became interested in the inherently plastic (i.e mouldable) quality of plastics. These designers strove to celebrate man-made plastics as a group of materials with unique aesthetic and physical characteristics, to try to change the widespread perception of plastics as being cheap, shoddy and useful solely to imitate more expensive natural materials.
The box-like Brionvega TS502 radio was designed jointly by Marco Zanuso (1916-2001) and Richard Sapper (born 1932), who had gone into partnership in the late-1950s. The gleaming yellow ABS plastic shell folds open halfway along its length, allowing access to all of its controls. It is powered by six batteries, its portability and visual softness associates the TS502 with informal 'Pop' interiors of the 1960s, while also granting it a sense of intrigue and surprise.
Radio.cubo 50° (2022)
Panasonic Audio Eggs (1972)
This gem from the early 70s ran with the tagline “stereo lays an egg” and combined the iconic egg chair with an inbuilt stereo system for the ultimate in kitsch home interiors.
It may be a flashback but a quick look through any cool design mag shows that the Panasonic Audio Egg would have no trouble finding a home today. With deep-pile fake fur, volume control at your fingertips, convenient swivel action and even a high-intensity lamp, you could pretty much set up camp in this womb-like egg and never leave!
Swinging 70s hipsters also had the option of choosing a romantic love-seat model for two, so they could share their plush chamber. Advertising from the era offered consumers padded ottomans, a range of Panasonic stereo options and even a “Playboy Club” discount for the man about town.