A car boot find along with another Grundig Concert Boy that sold. This one is a top end Luxus, featuring a tuning / battery level meter along with a timer. As you may know the sound quality from Grundig’s 1970s Concert Boy range is outstanding. Deep bass frequencies provide a much richer sound than typical transistor radios. Grundig’s design incorporates a loudness equaliser via the volume slider. This provides a boost to bass and treble frequencies at lower levels to give a more even sound.
Although the Luxus 1500 is rather larger than many it is quite slim allowing easy placement in a kitchen or living room. It has mains power adapter built in via a simple figure of 8 lead. Simply disconnect and it also runs from 6 internal batteries.
This example has a few issues, like many the silk screen legends have warn on the top plate – there’s no indication for volume, bass or treble settings. The On/Off button label has also warn suggesting it has been a well loved radio. The volume slider also crackles even after a dose of contact cleaner which needs further investigation. Replacing the slider is not an easy option as Grundig used custom potentiometers to achieve the loudness function mentioned earlier.
15/08/2022 at 3:23 am
I have one and all I can say is that it rivals any of its competitors from that period, including Hacker, Roberts and Tandberg. A superb sounding radio well worth seeking out. The cabinet can be a bit resonant but you can tame that with judiciously placed sound deadening pads.
15/08/2022 at 5:45 am
Thanks for your comment. Interesting you mention the resonance, we tried using the Luxus as the daily kitchen radio after I became annoyed with the lack of bass from an Roberts R250 that had a speaker upgrade. In the end my wife complained the Luxus buzzed particularly on dialog so it was replaced with a Roberts R900 that’s still being used. To my ears the Luxus has a richer sound but does seem to resonate at times. I tried draft insulation along the inside of the sprung battery connectors as these seemed to vibrate. Also tried PVA along edges of the plastic dial to stop it rattling. Never really solved the problem so would be good to know where you placed the pads.
15/08/2022 at 1:24 pm
I used Dynamat Xtreme sound deadening sheet – the stuff used to dampen panel vibration in cars. Basically, I opened up the set and applied it to every square inch of exposed plastic. A finicky job but it made a considerable difference. Still get the occasional buzz but nothing like I used to. Backing off the bass a little helps as well. The Grundigs, as you say, are known for their lush sound. This possibly reflects the fact that the bass frequencies broadcast today are more pronounced than those when the Grundig was designed.
Dynamat Xtreme is quite expensive but a small sheet – sufficient to fit out a couple of sets – is available on Ebay for under a tenner.
By the way, thanks for a very interesting site.
15/08/2022 at 1:56 pm
Thanks John, that’s a good idea. I have something similar we used to reduce the drumming on stainless sinks so will give that a try – it was quite heavy material – did the Dynamat Xtreme add much to the Luxus weight I wonder? Yes, the larger Grundig’s volume control circuitry boosts the bass frequencies so with modern boom-boom music stations the bass needs tempering! It’s useful the Luxus has a bass control as well for that.
15/08/2022 at 2:31 pm
The Dynamat added a bit of weight. No bad thing. The more inert the cabinet the better. I’ve always felt that this was where the Hackers and the Roberts – with their chunky wood and metal cabinets – had a distinct advantage. Still, the Grundig has its compensations.