How retro Tivoli radios conquered the audio market
The history of Tivoli is a classic example of the implementation of the so-called “American dream”, when perseverance, work, talent, and, of course, a little luck make it possible to achieve very serious business results even without huge financial investments.
Nine years ago, few heard about Tivoli, and now its receivers stand in the rooms of five-star hotels around the world, show off on the covers of fashion magazines, designers choose them for the most sophisticated interiors, and sales do not decline even in crisis years.
The first desktop radio Tivoli Model One was released in 2001, but its history began in the 1950s thanks to the world famous audio equipment, Henry Kloss. It was he who developed the world's first compact speakers AR-1. Previously, the idea that the column could not stand on the floor was not even considered. A copy of this column is now in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in the United States.
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The Model One receiver, assembled in a natural wood case and equipped with understandable analog controllers, really became a pleasant exception among Hi-Fi-technology, which was full of numerous buttons and switches, and made mainly in aluminum-plastic cases. Another secret of the attractiveness of Model One lay in the Kloss-developed tuning controller (vernier) with a 5: 1 gear ratio - it provides very fine tuning at the station even in the overpopulated FM band.
If you try to describe the receiver Model One in a nutshell, we can say that it is made to last. High-quality broadband speaker with a serious magnetic system, a good amplifier, and, most importantly, an expensive “customized” GaAs transistor in the receiving part. Such transistors are used in field radio stations in NATO troops, in receivers of space communications - wherever you need to get a reliable reception of the radio signal without interference and distortion. But in the "home" receivers GaAs-transistors are practically not used because of its high cost and complexity of installation. But Kloss came up with the technology to successfully use this component in mass production.
The result is a receiver that sounds surprisingly powerful and rich for its small size, capable of providing clear signal reception both in the city and in nature.
It is not by chance that the authoritative audio journal Stereophile assigned Model One the status of “recommended component in class A”. This is the only desktop radio that ever received such an award.
The main direction of Tivoli radio promotion was not chosen by the Hi-Fi market (here, the receivers of this brand were well known and bought with pleasure), but “adjacent” areas of business. Not a single fashionable world exhibition in Milan, Paris, New York or Tokyo was complete without huge Tivoli stands. Multi-colored “radio-blocks” dazzled the windows of boutiques, spas, travel agencies and restaurants, they appear in television studios of leading channels during evening talk shows.
Based on Model One, which became a cult in record time, Model Two was developed, which had a stereo sound path and to which it was possible to connect a second column - made in the same decoration and design, and in the same form factor as radio. Then came the long-awaited Model Three - a radio with a clock / alarm clock.
For those who would like to build a “full” stereo system on the Tivoli base, a CD set-top box was released, and an active subwoofer - of course, fully consistent with the radio receivers in appearance. A little later, the Tivoli MusicSystem appeared - a combined stereo system equipped with a CD player and a built-in subwoofer.
The next model in the Tivoli catalog, which could be compared to the Model One in popularity, was the portable receiver PAL - Portable Audio Laboratory. A very simple and stylish device that can operate from batteries or rechargeable batteries (charging included), assembled in a rubberized case, which is not afraid of sand, water spray, or falls - you can’t think of anything for country walks. The presence of an input for connecting the player and the output to stereo headphones successfully complemented the PAL functionality, and the receiver very quickly became popular with fashionable youth around the world. PAL is available in a wide range of colors from white to black, and, in addition, can be of any custom color.
Of course, Tivoli could not ignore the popular iPod player, having developed several models of radio receivers for sharing with this gadget. One of these models is iSongBook, made on the basis of SongBook, but equipped with a retractable dock for installing an iPod, and a second removable speaker. And the second device with the funny name iYiYi (in Russia it was called “Ah-ah-ah”) was developed, as they say, “from scratch”.
Nine years ago, few heard about Tivoli, and now its receivers stand in the rooms of five-star hotels around the world, show off on the covers of fashion magazines, designers choose them for the most sophisticated interiors, and sales do not decline even in crisis years.
The first desktop radio Tivoli Model One was released in 2001, but its history began in the 1950s thanks to the world famous audio equipment, Henry Kloss. It was he who developed the world's first compact speakers AR-1. Previously, the idea that the column could not stand on the floor was not even considered. A copy of this column is now in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in the United States.
')
The Model One receiver, assembled in a natural wood case and equipped with understandable analog controllers, really became a pleasant exception among Hi-Fi-technology, which was full of numerous buttons and switches, and made mainly in aluminum-plastic cases. Another secret of the attractiveness of Model One lay in the Kloss-developed tuning controller (vernier) with a 5: 1 gear ratio - it provides very fine tuning at the station even in the overpopulated FM band.
If you try to describe the receiver Model One in a nutshell, we can say that it is made to last. High-quality broadband speaker with a serious magnetic system, a good amplifier, and, most importantly, an expensive “customized” GaAs transistor in the receiving part. Such transistors are used in field radio stations in NATO troops, in receivers of space communications - wherever you need to get a reliable reception of the radio signal without interference and distortion. But in the "home" receivers GaAs-transistors are practically not used because of its high cost and complexity of installation. But Kloss came up with the technology to successfully use this component in mass production.
The result is a receiver that sounds surprisingly powerful and rich for its small size, capable of providing clear signal reception both in the city and in nature.
It is not by chance that the authoritative audio journal Stereophile assigned Model One the status of “recommended component in class A”. This is the only desktop radio that ever received such an award.
The main direction of Tivoli radio promotion was not chosen by the Hi-Fi market (here, the receivers of this brand were well known and bought with pleasure), but “adjacent” areas of business. Not a single fashionable world exhibition in Milan, Paris, New York or Tokyo was complete without huge Tivoli stands. Multi-colored “radio-blocks” dazzled the windows of boutiques, spas, travel agencies and restaurants, they appear in television studios of leading channels during evening talk shows.
Based on Model One, which became a cult in record time, Model Two was developed, which had a stereo sound path and to which it was possible to connect a second column - made in the same decoration and design, and in the same form factor as radio. Then came the long-awaited Model Three - a radio with a clock / alarm clock.
For those who would like to build a “full” stereo system on the Tivoli base, a CD set-top box was released, and an active subwoofer - of course, fully consistent with the radio receivers in appearance. A little later, the Tivoli MusicSystem appeared - a combined stereo system equipped with a CD player and a built-in subwoofer.
The next model in the Tivoli catalog, which could be compared to the Model One in popularity, was the portable receiver PAL - Portable Audio Laboratory. A very simple and stylish device that can operate from batteries or rechargeable batteries (charging included), assembled in a rubberized case, which is not afraid of sand, water spray, or falls - you can’t think of anything for country walks. The presence of an input for connecting the player and the output to stereo headphones successfully complemented the PAL functionality, and the receiver very quickly became popular with fashionable youth around the world. PAL is available in a wide range of colors from white to black, and, in addition, can be of any custom color.
Of course, Tivoli could not ignore the popular iPod player, having developed several models of radio receivers for sharing with this gadget. One of these models is iSongBook, made on the basis of SongBook, but equipped with a retractable dock for installing an iPod, and a second removable speaker. And the second device with the funny name iYiYi (in Russia it was called “Ah-ah-ah”) was developed, as they say, “from scratch”.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/113385/
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