Schaub-Lorenz 9312 "Golf-Luxus" Tube Portable (1957)

I bought this interesting dual-band portable from a woman who lived in Europe for many years. It still has its original papers inside, including an instruction leaflet in Dutch and French plus complete schematics and parts lists. The date of manufacture is 1957.

The papers list service stations in Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent, which led me to believe this was a Belgian radio. But fellow collector Piet Hoen, from Nijmegen, The Netherlands, referred to Radios von Gestern, ISBN 3-907007-09-3, a 1989 book by the Swiss author, Ernst Erb. That book says the Schaub company is German, founded in 1923 in Berlin-Charlottenburg. In 1940, Schaub joined the C. Lorenz AG, and after mid-1955, their products were called Schaub-Lorenz.

This set receives two bands. The Mittel-Welle, or medium-wave, band corresponds to the American standard broadcast band. The Lang-Welle, or long-wave band, is no longer used here for commercial broadcasting.

On top are a small thumbwheel volume control and four buttons: MW and LW to select the bands, Laden to charge the battery, and Aus to turn things off.

Like American tube portables, this one runs on batteries or a line cord. But it accepts a wider range of AC voltages. At the line-current input inside the case is a switch for selecting 110, 127, 155, or 220 volts. Unfortunately, somebody cut the battery wires and removed the battery carriers. The set works fine on AC power, however.

The AC input has a two-position jumper labeled mit Akku or ohne Akku. A label inside the case shows the batteries, designating the big 75-volt battery as Akku DEAC D2. And the instructions also have sentences like, Pendant la periode de recharge, la reception est interrompue. I wasn't quite sure what this all meant until I got this note from Manfred Mornhinweg, of La Serena, Chile:

"Akku" is German short for "Akkumulator", which means "rechargeable battery". "Mit" means "with", "ohne" is "without". The French phrase means that during battery charging the reception is interrupted. So I guess that you can plug the power cord into one position to run the radio, and into another to charge the batteries. "DEAC" are those rechargeable button cells, which were the most common rechargeable batteries in those times.

Like many older tube portables, this one's cabinet is built of thin plywood. The cabinet is covered in pale green leatherette with an ivory band around the perimeter.

This set has four tubes (DF96, DK96, DAF96, DL96), all labeled Valvo. According to Mr. Hoen, these European tubes can be replaced by American equivalents: DF96=1AJ4, DK96=1AB6, DAF96=1AH5 and DL96=3C4.

Inside and out, this radio shows careful workmanship and thoughtful design, from its intricate component layout to the little brass-grommeted ventilation holes on the bottom and top of the case.