Industrial design from hell: Dieter Rams' Braun A 301 and T 301 combo in ugly grey!

[rlisin]

Braun A 301 and T 301 in grey must be one of the ugliest sets I've ever had, so ugly it's actually cool.

Designed by the legendary Dieter Rams (he who 'inspired' many Apple designs, including iPhone and iPad) for Braun in 1978, these two pieces don't look half bad in black (pics borrowed from hifiengine):

Last week I found these in what I thought was white. Described as not working, with bad pics, so I scored them for cheap(ish). Turned out both were actually - sort of - working. The amp needed one new cap and some bad solder fixed, but it still powered up and worked fine with the bad cap when it arrived. The tuner had the same bad cap issue and the dial string fell off. Presets worked fine. So, all in all, way better than expected. Anyway, the big surprise was they weren't white, but grey!

I had them both fixed. A hint for A301, T301, C301 owners: this series has a yellow 0.068 uF cap on the fuse board. This cap must be replaced (even if the unit works, like mine did). This is what it usually looks like, I don't think I need to explain further:

The tuner is very good, and the amp is nothing short of amazing, I think better than the later Atelier series amps that succeeded it. I will compare it later with Braun Atelier A2 I also have. Cool gimmick: A 301 has dual volume control, one pot (left side, marked 'Level') is linear, with separate control for L and R channels. The other (right side, marked 'Volume') is a variable loudness pot, so you have full control on the loudness circuit. To turn loudness off, you simply set the Volume pot to 0 (max) position and control volume with the Level pots. Similar to Yamaha variable loudness solution I think. Works wonders with my Tannoy Venus speakers, I don't think I've ever heard them sound so good! The amp is 32 WPC into 8 ohms, 45 WPC into 4 ohms.

So, here are my 20 inch (yes, they are wider than standard) grey uglies, working their magic with some Van Morrison:

Borrowed a nudie of the amp, will pop the hood and take better pics when I have more time:

So, who thinks I should put these in my living room for my partner's viewing (and listening) pleasure?

 

[Tinnkindling]

These have a sort of Industrial/Utilitarian look, and I don't find them so bad to look at. As for how your wife might react, well, only she can say.

 

[moinau]

Well, I think you should. I for one, find them OK to look at. I like things that are different, and if you like the results, twice the winner.

You have to remember, and you probably know that already, Braun always made quality component.

 

[Vinylcafe]

I love them, and all the Braun stuff of that era.
But then I come from German stock.
They are kind of the German version of NAD.

 

[luvvinvinyl]

"No-nonsense" appearance. That gear means business.

 

[markn2wae]

Didn't Braun also make electric shavers? :scratch2:

Mark T.

 

[Brian]

I really like their looks. You want ugly, go find a Grundig TV250 receiver.

 

[guest122]

Those are not ugly they look very nice. Now I have to fine a set for myself :sigh:

 

[rlisin]

I like the industrial look, too. I have more Brauns that share the no-nonsense design, an A2 I've mentioned and a CEV 510 receiver my tech has been fighting with for a while now (tuner section's dead). But trust me when I tell you that the grey paint Braun used on these is on a completely different level of industrial. Pictures don't do them justice, in reality these things look like they were built to control an assembly line, not play music

I'm really glad to have bought them. Not only they make great conversation pieces, they sound great too.

I do think NAD (and others) copied the Rams' utilitarian design, down to green power button.

 

[timofred]

Braun has designed MANY classic pieces, for nearly a century I guess ?
That will still look good / or ugly, years from now.

 

[rlisin]

Some more info I dug out:

Braun RS1 receiver is these two units in one box. Tuner section uses the same main PCB, the only thing different I could find on the amp section PCB is the addition of the volume pot (in A 301 its on the inputs board, but there seems to be space for it on main PCB).

These were never made in white, only black and grey. Later Atelier units had white versions.

According to the manual, they are switchable to 110V, so no problem using them in the States, if you happen to come across one

 

[KentTeffeteller]

NAD borrowed a lot of Dieter Rams' design aesthetics, alas NAD is too cost cut in the build. Whereas Braun was built better as a rule. A pity we saw too little of it here Stateside.

 

[rlisin]

That's certainly true. The unfortunate exploding cap aside, these units are very well (and heavily) built. NAD 3020, which is from the same period, is a toy in comparison, and much easier to break.
And now I got another amp to A/B with the A 301 (well, receiver, I have a NAD 7020, not 3020). Looks like I'll have a busy week with my new Brauns. The other two I have in mind are Braun A2 and the set I got 2 weeks ago, Dual CV 1400/CT1440 (also German amp and tuner set, same period as the Brauns, will start another thread on those).

 

[KentTeffeteller]

I also don't call this Grey version ugly, I call it business like. It is handsome without being flashy. Will agree with you that this looked better in black.

 

[Rob41]

Hey, very cool and the fact that you said they work wonders with your Tannoy speakers makes the odd gear....well, keepers.

 

[fiddlefye]

Grey or black those look great. Braun has always made some wonderful and influential gear and those pieces are obviously no exception. Nice catch.

 

[daviddeep]

The ADS Atelier components were also Dieter Rams designed, right? Were these identical under the skin to similar Braun components of the period? I have an ADS Atelier CD3 CD player and it feels like it is carved from a solid billet of metal. It sounds pretty nice for such an early CD player. Mine is black.

I think these Rams designed components look fantastic.

 

[rlisin]

ADS Atelier components WERE Braun Atelier components with a different logo printed on them. As far as I know, the only ADS/Braun units that were a bit different were speakers, with x-over changes to make ADS speakers sound less hot. The apparent differences in specs of amps and receivers are due to different measurement standards (Germany used DIN standard, with measurements for 4 ohm loads etc.), the actual performance is the same.

If you look under the hood of your CD3, you'll see it shares a lot with a family of Sony ES players (CDP-203ES, CDP-302ES, CDP-303ES, CDP-502 ES, CDP-620ES, CDP-650ESD). It has every right to sound great