Hi All,
My local shop has a full set of BLAUPUNKT X-240 (1979) in working condition, it will probably need a full service which I can do myself. If its not working he said I can bring it back, included is pre & power amp, cassette deck (no wear on head) (probably needs new belts) tuner, record player (without cartridge) and a pair of Dual CL 143 speakers, price is 150 euro and in good external condition, any thoughts ? worth it for collecting?
Anyone have one, how does it sound?
My local shop has a full set of BLAUPUNKT X-240 (1979) in working condition, it will probably need a full service which I can do myself. If its not working he said I can bring it back, included is pre & power amp, cassette deck (no wear on head) (probably needs new belts) tuner, record player (without cartridge) and a pair of Dual CL 143 speakers, price is 150 euro and in good external condition, any thoughts ? worth it for collecting?
Anyone have one, how does it sound?
Blaupunkt never build anything of value for home HIFI. The bought it cheap and put a blue point on a differently colored case. If you are lucky, there is low end Sony inside.
Dual build reliable turntables, but the speaker where all worst lowfi.
Blaupunkt had a very good reputation with car radio head units, the top models sounded quite good, but never reached the German brand "Becker". Anything else car HIFI was cheap and mediocre at best.
Because they belonged to German giant "Bosch" they had very strong marketing and could stay on the market even making losses.
Many Blaupunkt products where regular sold of at retail stores, for fractions of the list price.
I would not even take your X-240 home for free. It is just garbage.
If you like the design, maybe buy it for your personal pleasure.
Dual build reliable turntables, but the speaker where all worst lowfi.
Blaupunkt had a very good reputation with car radio head units, the top models sounded quite good, but never reached the German brand "Becker". Anything else car HIFI was cheap and mediocre at best.
Because they belonged to German giant "Bosch" they had very strong marketing and could stay on the market even making losses.
Many Blaupunkt products where regular sold of at retail stores, for fractions of the list price.
I would not even take your X-240 home for free. It is just garbage.
If you like the design, maybe buy it for your personal pleasure.
HFE seems to have docs for the entire series, so I looked at a few.
Preamps:
PA-240 is chock full of Japanese semis. Maybe Hitachi? Looks decent enough, can see some modding potential.
XPA-240 (the one with digital everything, including volume control) is brimming with Philips (+Signetics) ICs instead. I suspect either them or one of the German OEMs (SABA?). No doubt very advanced in its day, might be a bit a chore to use, not sure about performance.
Power amplifier MA-240 has a schematic style suspiciously similar to SABA, with predominantly Japanese but also Euro parts. Might be similar to some of SABA's Japan-built models.
The tape XT-240 is heavy on Japanese semis again but has a space for a High-Com module, so maybe some Telefunken links?
Tuner XT-240 looks rather a lot like a SABA or perhaps Dual job, with Euro semis. Traditional all-bipolar 4-gang frontend, TCA4500A MPX. Filters seem to be one 4-legged job (2-in-1) plus another conventional 3-legged one. Not too easy to mod but selectivity should be decent as-is. LO varicaps fed via a 68k resistor - I sense modding potential for lower phase noise. (It's an early PLL tuna, what do you expect?)
Certainly quite a diverse bunch.
Preamps:
PA-240 is chock full of Japanese semis. Maybe Hitachi? Looks decent enough, can see some modding potential.
XPA-240 (the one with digital everything, including volume control) is brimming with Philips (+Signetics) ICs instead. I suspect either them or one of the German OEMs (SABA?). No doubt very advanced in its day, might be a bit a chore to use, not sure about performance.
Power amplifier MA-240 has a schematic style suspiciously similar to SABA, with predominantly Japanese but also Euro parts. Might be similar to some of SABA's Japan-built models.
The tape XT-240 is heavy on Japanese semis again but has a space for a High-Com module, so maybe some Telefunken links?
Tuner XT-240 looks rather a lot like a SABA or perhaps Dual job, with Euro semis. Traditional all-bipolar 4-gang frontend, TCA4500A MPX. Filters seem to be one 4-legged job (2-in-1) plus another conventional 3-legged one. Not too easy to mod but selectivity should be decent as-is. LO varicaps fed via a 68k resistor - I sense modding potential for lower phase noise. (It's an early PLL tuna, what do you expect?)
Certainly quite a diverse bunch.
Hi, thanks for the responses, and as always the very in-depth response from sgrossklass. I did notice that the power amp uses the STK0016 for the output stage. Which always makes it a bit more difficult for finding replacements if it blows, some genuine replacements available on ebay. Never even knew that blaupunkt went into the hifi separate business, I do like the vintage German audio gear, I have a nice dual 505-3 record player, it never leaves me down and had a really nice telefunken RA100 a while back, sounded really nice after a recap. I thought 150 euro was not a bad price for the full set, turntable also included, but I did leave the shop with a JVC JA-S310 for 30 euro and also a Tensai TB861B Record player, by no means a Thorens, just to /inspect / service and resell on for some extra pocket money 
The old silver vintage gear sells well in Ireland. I say the JVC had not been serviced since it was bought in the 70's, Completely stripped it apart, the DC offset was also well out. And it keeps this good gear from ending in the skip.
The old silver vintage gear sells well in Ireland. I say the JVC had not been serviced since it was bought in the 70's, Completely stripped it apart, the DC offset was also well out. And it keeps this good gear from ending in the skip.
If you like German vintage HIFI, go for BRAUN stuff. The prices are ridiculously low, people in Germany sell because the have to. A few years ago this gear was much more expensive.
The Braun range is much more advanced, technically and still sounds very decent. So tuner, CD, record player and pre-amp are still better than a lot of the low priced modern stuff.
There is one exception, any power amp of that time will be the limiting link. Maybe add some good D-amp to such a vintage system and, off course, modern loudspeakers.
If you are in DIYS, you can transplant some good class D module and SMPS into an old case.
If you are just in for making a fast buck, good luck. I can´t help with that.
The Braun range is much more advanced, technically and still sounds very decent. So tuner, CD, record player and pre-amp are still better than a lot of the low priced modern stuff.
There is one exception, any power amp of that time will be the limiting link. Maybe add some good D-amp to such a vintage system and, off course, modern loudspeakers.
If you are in DIYS, you can transplant some good class D module and SMPS into an old case.
If you are just in for making a fast buck, good luck. I can´t help with that.
Thanks for the tip, never considered the Braun stuff, don't get me wrong I like a lot of the british vintage hifi too, leak, (I have a lovely stereo 30 + with tuner fully recapped the sound is wonderful, driving some vintage philips speakers) rogers quad and some of the Japanese stuff too. I would do some smaller mods alright, but not transplanting a whole new amp into a chassis. I will build a valve phono pre-amp soon, and maybe even an pre-amp too at some stage.
And as you probably know making a fast buck is virtually impossible in hifi, I do it on my days off, because I enjoy it, its what I studied, and to make some pocket money for further investments. I get great satisfaction when I get a vintage piece working properly again, and often can not charge for the hours of work put in. And it keeps them out of the landfill.
And as you probably know making a fast buck is virtually impossible in hifi, I do it on my days off, because I enjoy it, its what I studied, and to make some pocket money for further investments. I get great satisfaction when I get a vintage piece working properly again, and often can not charge for the hours of work put in. And it keeps them out of the landfill.
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